LBRJ Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 I am just being curious here really. I have a house with a small toilet off the hallway, literally just a toilet - no wash basin etc The room ( a former pantry I think) is also home to the CH boiler, to the rear of the toilet above what presumably was a cold slab when the room was a larder. To me it seems to be the ideal place to put a washing machine - Make it out of the way and not in the kitchen, Some of my friends disagree so I thought I would just ask a larger crowd for any preference Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold unravelled Posted March 8, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 8, 2018 (edited) Keep the toilet, you never know when you'll need two. You can probably find a small washandbasin to add. Also is the other (upstairs) one in the bathroom or separate? How many current/future in the household? My house had an upstairs bathroom with loo, and an outside accessible loo. I shortened one room to fit in a new downstairs loo, and expanded the kitchen into the footprint of the outside one. Two were essential for us as we had a young family at the time. Are you by any chance trying to make space for a dishwasher? I've managed without, even with a recent kitchen rebuild... Dave Edited March 8, 2018 by unravelled 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dunsignalling Posted March 8, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 8, 2018 A downstairs toilet is very useful to have and makes things much easier when gardening, having barbecues etc. I know one person with an older house who has reactivated a former outside one, long used as a tool shed, to cater for such eventualities. John 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted March 8, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 8, 2018 I don't like washing machines in kitchens. But I would not get rid of a downstairs WC to make way for one. Can you post up a floorplan of your house? Maybe we can find a solution for both. I am currently finishing an extension which includes space for both. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted March 8, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 8, 2018 The French round here (very rural, C19 houses) tend to plumb the washing machine in the loo. Ours is thus. As we use cheap-rate overnight electricity to do the wash, if you get up in the night you can find yourself in close company with a noisy 1200 spin. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Metr0Land Posted March 8, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 8, 2018 Keep the toilet. Although you're probably not thinking of selling as you're re-modelling, it's a good selling point. Our previous house had upstairs bath/toilet and the people we bought from had included a downstairs WC (albeit with very small basin). When friends with small kids visited they always commented on how useful they'd find it if they could have one. Even if you don't have little ones there's always the liklihood that some time in the future you'll injure your foot/leg etc, or just be ill enough that you can't go to work and don't want to drag yourself upstairs every time you need the loo. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 (edited) I had a similar situation myself. I was pondering about turning the cupboard under the stairs - also a former pantry with a marble slab - into a downstairs loo. It might have been made to work but was very cramped due to the steep slope of the stairs above. I opted to use the space for the washing machine instead. However, In my case there was no plumbing or existing toilet, so a downstairs loo would have been much more challenging than plumbing in a washing machine, which only requires a grey water drain, so it it suited the washing machine perfectly. But if I had a toilet already there, there is no question that I would have kept it. Edited March 8, 2018 by Titan 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter220950 Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 Another one for keeping the downstairs WC and fitting a basin if practical, it's useful to stop visitors tramping all over the house, good if you are ill and can't easily get upstairs. On a more mercenary note, I suspect the house is more saleable with the extra WC. As suggested above 'we' might be able to suggest alternatives with a plan, I put a downstairs WC in the back of my garage, and in current re-organisations am considering moving the washing machine and dryer out there as well. Peter 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted March 8, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 8, 2018 I wouldn't put a washing machine in there anyway - not much in the way of ventilation and as others have said the toilet is a very useful thing to have. Best place for a washing machine, if you can manage it, is a separate utility area - ours plays host to the boiler, water softener, washing machine, and tumble drier although it's far from large and was a very worthwhile addition to the house. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 We have a 1930s semi and turned the under-stairs pantry into a small (but functional) WC with a small corner basin. With 3 kids in the house, a second toilet was pretty much essential.I don't mind the washing machine being in the kitchen since the kitchen has a back door to the garden. If we put the washing machine somewhere else, we would have to walk through more rooms to hang the washing out. Again, with 3 kids, we generate quite a lot of laundry. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeoffAlan Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 We moved into a new build 4 bed house 2 yrs ago. It has an understairs loo, an upstairs family bathroom and an en-suite to the main bedroom. Apparently all new build have to have a downstairs loo. I think it's a measure to ensure elderly and infirm home owners can stay in their house longer. I know my mother, in a 1890s built house, would have not needed to move out as soon as she did if there had been a downstairs loo. She had issues with stairs. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted March 8, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 8, 2018 (edited) Another one for keeping the downstairs WC and fitting a basin if practical, it's useful to stop visitors tramping all over the house, good if you are ill and can't easily get upstairs. On a more mercenary note, I suspect the house is more saleable with the extra WC. As suggested above 'we' might be able to suggest alternatives with a plan, I put a downstairs WC in the back of my garage, and in current re-organisations am considering moving the washing machine and dryer out there as well. Peter If short of space for a basin, there is a neat solution where a basin sits on top of the cistern and grey water from the basin gets reused.alaska-combined-two-in-one-wash-basin-toilet-500mm-wide-x-300mm.htm Edited March 8, 2018 by Joseph_Pestell Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted March 8, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 8, 2018 If short of space for a basin, there is a neat solution where a basin sits on top of the cistern and grey water from the basin gets reused. A great idea in theory, the problem being all the soap, dirt etc gets into the cistern and over time knackers the internal workings. Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted March 8, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 8, 2018 As I'm getting older filling and emptying the washing machine is becoming more difficult. I intend to move it and when doing so raise it a couple of feet off of the floor. I cant raise it where it stands now as its under a window. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted March 8, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 8, 2018 A great idea in theory, the problem being all the soap, dirt etc gets into the cistern and over time knackers the internal workings. Mike. Modern cisterns all seem to be rather fragile anyway - especially in hard water areas. We have greywater (rain) to all ours with no particular problems. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin1985 Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 If short of space for a basin, there is a neat solution where a basin sits on top of the cistern and grey water from the basin gets reused.alaska-combined-two-in-one-wash-basin-toilet-500mm-wide-x-300mm.htm I looked into this but decided to go with a similar layout using standard parts (and no grey water link to the cistern, for the above reasons, as much as it is a nice idea). We used a normal hidden cistern back to wall toilet with a small section boxed in and faced with fancy tongue and grove effect MDF, and an offcut of oak kitchen worktop on top. Then we put a very small rectangular counter-top design basin on top of the worktop (plumbed through holes and stuck down with gripfill type stuff). The toilet bowl is slightly offset to one side, and the sink to the opposite side, to help you get to the tap, but you are leaning over to get to it to some extent. Even so, its a solution to get a basin into a "just a toilet" room that was way too narrow to get even a very thin sink on the wall (especially with inward opening door). J 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Nick C Posted March 8, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 8, 2018 I'd agree with keeping it, especially if you can squeeze in a sink as well - we find it really useful having a second sink downstairs, when you come in from the garden etc you can wash your hands there instead of in the kitchen sink... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 A great idea in theory, the problem being all the soap, dirt etc gets into the cistern and over time knackers the internal workings... I have only seen one example of an integrated handwash basin and cistern, and the cistern had practically no 'workings' at all. There was a plug in the bottom of the cistern which the lever lifted out, and the user held down to get the desired amount of flush. Very basic, little to go wrong, I liked it. (The increasingly flimsy flush mechanisms in cisterns a bete noire of mine.) 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free At Last Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 (edited) 34theletterbetweenB&D, on 08 Mar 2018 - 12:41, said: I have only seen one example of an integrated handwash basin and cistern, and the cistern had practically no 'workings' at all. There was a plug in the bottom of the cistern which the lever lifted out, and the user held down to get the desired amount of flush. Very basic, little to go wrong, I liked it. (The increasingly flimsy flush mechanisms in cisterns a bete noire of mine.) I have something similar in mine, it is a Fluidmaster Flapper https://www.fluidmaster.com/toilet/part-type/flappers/ Fitted nearly 20 years ago, never gone wrong. Edited March 8, 2018 by Free At Last 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim V Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 If you already have two other toilets, then maybe. I think you would regret losing the toilet. Do you have children? As has been said, it's a selling point. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashcombe Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 As I'm getting older filling and emptying the washing machine is becoming more difficult. I intend to move it and when doing so raise it a couple of feet off of the floor. I cant raise it where it stands now as its under a window. Like many French washing machines, Ian’s is a top loader which I find much easier to use than my front loader back in Torquay. Of course there’s no worktop above it which would be likely to be the case in most UK kitchens. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rovex Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 Sounds like an ideal place for a micro layout, much more practical than either a washing machine or a toilet Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted March 8, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 8, 2018 Some have mentioned dirty hands after gardening, working on the car etc. I have had lever taps fitted to all sinks and washbasins. These can easily be turned on and off using your wrist or upper arm. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baby Deltic Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 A downstairs toilet is very useful to have and makes things much easier when gardening, having barbecues etc. I know one person with an older house who has reactivated a former outside one, long used as a tool shed, to cater for such eventualities. John From tool shed to stool shed, perhaps? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Coryton Posted March 8, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 8, 2018 If short of space for a basin, there is a neat solution where a basin sits on top of the cistern and grey water from the basin gets reused.alaska-combined-two-in-one-wash-basin-toilet-500mm-wide-x-300mm.htm I think these are quite common in Japan...perhaps due to small houses/apartments? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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