Is this new construction, or do you have an existing hall bath and you're debating turning it into two?

Yes, new construction or old?? Anyway. Each of my kids had their own bathroom for ages 12 til college. It was so nice. No one complained about their bath partner being a slob. But I’m all about bathrooms and love to give everyone their privacy. With your 2 boys having a large age gap, it might be nice to give each their own space.

It depends how much you want to spend, but 1000 times yes to getting rid of the Jack and Jill plan.

Thank you for the feedback. This is new construction. No Jack and Jill for sure. It would be either one bathroom accessible from the hall or each boy gets a smaller bathroom that is accessible from their bedroom. Vanity, toilet and shower/tub combo.

Do you have room to do two full baths? That certainly seems preferable from a home value perspective if you have the means to do it and not sacrifice bedroom space. Are there any other bedrooms or just the two plus the master?

I would consider doing two separate bathrooms, one with a tub/shower and the other with just a shower.

Yes on the two baths, your future guests or adult children will like it too.

Who is going to clean those bathrooms?

Secret: Growing up most of us lived in houses where we had to share a bathroom and we survived. Additionally most of us at some point in our adult lives will wind up with a partner who we will have to share a bathroom with.

This has more to do with future guests than the boys themselves. These boys will never be on the same schedule, and by the time the younger one is old enough to be a bother, taking over the bathroom, the older one will be off to college or whatever. (Note that by the time the house is built, the older one is only 6 years away from leaving, and the younger will be potty trained so no need to commandeer the bathroom in the same way as now.)

If you do two ensuites, be sure they are big enough to have decent storage. Orthodontia care, any health needs, etc, should be accommodated.

If you do the hall bath, you need only one sink. They will never be in the bathroom at the same time. Our experience was that neither boy used the sink closest to the door, it just got dusty and the faucets stiffened up. They could have used more drawer storage instead of the cabinet under that second sink. YMMV.

I think it should all boil down to how small the bathrooms will be..for lots of reasons a bigger bath will always be more comfortable and desirable…in the beginning the older one will learn from helping to take care of the little one ..there will be more bonding …an early lesson in sharing as well for both

I would do one hall bath with one sink, toilet, tub and shower. Do not put in the wall between the sink and the tub/toilet. I had one of those and it was a pain. It also had the two sinks and that was a waste. Go for more storage and make sure to have a place for dirty laundry and towels.

Unless they are both very little, you will not have two in the bath at the same time.

If they would each be the size of the standard 5x7 bath that used to serve as the only full bath in the house, and it has no negative affect on your budget to have another or negative effect on the bedroom size it would be fine to have two individual baths.

If they would end up being cramped or shrinking the bedroom, maybe not. It's not so much that smaller bathrooms are that much more difficult to use, it's that they are a pain to clean.

You could also do one ensuite and one hall access...and by the time the older one leaves the younger could move into that bedroom.

I would not do a single Jack and Jill or the two sink thing.

There are differing parenting styles too, and I know some parents more or less stay out of their teenage kids rooms, so it's possible that ensuite bathrooms in that situation would get really dirty. I once stayed overnight in a guest room last minute that was jack and jill with a kid's bedroom, (kid home) and they had me use the ensuite bathroom in a different kid's bedroom who was gone over that night or two. And the ensuite bathroom was not exactly filthy, but it was not clean or taken care of by a long shot. And they didn't know because they stayed out of their kid's rooms.