The paucity of space in most modern cities poses challenges to homeowners while building their living spaces. Some compromises are invariably made on comfort. The whole design has to be approached with the pragmatic choices available. You may be confused by the flurry of ideas coming from other stakeholders including your spouse. One important question is whether each bedroom should have a bathroom!
Should each bedroom have a bathroom? Generally, there is no rule that says how many bathrooms for how many bedrooms should be in the house, but builders nowadays try to make two bathrooms for three bedrooms. There will be a master bedroom with an en-suite bathroom and another which is common to the two bedrooms.
The trend of 2 baths per 3 bedrooms holds good if the family comprises a couple and two children. If the two children occupy separate rooms or the third room is exclusively left for the use of guests, the second bathroom is meant to be used by all of them. This could pose some embarrassment if the guests feel uncomfortable with the arrangement.
This may change depending on multiple factors. If the family also has elders, you cannot have this arrangement. Your building contractor or the architect may come up with some out of the box solutions.
You will be surprised to know some countries have houses with four or five bedrooms with just two bathrooms. Many of these become the trend over a period and everyone just follows it blindly. If you have space and the funds to build a comfortable home, you can add the number of bathrooms. Some families prefer to have one more room earmarked for guests with the bathroom en-suite.
Does a powder room count as a bathroom?
It depends on how the powder room is conceived and built. There are powder rooms in houses that have a toilet plus a sink or a faucet. This can be counted as an additional bathroom as much as it is useful in times of emergencies. In many houses, the powder room is allotted to the guests for their use. Traditionally, the powder rooms are found on the first floor of the houses particularly if there are more than a couple of floors in the building.
Why do homes have more baths than bedrooms?
The cases of homes having more baths than bedrooms may be common in large mansions or luxury homes. The logic here is that most bedrooms may have attached bathrooms and there will be one or two baths for common use. Imagine a large residence with a swimming pool and study and possibly servants. There will be a bathroom next to the pool and there can be one next to the study.
The idea here is that the residents may not want to take to the trouble of walking all over the house to their respective rooms just to take a leak. If you looked at these instances more closely, you may find most of them are half bathrooms. Half bathrooms are described as having a toilet and a sink. These are meant to be used for these purposes only.
Should I lose a bedroom for a bathroom?
The straight answer to that question is NO, you should avoid converting one of your bedrooms into a bathroom. The only exceptions to this can be if your house already has four or five bedrooms and you wish to add one more bath by converting one of the smaller bedrooms. The decision on converting a bedroom to a bath is not advisable on another count as well. If you have plans of selling your house in the future, you may find the prospective buyers not keen to buy a house with a lesser number of bedrooms.
The real estate business is structured in that way in the United States and probably in other countries as well. The number of bedrooms in a residential property is the most common denominator.
What do you call a bedroom with a bath?
That’s an interesting question since the convention is to assign names to the bathroom and not to the bedroom. A bedroom remains that whether it has a bath attached to it or not. However, the bathroom is called an en-suite or attached bath when it is accessible from within the bedroom. Interestingly, the trade has adopted some names like Jack & Jill baths. These are where one bathroom can be accessed from two bedrooms. Then, there are the half baths and quarter baths. There is a three-quarter bathroom as well, for good measure.
The concept here is that a bathroom has four elements to it – the shower, a tub, the toilet, and the sink. You can have some variations of this with the tub and the shower combined into one and the sink having two bowls instead of one. The description changes the moment you remove any of these components. So, a quarter bath will typically have just the toilet. There may be a small sink to wash your hands.
Related questions
What is the debate about the master bedroom?
Some people feel the usage of the term “master” bedroom denotes a certain colonial mindset. It can have implications of gender inequality as well. So, even the realty associations have woken up to this issue and say it may be better to call it the “primary” bedroom instead. The underlying concept in any house is that the largest bedroom with the bathroom en-suite is designated as the master bedroom. In the end, many of these may have no serious effect since everyone uses and understands what it signifies.
Does the bathtub alone signify a bath?
This is another dilemma faced by many. If your understanding is that a bath has to have a bathtub with just a shower, a sink, and a toilet, then you will be in for a shock when you travel. These concepts change and in many countries, a bathroom is a place where you bathe, whether it is in the tub or the shower. In several cases, the practical reason that the bathtub consumes more water has led to its elimination from the bathroom.
Is there a case against having a toilet inside the bedroom?
Some people believe it is not a healthy choice to have a toilet in your bedroom. However, the pushback to this is that as long as there is a solid door separating the toilet from the bedroom and the toilet has a ventilation fan to throw any unpleasant odor out, you can have a toilet inside the bedroom.
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