Finishing a basement with a bedroom....and NO bathroom?

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1

We currently have a 4 bedroom and 2.5 bath home. We also have 4 kids so are planning on finishing the basement and adding a living space and a bedroom down there. Then all the kids could have their own bedroom. My oldest, 13, will be downstairs .

We have a limited budget to finish the basement. The big question is whether or not to put a bathroom down there. It would be no question if it was pre-plumbed for a bath...but it's not. Which adds being $$$ to the price tag. The bathroom alone would be 1/3 of the budget and most likely we would go over our reserves if we put it in.....meaning we don't think that with what we have set aside we could do the basic basement with a bath.

Is it as simple as not putting a bathroom down there? Would this be really bad with resale? I know it would be a pain for my son to have to use the upstairs bathroom, which would be crowded too with 4 kids....but mostly boys ;) so not that they take too long...now.

2

We have two finished rooms in our basement and no bathroom. It’s just as easy for the kids to come up stairs and use it, and we are a family of 10 with one bathroom. I say save yourself the money.

3

You already have 2.5 baths. Why would you need a 3rd? Just because you’re finishing the basement and adding a bedroom?

I wouldn’t do it. If a bathroom isn’t installed to begin with, no one knows the difference and won’t be hassled. They’ll simply walk up the stairs and use the other bathrooms.

4

Well I don’t think it’s that big of a deal to not put a bathroom down there but if it were me I would want one down there. Do you think you guys will still be in this house once your son is in college or even married? I only say this because it would be nice if he came home from college with a girl or even his wife and they could stay in the basement with a privet bedroom and bath. What about finishing the basement, get the room plumed for a bath room but wait and finish that in another year or so? My parents just built a home and that’s what they did. The basement was only half finished, they have a family room and 1 bedroom done for now just to save some money. It’s plumed for another bathroom and 2 more bedrooms. So that’s just a thought.

5

Oh Stephanie…I have 4 kids with 3 bedrooms and one bath. With 2.5 you don’t need another. I don’t think it will affect resale value in any way because having basement bathroom plumbing is just one more way to worry about a basement flood.

6

I don’t know alot about real estate and resale values.

Just looking at this as a point of view of what your requirements are, skip the bathroom. 2.5 baths is more than enough for 6.

7

No bathroom would be a deal-breaker for me.

8

Alternate idea:

Wall up the SPACE for a bathroom (have a plumber tell you where it would need to be as far as plumbing, free, usually… Becaise theyll want the contract should you decide to plumb), connect it to the bedroom, and use as a walk-in closet.

Then, if at a future date, you decide to plumb it, the space is already prepared.

To know:

Unless the ‘bedroom’ has a closet, and a window that can be climbed through in even of fire, it will not be listed as a bedroom but as a bonus room or office. So if you do the walkin closet, make sure there’s another one IF you also have window egress / plan to list it as a bedroom.

I have no idea if your basement is daylight, seperate entry, split level, etc., or is a classic underground one… So this is just a heads up!

Similarly… All a kitchen needs is a vent and the same plumbing. With a kitchen/bath/legal bedroom you could MIL-suite your basement. Which, depending on the area, usually increases resale value. Not always. Talk to a realtor in your area who can see your house, and tell you yay/nay! Again, since they work on commission, higher the better, so it’s in their interest to know locally what will up the resale value.

9

We did the basement room without a bath and we have regretted it almost daily! At the time my kids were younger like yours but they quickly grow up and then it’s a huge hassle. I might add we have 2 full baths and this was still an issue. I wish we would have done the bathroom first and let the other part come along. Just thought I’d share our experience!

10

Our house sounds duplicate to yours. We finished our basement and we felt a bathroom was an absolute must. I agree with others to prepare the space for future renovation and in the mean time use it as storage.

11

If you buy a little bit each month a few months from now you’ll have all the supplies you need to do the bathroom. It doesn’t really take much to do some stuff yourself. If you have a plumber do the main sewer part as you finish it out then all you have to do is add the sink you want then the toilet you want, and eventually you can add a simple shower.

Putting a small sink in that doesn’t have a vanity is pretty easy if the pipes are already sticking out of the wall. You just hold it up and someone puts the fasteners in. Then you put in the drain and tighten the clamp. That’s it. It’s attached to the wall and hooded up to the water and the drain.

The pedestal sinks are really easy this way. After you get everything hooked up you simply slide the pedestal cover over the goose-neck pipe and snap it into the groove.

A free standing cabinet can hold towels and toiletries. Then putting a toilet on the hole is really easy. If I could lift the toilet up even I could do it.

Same with a simple shower. You fit the hole over the drain and then there are some screws to attach the shower walls to the studs. You put the water faucets in place and screw the covers on.

Doing a bathroom is that easy/ Then as you go you can add mirrors, towel bars and other items to make it more dressed up.

12

So I am spoiled, okay. I will freely admit that there are a lot of hardships I have not had to deal with. I grew up sharing a bathroom with 2 boys and never had my OWN bathroom until I was grown and in my own apartment alone, and until then I didn’t know anything different and never assigned sharing to being a hardship or not.
But, in college, I was one of 4 ladies sharing a 2 bedroom 1 bath apartment. yeah, that took scheduling. It was do-able, obviously, but annoying often. I also have always lived in the deep south (like Florida, or practically Florida) where it is flat and there ARE no basements. You just can’t have them here. The water table doesn’t allow for it. So having to climb stairs for minor things is not something I take to easily. Climbing stairs when I have “to go” would be a major annoyance.

My parents now live further north and have a walk-out basement in their home. They have 2 full baths upstairs. They also have finished their basement over the past 7 years since they built the home. It has 2 living areas, a sewing room, 2 bedrooms, a bar sink/mini fridge, single car garage and walk out covered patio. And a bathroom. No tub, shower only. It didn’t start out nice and finished though. The bathroom was done, but had no handle on the bathroom door. The floor was painted cement. There were no baseboards, or other trim. The closets were an empty space with no rack/shelves and no doors. This is how it was when our family would go to visit, and we stayed in the basement. As did/does every other guest who visits them. It makes it more private for us AND for them. And if we had to trudge upstairs to use the toilet every time, I’d be inclined to get a hotel instead. What a pain it would be.
The bathroom worked. The rest… well, it worked too, it just wasn’t “finished”. Over time, my parents did their own trim work (windows, closets, baseboards even), hardwood floors, and painting. At 65 years old. And it’s a huge space! Now it is gorgeous. Do you know how often they used that bathroom during the process of finishing the rest of it? A LOT.

I know you are thinking that your 13 yr old can deal with it, and yes, he probably can. But the whole point of the basement is the additional living space, right? Not just the bedroom? If you are hanging out in the additional living space, are YOU going to want to climb the stairs to go to the bathroom? If you have outside access (walk out door) down there… consider that THAT is where you/your kids might be coming in/out from doing yard work or playing outside. My parents use their downstairs bath when no one else is there. They sit out back with the chiminea (sp?) and a cup of tea or whatever, and pop inside to use the bathroom without having to climb the stairs. Or when they are mowing and are dirty. Or planting in the garden. Or having lunch. It is just a few steps away, and NOT upstairs. And it matters… they are 70.
For your 13 year old? Maybe not so much. BUT, I would point out, that your son padding a few feet across the floor from his room to pee during the night is a LOT less noisy than a 15 year old tramping up the stairs to do so.
:wink: Especially if he takes stairs like my husband, lol.

He will likely be thrilled to have his “own space” even without the bathroom, at first. But it will quickly become a major nuisance, I would imagine.

If it were me, personally, I think I would do a very minimal, practical bathroom (toilet, standing shower, pedestal sink) and then use whatever budget you have left to start the rest. If you can’t finish the rest out completely, then finish it on your own over time. Your son can use one of those rolling racks for his closet until you can finish it. He can live with sheet-rocked walls that are primed not painted. He doesn’t even need baseboards!

Just be sure you plan how to provide storage in the bath for towels, etc. A shelved cabinet (closed with a door, kitchen cabinet sized) over the toilet worked well in one of the small apartments I lived in once. You can add that later, but figure out how you will do it in advance so you can be sure you know how to configure things to allow for it.

In my mind, not quite completely finishing the “living space” would keep me working towards getting it done; vs. putting off the bath and using the space as a closet “temporarily” would tend to keep pushing it to the back burner, until 10 years from now, there still would be no bath.

And yeah… if your son eventually comes home with his wife/family to visit, YOU will wish you had a bath down there for them to use! LOL

13

your kids are soooooo lucky. i am oldest of four. and after we moved out of the teeny tiny 3 bedroom trailer, we all four shared 2 bedrooms while the basement was finished - without bathrooms. then my sis and i got our own rooms in the basement. i still remember painting the concrete walls. i was soooo excited i got to pick any color i wanted.

don’t agonize over this. walking up some stairs to use the bathroom is not a huge deal. now all us kids have moved out and guess what - the basement is used once in a blue moon for a party, and other than that - storage.

no need for a bathroom. it is a ‘want’ not a need. (you already have 2.5 bathrooms, so to me you already have “extra”. once the kids are grown you have 1.5 to use for guest bathrooms…just sayin’)

14

Our basement was finished when we moved in to our home 4 years ago, all but the bathroom. It will cost less than $2k to do it, but we have done other things (fence, deck, office, etc). We plan to do the bathroom next year.

If I had someone living down there, I’d want to PLAN to get it done, but it’s not a must.

15

We finished our basement last summer. I also have boys, just turned 16 and almost 13. Based on our personal experience, I wouldn’t do it without a bathroom. I would cut corners somewhere else if necessary. We did kind of the opposite of what you are thinking of doing. Because we didn’t need another bedroom and because my husband had an unfinished hobby room in the basement he wanted to keep we added a family room, 3/4 bathroom and a snack bar with a fridge, microwave and sink. The bathroom was pre-plumbed, but the snack bar area was not. After watching them rip out the concrete, lay the pipe and then re-lay the concrete, I think the estimate you got sounds pretty reasonable .

I think you will find that with teenagers once you have a finished basement they like to hang out down there and they like to have friends over. The friends are more likely to come over to hang out once they have their own space. If that happens and you have a basement full of teenage boys do you want them coming upstairs to use the bathroom? Will they have overnights/sleepovers/whatever down there? Do you want them coming upstairs in the middle of the night? If they have food and snacks do you want them to have a place to easily wash their hands, clean up? If your kids play sports it can be nice for them to have their own shower. Our basement bathroom is relatively basic, but I consider it a necessity and the boys and their friends can make messes without me worrying about it because I have put my boys in charge of cleaning that bathroom and my husband in charge of inspecting their work. FYI–teenage boys can be pretty smelly and messy. They might not take long in the bathroom to do their hair, etc, but they do like their privacy.

Also, do you think you would ever entertain down there? Would you want a bathroom readily accessible for your guests? Finally, I personally think it would be a huge factor in resale value. If you don’t do it now, but reserve a place for it will the plumber eventually be able to get to where he needs to go? Would he have to rip up carpet, flooring, etc. to lay the pipe? It would probably be more economical to do it now than to wait. Or at least plumb it now, but add the fixtures, final touches, etc. at a later date.

16

eta: I’m going to check with another plumber…this one is charging $2900 alone just to plumb for it because they have to break up concrete, plumb to bathroom ( pipes not close to good bathroom location) and then fill in concrete. If we can get this $$ amount down it may be doable to at least have it ready for a bathroom to slowly get together .

Thanks all! I’m leaning towards making a room/space for the bathroom but not doing it now. Im sure it would be used…but just one more place to be clean ;). We just moved from a 3 bedroom 2 bath and we managed there…happy to have the extra bedrooms at least! Less fighting!

And it would be a bedroom…big window to climb out of and a closet. A basement with no windows was a deal breaker for me. Too bad I could get everything I wanted in this house. The only thing missing on my must have list was pre plumbed for a bathroom in the basement and now look at the trouble it’s causing me :wink: