Ask HN: Why America build less Bathrooms per Bedroom

5 points by RoadieRoller 3 years ago | 6 comments

I come from a country where most people build homes on their own. One norm that we always practice is that bathrooms are either equal in number, or more than the number of bedrooms in the house. This is because we are always an extended family, and extended family visits us. Most bedrooms have an attached bathroom + 1 (common bathroom for guests/maids/)

In America, I found that it is exact opposite. Bathrooms are less in number compared to bedrooms. My son and daughter are fighting for bathroom time as we live in a 4 Bed 2 bath house. Adding to our agony was when my parents who recently visited us. Now, one bathroom for 4 people.

I understand the cost implications. But compared to my house in my motherland, American house is 3 times bigger. Why can't the builders reduce size and build more bathrooms.

mikequinlan 3 years ago |

You give the reason in your comment:

> This is because we are always an extended family, and extended family visits us.

For most people in the US, this is not true. Also many bedrooms are never used as bedrooms; I am using a bedroom as an office right now and many people use bedrooms for storage or as hobby/craft rooms.

al_borland 3 years ago |

This all depends on the home. I've lived in homes where the number of bathrooms equalled bedrooms + 1/2. So each bedroom had their own bathroom, and there was a half bath (or two) in more common areas. The nicer the home, the more likely each room will get its own bathroom. It also seems more likely with newer construction.

Often as the number of bedrooms increase there is an assumption that they won't all be used. So having a full bathroom for a guest room is a cost people usually don't want to incur while building. Or the house is built with the idea of parents (who get their own bathroom) and kids, who share and then move out when they're 18. Now that kids are living at home into their 30s, that becomes more awkward.

If you won't be using the extra bathroom, they become kind of annoying. I lived alone in a house with 3 bathrooms for a while. I felt like I had to keep a schedule to remind myself to use the out of the way one, otherwise the water would evaporate in the traps.

nradov 3 years ago |

It varies. Newer homes tend to have a lower ratio of bedrooms to bathrooms. Split level homes with the bedrooms upstairs tend to have at least a half bathroom downstairs. And of course, if you have a home custom built or remodeled you can get whatever you're willing to pay for.

altdataseller 3 years ago |

In some places like NY, it may be due to building regulations. It's harder to get a bathroom installed in a floor as opposed to an extra bedroom. You can only have bathrooms in a certain # of floors

wrp 3 years ago |

Older houses (like before WW2) have even fewer bathrooms per bedroom. I don't know exactly when or why this changed. Waiting in line for the bathroom is a pretty frequent scene in pre-1960 movies.

db48x 3 years ago |

Surely it’s not that bad. My Grandparents raised 9 children in a house with three bathrooms. My Grandfather had to build four bedrooms and one of those bathrooms himself.