"Johnny_A_58" wrote

Hi, Looking for opinions about whether the resale value of a house would
go up or down
after adding a bathroom. I know, sounds obvious, but read on.

Add if you can.

I live in a 4 bedroom, ONE bath older house. The bathroom is 6'3" X 12'6".
The way the
house is laid out, I could cut the existing bathroom in half, making two
rooms that would be
SMALL 6'3" X 6'1" after allowing for the wall in between them.

Nope, although the existing one is 'big' thats a nice selling point.

I could SQUEEZE a full bath in each half with one accessed like it is now,
from the main
hallway. I could cut a hole into the master bedroom from the second half
so I would end
up with a master bath. But they would be SMALL.

How about this. Can you put in a 1/2 bath using the walk in close without
too much loss? L-shaped closet might be the result?

A 4BR, 1.5 bath sells better than a 4BR 1bath. Sure a 4BR 2bath is good,
but if you end up with tiny closets or (horror) a 3 BR 2Bath, you've lost
out.

The only other options I have would be to take away part of the walk-in
closet in the
master BR, or take the small adjoining enclosed porch, currently used as
an office and
convert it into a bathroom.

1/2 bath in closet area may be doable (you didnt list it's size). I'd want
to preserve the office space if possible but thats the next best option for
a 2nd bathroom.

Both of those options would give me a master bath without touching the
existing bathroom,
but then I would lose either the office or a most of the closet. If I took
the office, which is
really a sunroom, I would have to do some major reworking of the exterior
of the house,
i.e. taking out a bunch of windows and an exterior door, and resheathing
and residing to
match the rest of the house.

Nope, stop thinking 'traditional'. Unless the code specs for your area
*require* a solid wall and a window no bigger than 'x' you can put a
bathroom in a sunroom and just add privacy curtins. (outlets have to be
spec'ed for bathrooms though). You _may_ want to add some exterior visual
blocking material to the house up a few feet if you are sunroom to the
'floor'.

If you are not able to use the closet, this is your next best option if the
layout makes it easily accessable. If it's big enough, you might even be
able to keep a smaller office and add a 1/2 bath here. No idea of your
floorplan layout really though.

what would be the better way to go from a resale standpoint. Thanks, John

Please, whatever you decide, do *not* give up the 4th bedroom. Bad call.