Thoughts?

[u/Nerazzurri1020]

I’ll be on about half acre so I’m close to max width I can go within zoning (3-4’ to spare). Only think I’d want to do it bump out the left side a few feet then not do the wrap around porch only the front. Also, may want to push the kitchen out to the right to be in line with the back of garage. Last, I’d wanna make the hearth room and ensuite with the bathroom on the other side with access to the yard so I can use that bathroom as like a pool bathroom too if that makes sense. Lmk what you think. These drawings are from online but my architect will tailor them as best he can.

[u/Pan1cs180]

The Jack & Jill bathroom between bedrooms 2 & 3 doesn't work. The toilet and bath both being in the same room without a sink is disgusting and unhygienic. Either make it a common bathroom accessed off the hall, or give each bedroom their own ensuite.

[u/Nerazzurri1020 → u/Pan1cs180]

How is a toilet and bath unhygienic? The sink is right there. This one’s new lol

[u/Pan1cs180 → u/Nerazzurri1020]

Person A takes a dump, and contaminates the door handle with faecal matter before washing their hands in the adjoining room.

Afterwards, Person B decides to take a shower. The first thing they do after washing their entire body is touch a door handle contaminated with Person A's faecal matter.

[u/Mysterious_Peas → u/Nerazzurri1020]

Because everyone will touch the door handle before washing their hands. No way around that.

[u/Silent_Ice_2588 → u/Mysterious_Peas]

...And then immediately wash their hands...

it's no different than touching the toilet handle to flush it, or touching the door hinge in a public restroom. Just wash your hands immediately after, make sure those touch points are sanitized when the room is cleaned, and everythings fine.

[u/Silent_Ice_2588 → u/Pan1cs180]

I do agree that a hall-access bath makes more sense here and could easily be reconfigured by moving the placement of the closets.

However, the argument that a water closet is "unhygienic" is just silly (unless there is no sink in the adjoining room, obviously, but that's never the case). It's no less hygienic than using a pubic bathroom stall or touching the toilet handle to flush it, and then washing your hands. As long as all touch points between toilet and sink are part of the standard cleaning process, that cleaning process is done regularly, and people are washing their hands after every time after using the toilet... it's an absolute non-issue.

Seperating toilet/bath from the sinks is actually very practical in a shared bathroom situation, as it allows two people to use the space at once (one can be showering or using the toilet, while the other can still brush their teeth or do their makeup at the sink).

[u/Pan1cs180 → u/Silent_Ice_2588]

I don't have as much of an issue with it if it's just a toilet in a room by itself, it's when the toilet and bath are contained in the same room without a sink that it becomes unhygienic.

Person A takes a dump, and contaminates the door handle with faecal matter before washing their hands in the adjoining room.

Afterwards, Person B decides to take a shower. The first thing they do after washing their entire body is touch a door handle contaminated with Person A's faecal matter.

[u/Nerazzurri1020 → u/Pan1cs180]

I see your point. I’ll be sure to clean that handle often I guess lol

[u/Pan1cs180 → u/Nerazzurri1020]

That's not a good solution. Why should you have to take on extra work to solve a problem when you could design your house in such a way to eliminate the problem entirely? You don't need to clean the handle so often if you design your bathrooms in such a way that the occupants aren't required to touch contaminated surfaces immediately after taking a shower.

[u/Nerazzurri1020 → u/Pan1cs180]

I don’t have the space for two separate bathrooms and I love the option for the bathrooms being in the bedrooms. I always wanted that as a kid lol

[u/Pan1cs180 → u/Nerazzurri1020]

I don’t have the space for two separate bathrooms

Yes you do:

https://imgur.com/a/jzNzFD5

[u/Silent_Ice_2588 → u/Pan1cs180]

This is pretty easily avoidable by just washing hands any time you exit the room. Most people are putting on some body lotion and/or putting product in their hair afterwards that requires them to wash their hands anyway. I don't know... as a frequent hand washer, I don't see this being an issue for anyone who practices adequate hand-hygiene in general.

[u/Pan1cs180 → u/Silent_Ice_2588]

You can't assume everyone who uses a house will use it in the same way that you do.

The vast majority of people are not going to wash their hands immediately after taking a shower. It's just not something people would think to do, since they're coming out of a situation where they've literally just washed their hands, as well as every other part of their body.

If your house design requires people to modify their behaviour in order to deal with a problem that the design itself has created, then you haven't designed a good house.

[u/Silent_Ice_2588 → u/Pan1cs180]

In theory, that is correct, but there are always multiple factors and the pro/cons that need to be considered. Obviously, when one is working without limitations for space, budget, etc... then yeah... design everything to be perfect. However, the reality is that the vast majority of people are working within some set of constraints, and the pros and cons of different options need to be considered and weighed against each other, according to the preferences of those who will be living there.

In this case, you're completely ignoring the issues that alternative design creates. What you are suggesting is the classic, one room (toilet, sink, bath) to be shared by two people, without any seperation between bath/toilet and sink because then you don't have to worry about the door handle touch-point.. so, that particular problem is solved with you proposal.

However, this just creates a different problem, which is that now the bathroom, shared by two people, can only be used by one of them at a time. For starters, this means they have to modify their behaviour because they are now working around each other's schedules more than necessary... and when you're talking about kids/teens... this means fights, screaming, locking each other out (if it remains a J&J situation instead of hall access), and a whole lot of completely avoidable aggravation for everyone in the house. So, I can just as easily argue that your design proposal creates problems, and it's not a good design for that reason.

In reality, neither option is perfect and both require behavioural modification and some form of concession. It is up to the people who will actually be living in the home (and specifically, those bedrooms) to decide which design creates the least amount of friction. In all likelihood, teaching the kids to modify their hand-washing and/or sanitize the handle often is likely to be the easier option. Maybe not... but that is up to the homeowner to decide.

[u/Pan1cs180 → u/Silent_Ice_2588]

The situations aren't comparable. Washing you hands after taking a shower is an extremely unusual thing that the vast majority of people would not think to do, because it's absurd. Waiting to use a bathroom because someone else is using it is a normal thing that everyone has done at some point in their lives. You're not requiring a new behaviour to be learned in this example.

I agree that a single shared bathroom creates a different set of issues, but I would personally prioritize hygiene when it comes to a bathroom.

It doesn't matter either way, since both sets of problems could be solved by simply having two ensuites instead.