House Design Has Me Stumped

[Deactivated] on 18/03/2019 - 17:04
Last edited 29/03/2019 - 23:10 by 1 other user

Both houses are "no longer available" . I assume that means sold. I wonder if an ozbargainer bought them. Let us know if you did :)

Another day , another dunny problem…

I've been to see this house today. There's a whole lot more to it ( porch at the front, deck at the back and 2 bedrooms and full bath upstairs..)

But here's what puzzled me : once you've been to the toilet, where do you wash your hands?! And yes, in this politically-charged climate, I always ask the tough questions.

P.s: Would you say this is a design flaw? How would you rectify it?

Edited 19/03/2019

Here's another house I've seen today that has no wash basin in the toilet. This one even has an awkward door opening to boot šŸ˜’ Who's buying these houses? Would you buy/rent this one? If yes, I might make an offer…:P

Poll Options

  • 7
    In the ensuite basin
  • 21
    In the kitchen sink
  • 150
    In the laundry
  • 6
    I wipe my hands on my pants to clean them
  • 3
    I carry wet wipes
  • 29
    I don't wash my hands
  • 13
    other
Home & Garden

closed Comments

  • gooddealmate on 18/03/2019 - 17:08
    +16

    Wouldn't cost much to run a pipe from the shower and have a small wash basin in your toilet room.

    • [Deactivated] on 18/03/2019 - 17:10

      Where would you put it?

      Edit: Under the stairs might be an option but then you lose the storage space…

      • gooddealmate on 18/03/2019 - 17:16
        +14

        In the toilet room on the right hand side as the door opens to the left. A small one may only protrude 15cm from the wall, and has no base so should be enough room.

        • ascorbic on 18/03/2019 - 21:26
          +8

          I had one of those mini basins in my old house - they're so annoying and impractical with barely enough room to wash one hand. I'd rather compromise on storage space under the stairs and have a larger basin.

      • ATangk on 19/03/2019 - 23:34
        +7

        There are also toilet designs where you wash your hands on the cistern, and that water is then used to flush.

  • jjjaar on 18/03/2019 - 17:11
    +54

    Or look at installing a toilet with a sink on top?

      • Euphemistic on 18/03/2019 - 22:43
        +3

        Ugly toilet or toilet hands on the door to the lol, the laundry and anywhere else one might wander before washing hands?

    • gooddealmate on 18/03/2019 - 17:17

      That's a good idea.

    • DazMon on 19/03/2019 - 10:29
      +11

      These are the go in Japan and they are far from ugly.

      • toristo on 19/03/2019 - 19:34
        +2

        Agree - they're a really good idea and frustrating that its not more normal given the water save too.

      • bbourke85 on 19/03/2019 - 12:21
        +1

        That's not actually bad looking at all? OP this would probably be your best bet, unless you want a cramped sink on your side

    • moneyhungry on 19/03/2019 - 20:54
      +1

      And you refill the toilet saving money as you wash your hands.

  • [Deactivated] on 18/03/2019 - 17:11
    +1

    Other means no hands, like a boss.

  • ShortyX on 18/03/2019 - 17:16

    Is that a bench in the ensuite? If that was removed and after a bit of shuffle, you could potentially fit in a long rectangular shower (with two shower heads) and the toilet.

    • [Deactivated] on 18/03/2019 - 17:17

      No not a bench. It is what is structurally holding the stairs up.

      • ShortyX on 18/03/2019 - 17:21

        Ah, ok. It is a strange design choice then. Surely there are better designed plans?

        • [Deactivated] on 18/03/2019 - 17:23

          This was the plan that the current owner went with. It's up for sale.

          • Randxyz123 on 18/03/2019 - 19:46

            @[Deactivated]: Link to the house ?

            • [Deactivated] on 18/03/2019 - 19:48

              @Randxyz123: Can't find it online. Might not be up yet. It's down the road from where I live. Are you looking to buy a house in the bayside area?

    • [Deactivated] on 18/03/2019 - 17:50

      The more I think about it, the more I like your idea. I might look into it. But what about guests? Would you ask them to use the upstairs toilet?

      • ShortyX on 18/03/2019 - 18:13
        +1

        Yeah, I realised that after I posted it. Have you bought the house?

        I guess it's a choice between a downstairs toilet for guests or incorporating the toilet into the ensuite and asking guests to go upstairs. I'd probably go the latter - at least it eliminates any potent smells from the kitchen or living areas. :D

        • [Deactivated] on 18/03/2019 - 19:52

          Nope.

  • Bad Wolf on 18/03/2019 - 17:18

    Canā€™t understand any toilet with a basin, donā€™t even like the 3 way bathroom where thereā€™s a door/knob between the toilet and sink.

    Depending on the structure of the stairs can you insert a recess into that wall for a sink?

    • [Deactivated] on 18/03/2019 - 17:24

      Yes it could be done, but then we lose the storage space.

  • spackbace on 18/03/2019 - 17:31
    +3

    God that just looks tiny

    • [Deactivated] on 18/03/2019 - 17:40
      +1

      It's not in real life. I went in and didn't feel cramped. I believe the RE said the dimensions were 1.7m x 0.9m "off the top of her head". I did get a bit claustrophobic due to the lack of windows in there though.

      • spackbace on 18/03/2019 - 17:56

        I meant the house in general, at least that level

        • [Deactivated] on 18/03/2019 - 19:09
          +1

          The total floor area is 160sqm and land is 460 sqm. So not too bad for a new-ish built in my area.

          Edited floor area which is actually 160sqm not 180 sqm.

  • iforgotmysocks on 18/03/2019 - 17:43
    +6

    Use the toilet water

  • altomic on 18/03/2019 - 17:58
    +6

    needs poll option - "i dont have hands"

  • schmuppet on 18/03/2019 - 17:58
    +6

    In the cistern.

    • Herbse on 19/03/2019 - 12:27
      -1

      Downvoted for making me almost throw up

      • kolorijo on 19/03/2019 - 13:05
        +13

        Upvoted for making you almost throw up

  • altomic on 18/03/2019 - 17:59
    +6

    install a japanese over cistern sink & tap.
    honestly don't know why this is not a thing in australia

    • bobbified on 18/03/2019 - 18:14
      +1

      The first time I saw that idea, I was pretty damn impressed!

      • altomic on 18/03/2019 - 18:18
        +2

        i had them in both my houses in japan. using your hand water to fill the cistern. brilliant

        • [Deactivated] on 18/03/2019 - 19:23
          -1

          Do you not end up splashing water everywhere when you wash your hands? Tiny wash basins are my pet peeves.

          • altomic on 18/03/2019 - 19:39

            @[Deactivated]: no. they aren't that small.

            • [Deactivated] on 18/03/2019 - 19:43

              @altomic: Is this what we're talking about?

              • altomic on 19/03/2019 - 10:09

                @[Deactivated]: yeah, however my ones were larger than that with a flush lever on the side of the cistern, and the tap was in the corner of the basin - so you had a "larger" basin area than in that video.

          • [Deactivated] on 18/03/2019 - 20:05
            +2

            @[Deactivated]: On another note, I can't believe I've become the kind of person who says things like :

            Tiny wash basins are my pet peeves.

            I'm not even that old yet :(

        • Quantumcat on 18/03/2019 - 20:32

          Especially when we have droughts and water restrictions

    • kaleidoscope on 19/03/2019 - 16:16
      +1

      its much more complicated than that. most toilets are provided with recycled water now adays, if thats the case. they arenot allowed inside the house like that through free flowing faucet.
      if a fresh water line is operating near a recycled line itā€™s even messier. you need to have a rpzd value installed which is about $400 bucks + annual cost.

      iā€™m no plumber but as someone who is building new house found out about all sorta crap regulations like that.

  • crentist on 18/03/2019 - 18:41
    +1

    Big bottle of hand sanitizer in the toilet

  • [Deactivated] on 18/03/2019 - 18:52

    Is that place even habitable?

    • [Deactivated] on 18/03/2019 - 19:17

      We've just downsized to a 4-bedroom with 210m2 floor area on a 602m2 land. It's quite comfortable.

      The house I've linked to in my OP has a floor area of 160qm and land is 460 sqm. It had a nice , warm cosy feel about it. Although once, you add my kids and the dog into the equation , it wouldn't work for our family. Could work as an investment property…maybe

  • El Grande on 18/03/2019 - 19:31
    +4

    You buy one of these.

    https://www.reece.com.au/product/profile-deluxe-toilet-suiteā€¦

  • [Deactivated] on 18/03/2019 - 20:04

    You're going to see a lot more of this as you venture into your RE interest. High efficiency homes are starting to use cistern basins.

    • [Deactivated] on 18/03/2019 - 20:07

      There was no basin at all in that toilet. The expectation was that you would use the kitchen sink. At least that's what I gathered from the RE.

      • [Deactivated] on 18/03/2019 - 20:37
        +3

        Then it's a janky ass house.

        • [Deactivated] on 19/03/2019 - 07:00
          +1

          I'll be sure to let her know you said that when I speak to her today :p

        • [Deactivated] on 19/03/2019 - 18:17

          She said, "Janky ass, my bot-bot! Guess what? This property is no longer available." Hmmm…she must be one of those people who can't take constructive feedback šŸ¤£

          • [Deactivated] on 19/03/2019 - 20:30

            @[Deactivated]: "You can't handle the truth!"

      • try2bhelpful on 19/03/2019 - 07:06
        +2

        A whole world of ā€œnoā€ on that one. They are two parts of the house that should not be linked.

      • smartazz104 on 19/03/2019 - 18:12

        Well the laundry is closer, does that have a sink?

        • [Deactivated] on 19/03/2019 - 18:13

          I didn't go in. I didn't want to open the laundry door with toilet hands…

  • elgrande on 18/03/2019 - 20:13
    +3

    JJ - Replace it with one of those loo's with a basin ontop of the cistern.

    • [Deactivated] on 18/03/2019 - 20:14
      +1

      You mean something like the other El Grande suggested? Are you related perchance? :)

  • AdosHouse on 18/03/2019 - 20:18
    +2

    Like all Ozbargain things, this needs a Xiaomi solution. Xiaomi bidet, and hands free for the win

  • Godric on 18/03/2019 - 20:42
    +3

    Find a new house

  • ihbh on 18/03/2019 - 20:42
    +3

    Wasn't this more perplexing to you?

    If you sleep in bedroom and needed to do a piss in the middle of the night, would you do it in the shower or go out into the toilet?

    Either way, would you then wash your hands?

    • [Deactivated] on 19/03/2019 - 18:30

      No it wasn't. Who pees in the shower?!

      • Seraphin7 on 19/03/2019 - 18:41

        Just remember, there's two types of blokes in this world … those who p!ss in sinks, and liars.

  • spackbace on 18/03/2019 - 20:56
    +1

    Yeah that bathroom shouldn't have been setup as an ensuite. Whole shower/toilet situation should've been 1 whole bathroom

  • HardlyCharly on 18/03/2019 - 23:17
    +3

    Absolutely fix that, they must have been filthy animals who designed and previously lived in that house. Just imagine how contaminated the door handle on that door would be. The only place you should be washing your hands is inside the toilet room itself. The whole layout is stupid/terrible.

    • try2bhelpful on 19/03/2019 - 07:02
      +1

      You get that problem with most public toilets, the wash basin is outside the cubicle and that is a whole bunch of people you donā€™t know. But I agree that the wash basin and the toilet need to be within steps of each other. For our downstairs toilet the laundry sink doubles as the wash basin. We have a soap dispenser and hand towel ring. Often the basins in the toilets are too narrow to be effective. The sinks above the toilet are slightly off putting, I like the concept but standing over the toilet to wash my hands feels, a tad, contradictory. You would, certainly, need to close the lid when you flush to avoid contamination spray.

    • macrocephalic on 19/03/2019 - 18:16

      But you're going to wash your hands straight after touching the handle.

    • Seraphin7 on 19/03/2019 - 18:43

      I wonder how "contaminated" the taps are at your place then? You have to touch something prior to washing your hands (unless you've got one of those motion detector jobbies on both the taps and the soap dispenser).

  • try2bhelpful on 18/03/2019 - 23:17
    +1

    All I can think is you need a small basin or an above the cistern one, but the layout is just odd.

  • brokenglish on 19/03/2019 - 00:02
    +1

    I inspected a couple old-looking houses in VIC and most of them have this problem.
    It's a nono for me unless you're building this house from scratch and you can get the tap cistern toilet installed.
    Let me guess, all the taps have two separate knobs for normal and hot?

    • [Deactivated] on 19/03/2019 - 06:42

      The house was built in 2015.So new-ish. The rest of the house is modern and comfortable, if a little on the smaller side.

    • try2bhelpful on 19/03/2019 - 06:52

      You can replace the knobs with the flick version ones, which is what we did for the laundry. Much easier than going the full flick mixer but better than grasping a knob with sudsy hands, if you pardon the expression.

  • blwnhr on 19/03/2019 - 08:07
    +2

    Easy, just get a cistern with an integrated basin. Such as: https://www.bunnings.com.au/caroma-profile-5-cistern-with-inā€¦

  • Out24q on 19/03/2019 - 09:02
    +1

    Am I right in saying that the Ensuite doesn't even have a Toilet??
    Very Strange…

    • try2bhelpful on 19/03/2019 - 10:24
      +2

      Probably because the toilet is for common use but it does, appear, to be a design flaw in the house. Not a place I would purchase.

      • lachhelix on 19/03/2019 - 13:12
        +1

        This!
        Too strange of a layout for me, especially for a near new house!!

  • oO0Dam0Oo on 19/03/2019 - 10:29

    Dunny with a tap

  • healstreet on 19/03/2019 - 10:52
    +2

    Change bathroom door to rolling barn door and use space previously taken up by door swing to place tiny basin.

  • urzu on 19/03/2019 - 12:08
    +1

    Replace the toilet with a Japanese toilet that has the sink built in. Convenient and eco-friendly. See picture here https://jpninfo.com/99250

  • Bargain80 on 19/03/2019 - 12:16
    +1

    the house plan is perfect who those people who don't wash their hands after going to toilet.
    And yes, there are many disgusting people like that.

  • Herbse on 19/03/2019 - 12:27
    +1

    Please tell me that's a two story house..

    • [Deactivated] on 19/03/2019 - 16:16
      +1

      It is:) There's 2 more bedrooms upstairs and full bath.

  • HeWhoKnows on 19/03/2019 - 12:57

    SIMPLE!
    Install a narrow wash basin in the toilet room

  • Plug on 19/03/2019 - 13:01
    +3

    Wee is sterile so you could wash your hands and go at the same time.

    • Herbse on 19/03/2019 - 13:11
      +1

      The true OB way

  • Piranha2004 on 19/03/2019 - 13:12

    Looking at the design it is pretty inconvenient to go outside the room to use the toilet. We have a secondary toilet and bathroom upstairs with the toilet having its own small sink (not full size). Works perfectly as the person in the bathroom doesnt have to hamper the person using the toilet and vice versa.

  • try2bhelpful on 19/03/2019 - 13:28

    Maybe get an electronic bidet. No need to get the hands dirty :).

  • jparga on 19/03/2019 - 13:56

    they can put a low profile sink opposite to door, I saw one on a friend house, looked like a toy sink….like wash one hand then the other…..

  • living4music on 19/03/2019 - 14:15

    Australia is so big, most land blocks are also big, but I donā€™t understand why people build so small toilets without the small sink for convenience? It only costs maybe extra $1000 and extra 20-30cm wider in the toilet. Geezz

    • try2bhelpful on 19/03/2019 - 15:19

      Smallest room in the house? In our case we decided against a sink in our downstairs toilet because it is beyond our laundry and you go past the laundry sink on the way back.

  • JelIyfish on 19/03/2019 - 15:58

    lol at all of the in cistern sink suggestions… like it's a 'thing'.
    No, it's a compromise.

    The living area is 48m2, they should have sacrificed some of this space to make the rest of the house liveable.

  • kaleidoscope on 19/03/2019 - 16:26

    as someone whoā€™s visited hundreds of display homes in the last year, this is not that uncommon i got to say… almost all the houses have them. to have a sink in such a place is to convert that to a ā€œpowder roomā€ which is about $7-8K cost. another factor is type of water available, sinks are provided fresh water where toilets are supplied with recycled water. you canā€™t use recycled for indoor sinks.

  • [Deactivated] on 19/03/2019 - 16:47
    +1

    You said the room is 1.7m by 0.9m. That's enough space to install a small wall mounted sink. On the wall opposite the door hinge. The door will just miss it when opening.

    | https://www.amazon.co.uk/Compact-Bathroom-Cloakroom-Curved-Fā€¦

    Measure carefully because nothing more embarrassing than not being able to open/close the door after the sink has been installed :-)

    The sinks integrated into the toilet cistern are annoying as hell. You have to lean over the toilet bowl to use them. I've used one in Japan and don't recommend it.

  • echelon6 on 19/03/2019 - 18:45
    +1

    That door handle must be pretty shitty.

  • Scorn on 19/03/2019 - 20:05
    +1

    Could i suggest replacing the toilet with an integrated toilet with basin?

    Caroma do one, and it works quite well.

    Edit: ignore. peple abov have suggested, and i think it would work perfectly in this space…

  • [Deactivated] on 19/03/2019 - 20:29

    The house I originally posted about is no longer available. I've had a quick look at another one today and it has the same issue: no wash basin in the toilet and this one even has an awkward door opening … :(

    • spackbace on 19/03/2019 - 20:35
      +1

      The design of that is more normal, the bathroom is right beside the toilet, so the toilet doesn't need a basin. In fact besides the toilet being in the bathroom, second most normal option would be as that design is, right beside the bathroom

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