Poll: Do you think this will add or detract from home value?

We own a split level house with 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths. When you first walk in, the living room is to the left and the dining room and kitchen are to the right. Straight ahead you can go up to the 3 bedrooms and 1 full bath, or down to the den (which is HUGE and runs the full length of the house) and the half bath, which is also the laundry room.

I want to extend the half bath into the den slightly to add a shower stall in there next to the washer. It will not be that much money, all the pipes are already in place and just need to be extended over slightly. I figure that 2 full baths is better than 1.5, even if one has the laundry in it too.

DH is worried that this will look weird when we go to sell and will actually detract from the value of the house. He thinks that we should add a bathroom in this storage room that is over the garage and is attached to the master bedroom. But since there is no plumbing on that side of the house, it will be very costly. I agree we should do it in a few years, but this is a quick fix to get another shower in the house.

We can afford to make the half bath bigger now, we can't add the new bathroom for at least 2 years since we have to redo the full bath next year. It's a mess.

Do you think turning the half bath into a full bath will be weird?

Thanks!

Re: Poll: Do you think this will add or detract from home value?

an extra FULL bath is ALWAYS more appealing!

Re: Poll: Do you think this will add or detract from home value?

Converting the half bath to the full bath is definitley a plus. We are renovating one of our bathrooms now... I don't know how we would do it if we didn't have another full bath. You can't go wrong with 2 full baths, especially if it won't cost you much $$.

Re: Poll: Do you think this will add or detract from home value?

due to the floorplan it might be a little odd to have a full bath set away from the bedrooms. if you don't plan on moving for a few years, i would wait and add a master bath instead.

Re: Poll: Do you think this will add or detract from home value?

in our house we have one full bath off the "bonus room" which down South many times is converted to an in-law suite or a teenager suite. It gives them privacy, etc or makes a great guest room.

IN my in-laws house, they have a split similar to yours-you walk into the foyer, up the stairs is the LR, DR, kitchen, up more stairs is 1 full bath, 3 BR. Continue through the foyer there is a spare BR with a closet, a family room where the 2nd Full bath is. They had also built an extension on the back of the house where DH and I stayed after we got married, so that 2nd full bath was our bathroom which was nice-we didn't need to disturb them in the AM for work or in the middle of the night to go potty.

I grew up in a 1 1/2 bath house and I swore I'd always have 2!!! AT least...now I have 3!

Re: Poll: Do you think this will add or detract from home value?

Thanks. We appreciate all the feedback. It gives us a lot to think about.

Re: Poll: Do you think this will add or detract from home value?

i say go for it. all growing up my bros bedroom was the only one on the first floor and we shared his bathroom...even though it wasnt the closest one to my room. 2 fb is always better and still usualy ads value.

re the washer/dryer in there...i wouldnt worry about that. as long as they arent right on top of each other it should be fine.

we looked at a house last week that had the w/d in the kitchen and i thought i was going to hate it but it really want that bad

Re: Poll: Do you think this will add or detract from home value?

I think a second bath is a plus, besides how bad could it look.... you are only thinking of extending about another 3-4 feet right? I think it would be a great idea.... If you can post a pic of the area in question it might help give us a better idea of the space in question...