Building a new house

[campmaley]

O.k. everyone I got another heated battle between me and my wife. I say yes to a bathroom in the basement of are new house she says no. What does everybody think. Should I give in and forget it or should I never give up on it. Thanks


Bryan

Always something to fix.... Just another reason to buy a new tool.

[Keystone]

Well Bryan, I know that if I was building a new home it would have a 3/4 bath in the Basement. Never know when that will come in handy.

[wooll]

The next time you are covered in sawdust, woodchips, and various other smegma run through the house toward the bathroom yelling and screaming. When you are done then discuss a bathroom in the basement, she may relent. By the way when you approach her, DUCK!

[mrohde]

I'm putting one in our basement.

If context helps any, I'm finishing our basement. It's going to have the previously mentioned bathroom, a guest bedroom, a kid playroom, a living room, and a shop. It also has an outside door to the backyard.

[Cody Colston]

Bryan,

I have no idea how old you are and how long you've been married, but let me give you some sage advice.

You can't use reason and practicality and expect to win an argument with a woman. :o

You've got to come up with some totally irrelevant reason for putting a bathroom in your basement...like you could use the toilet as a sump drain if it ever floods...or something like that. :)

Now, go get 'em. :7

Cody

[ol]

The expert at anything was once a beginner...

[/ol]

[JBranam39]

Well since I work in the real estate industry I would suggest that you DO put a bathroom in the basement that at least has a shower in it as well as toilet and vanity. The major reason is tat it will help to increase the resale value of your home. If your wife still will not go for see if she would compromise and just have plumbing roughed in for a bathroom in the basement.

[sjc1989]

Is this the second bathroom? or is it 3rd 4th or 5th? I wouldn't give her a choice if it's #2, however, there are some things you should consider.

Do you know your basement is going to be dry? I didn't check your profile before I started typing, but many parts of the country have basements prone to taking on water and in some municipalities it's just a way for the sewer to back up into your house. YUK!

Assuming your basement isn't flood prone, I see absolutely nothing wrong with a toilet. The tub and/or shower is a slightly different matter. My wife cleans our bathrooms and can attest to growth rates of mold mildew in the damp enviroment of a ground floor bath that see's four showers a day. Imagine if the same bathroom were in a damp basement! That's MY wifes objection to basement baths/showers.

All that said, I wouldn't build a new house without at least a full bath and a 3/4 bath on the floor with the bedrooms and just a toilet stuck somewhere else handy. I don't think I need that much bathroom, but the real estate market shows that configuration some favor.

Remember the time to think about selling your house is when you buy/build it.

Steve Cox

"I do what the voices in my decoy bag tell me to do!"

[randall]

Personally I think the rage of having all these multiple bathrooms in a house borders on ridiculous, I mean how often does one really need to use it? Most of time it sits there unused, another room to clean another set of fixtures to keep clean buy pads, towels etc for and fix when they start leaking.

I think too many baths in the basement don't tend to flush real well since the horizontal sewer is just right there under the floor instead of a 10' drop, and then like someone said, if your sewer backs up to any degree at all the first and probably ONLY place it will come out is that bathroom!

As for increasing the resale value, I have to laugh about how folks seem to buy houses with the mindset of selling it later, doesn't anyone buy a house to LIVE IN these days instead of worrying about trying to sell it 5 years down the road??

As you increase the value, keep in mind you ALSO increase your property taxes and adding that one more bathroom might even be just enough to dump you into another category or criteria and raise your taxes substantially. You will be paying that this year, next year and every year and that can add up as well as with the initial costs- negate any increase in resale profit by adding it.

There's my opinion- nix the bath and walk upstairs for the rare occasion you might need to use it during hte time you are in the basement- plan ahead too.

[mrohde]

Hell, take it to an extreme. Dig a hole in the backyard, put a shed around it with a quarter moon cut in the door.

[TDHofstetter]

Done.

Any questions?

:7 :7 :7

-- Tim --

I'm too young to feel this way,
But I'm too old to think this way.