The Rising Popularity of Ensuite Bathrooms

If you’re the type you likes to occasionally wander around the Internet searching for the latest ideas in home design and improvement trends, you may have stumbled across the term “ensuite bathroom.”   Just what is an “ensuite” bathroom?

A bathroom that can only be accessed through a bedroom is considered to be “ensuite”, or within the suite.  The connection can be direct or through a small hallway.  Hallway connections frequently include large closets, sometimes even walk-in closets.

When it comes to determining how popular any home design trend is, the best method is to simply visit as many new housing developments as you can and see what new home builders are including as standard features in new home construction.  Decades ago pre-fabricated fireplaces which eliminated the need for a masonry chimney led to an explosion in popularity and they are now common in new homes.  Skylights are another example of a trend in home design which is now highly common in new construction.

Today it would be hard to find an upscale home or condominium without at least one ensuite bathroom.  Privacy has always been a desirable thing and nothing is more private than a bathroom accessible only through a bedroom.

If your existing home doesn’t have an ensuite bathroom, is this a home improvement option you might consider?  Will it add to the resale value of your home, or should it be viewed strictly as a personal comfort feature?

The question of resale value depends on the cost of the renovation.  There’s no question an ensuite bathroom will make your home more attractive to potential buyers; but if it costs $20,000 to create one, will you be able to raise your asking price by that amount?  Probably not; but if privacy is important to you and you are planning on living in your home for a long time, it’s something to consider.

Although this is a bit of an oversimplification, the cost of the renovation will depend on the existing plumbing.  If you have an existing master bedroom of sufficient size, or have an adjoining smaller bedroom that could be combined into a master suite, a new bathroom will have to have water pipes and drain pipes.  Running new pipe through existing walls down to a basement can be extremely costly and may involve removing and replacing walls on lower floors, adding even more to the cost of the renovation.

However, some homes have bathrooms that share a common wall with a bedroom. In this case, the bathroom can be incorporated into the suite at a much lower cost.  Of course, this then limits access to the bathroom from other bedrooms on the same floor; making this an impractical option for most homeowners.  But there’s another possibility.

Depending on the size of the bedroom, a new ensuite bathroom can be added to the wall adjoining the existing bathroom, eliminating the need for completely new plumbing, but this might result in a much smaller bedroom.   However, if the bedroom adjoins another small bedroom on the opposite wall, you have the potential to create a very large ensuite bathroom, again at a much lower cost.  Basically, you would be creating a larger bedroom by combining two bedrooms into one, and adding the ensuite bath along the wall of the existing bath.  Complicated, but possible.