Advice on converting first-floor full bathroom to half bathroom

4 years ago

We're in the process of purchasing a home that has three bedrooms on the second floor with two full bathrooms (one w/ a standing shower and one w/ a tub). There's also a full bathroom on the main floor, off of a short hallway from the kitchen. The bathroom feels cramped and dated. Plus, the toilet is right in the line of sight from the kitchen, so you see it when you're standing in the kitchen if the bathroom door is open. Because the house has two full bathrooms upstairs (and no bedrooms on the first floor), we don't really see the tub getting any use on a regular basis.

We've been talking with our contractor about possible renovations, including replacing the tub with a shower and re-configuring the layout so that the toilet is against a different wall. But the price tag is pretty high, and it seems like we'd be paying a lot for a new tub or shower that we won't really use. And to move the toilet out of the line of sight from the kitchen while keeping a shower, the shower would have to be around 30 x 30 in -- basically, the bare minimum.

I'm wondering whether it wouldn't be much simpler to just convert the full bathroom into a half bathroom. Our realtor thinks that going from a full to a half would hurt the market value of the property, but everyone else that I talk to agrees that no one would ever really want to shower or take a bath next to the kitchen. If we have overnight guests who stay on the first floor or in the basement, which also has a half bathroom, I guess it might be slightly more convenient for them to shower on the first floor than to head up to the second floor. But we only rarely have overnight guests (e.g., major holidays), and they could always just go upstairs. In an ideal world, we would convert the half-bathroom in the basement into a full bathroom for guests, but that's not an option. The ceilings in the basement are too low.

So, are we crazy to "downsize" from a full bath to a half bath on the first floor? That would fit how we plan to use the bathroom much better, but we're a little risk averse to the thought that we'd make the house less marketable long-term. From 3 bd/3 full baths/1 half bath to 3 bd/2 full baths/2 half baths.

Featured Answer

Nancy in Mich

4 years ago

It depends on a few things. Do you have an elevator or a stair climber, or are you willing to install one? If not, keep the full bathroom.

You are probably temporarily able-bodied. I can tell because you are giving no consideration to those who are not. I say temporarily because at some point in life, almost all of us will have a time when we cannot easily navigate stairs. It may be a sprained ankle, a knee injury, or a permanent disability that causes someone to need a first-floor bathing facility, but at some time in most houses, one will be needed. Do your relatives all die young and have great mobility right up to their time of death? Then go ahead and remove the bathing option in your downstairs bath. Even if you have stairs leading into the home and think that no one can get into the house while unable to climb, think of the possibility of bringing home an injured family member who you ensconce in the family room for the duration of their recovery, who now needs major assistance to go upstairs to bathe. Why do that?

Comments (19)

PRO
Debbi Washburn
4 years ago
Full baths ( or 3/4) on the main level are pretty impotant these days. Is there any way to reconfigure the entry to the bath? If you post some pictures, you will definitely get loads of advice.
misecretary
4 years ago
I vote to downsize it. It's your house and you should live in it the way you want to. Unless you are flipping it, i wouldn't give it a second thought to turning your full bath into a half bath. The next owners can worry about it when they actually own the home. ;-D
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morz8 - Washington Coast
4 years ago
Matt, you haven't lived there yet to know how much that toilet with the door open might bother you - right now its a perceived flaw. Or know how often family members might not close that that door when exiting.

This house has a guest bath that would be visible from a wide doorway in the kitchen across a slate hallway connected to the foyer. If that bathroom door was open, yes, I could see the toilet from the kitchen. It happens to be a sunny bright yellow toilet ;0)

Doesn't bother me in the least and not a single guest has ever mentioned it. We have lots of guests. I'm happy to have a designated guest bath that is easily kept clean and user ready with no personal 'stuff' in it.

A half bath adds resale value to a house. A full bath about double that amount. A house without a full bath on the main floor could work for a young family, but you are eliminating a great number of home shoppers down the road who would pass on a house that didn't have access to a shower without climbing stairs.
latifolia
4 years ago
Nancy, that is a depressing way to view life! Everyone in my family climbed stairs until they were 90. When they couldn't anymore, it was time to move. We plan to do that. We even bought a loft with elevator, currently rented out, into which we could move. Who stays in a house which doesn't suit them?

In the OP's case, there are no downstairs bedrooms, so they don't need a shower there. Could that space/water hook-up be added to a laundry room?

When we bought our house, the powder room door opened in, with barely enough room to slide past a top-large pedestal sink. We switched the door to open out. If the door was hinged on the other side or opened the other way, would the toilet be concealed?
Matt
Original Author
4 years ago
We’ve thought about swinging the door out or installing a false wall with a pocket door (the real wall has pipes in it). Laundry is an interesting idea. The machines are currently in the basement.

It’s a fairly young neighborhood. I think the resale market would be other families with young kids.

Here are a few photos.
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JudyG Designs
4 years ago
Frosted pocket door; new shower curtain pushed in the other direction away from flushing toilet. I say keep it as is. It looks too tight for a washer/dryer.
Nancy in Mich
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Latifolia, not depressed. Disabled. Two different things that are mostly unrelated. Give birth to a hypermobile kid like I was, whose kneecaps would not stay in place as a teen, and you learn all about the limits of mobility. Why limit your family and overnight guest to only those who can do what YOU think that humans should be able to do? You are disposing of an awful lot of us.
Design Girl
4 years ago
@Matt - That seems like a pretty tight bathroom. If it were a bit bigger, I might say keep it. That being said, the shower is pretty generic with an acrylic insert, so no loss there. I'd convert it to a nice half bath. That being said, you may still see the toilet if not careful. Is it possible to move the doorway that leads into the room when you remove the shower?
homechef59
4 years ago
As a real estate appraiser I would advise to try to keep it. It will reduce the valuation by a few percent. If I were to appraise your home, I would now have to compare and adjust it from a 3 bathroom home to a 2.5. That's anywhere from $2,500 to $5,000 adjustment downwards. Understand that I don't know where you live or your real estate market.

Even though there is no bedroom on the floor, it's a very usable space. At the very least, I'd put in a shower. You just never know when someone will lose their mobility.

It looks like an older home. If your laundry room is in the basement, you may want to reconfigure it to bring the laundry up to the main living area. That would be an improvement in utility and the only reason why I would consider eliminating it.

Hard to see everything, but you could reconfigure the doorway/entry and take over that vestibule area.
Design Girl
4 years ago
What's just outside the bathroom - can you claim that space to make the room larger and reconfigure?
remodeling1840
4 years ago
There are many short term times someone might need a first floor bathroom. My 40 year old friend did major damage to her leg in a ski accident. For six months she couldn’t walk up stairs. Sudden attacks of vertigo make stairs dangerous. For the marathon runners among my family and friends, knee replacements eliminate stair climbing for quite a long time. A first floor full bath could make the difference between adapting and recovering at home or checking into a rehab for months. A full bath on the first floor is a luxury.
partim
4 years ago
I would wait until you live there to see. My guess is the door will often be half closed and you will not see the toilet. If you have a dog, that might be a good dog-washing spot.
Super Lumen
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
So there are zero bedrooms or anywhere a guest would stay on the main floor?

Out in New England, many of the new construction builds that imitate a colonial (I call them fauxlonials), are still built like a traditional colonial with only a 1/2 bath on the main floor. The full baths are all up with the bedrooms. These are $300,000-$600,000 homes being built this way by choice.

I'd tend to agree that if there is no bedroom or guest room on the main floor, I can't see many reasons to keep it.
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JudyG Designs
4 years ago
NANCY, is so right on. You needn’t be old and feeble to need a bath on the first floor. A couple years ago, I, walking my 5 miles a day, fell on a piece of ice no bigger than a saucer.

Thank heavens there was a bathroom on the main floor. I was in a wheelchair for 8 weeks.

Accidents happen to the strongest. As said above, it is your house to do with what you want. Just don’t forget the dollar value it adds to the house, or the surprise accident which could happen to you tomorrow.
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Debbi Washburn
4 years ago
What are the dimensions of that space and the hallway in front of it? What is that space? Can it all be "joined" together? It looks like to the right of this room is the entry area? Could you change the door to out there? I am sure there is something great that can be done...

Ultimately it is your decision and your pocketbook that has to pay for all this.
Lisa T
4 years ago
There is a hinge you can buy that is spring loaded and will keep that for closed. Easy fix.
I'd also keep the full bath.
Lisa T
4 years ago
*door
Francine T
3 years ago
Full bath on main floor was essential especially now during Covid, when my husband had to be quarantined due to contact with a positive, we were able to be more isolated on different levels of the house.

Advice on converting first-floor full bathroom to half bathroom

Nancy in Mich

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Debbi Washburn

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Advice on converting first-floor full bathroom to half bathroom

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