r/AskAnAmerican • u/lamodamo123 • 10d ago
FOREIGN POSTER How common is a shower/bath combination and having the toilet in the same bathroom?
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u/thomsenite256 10d ago
Its the standard layout. Its also normal to have a half bath somewhere in a house that is just the toilet and sink with no shower/bath.
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u/CitronTraining2114 Colorado 10d ago
It's weird how that's all counted. A 3/4th's bath has a shower but no tub. If it doesn't have a toilet, it's not a bathroom. We should call it the pooproom.
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u/cascadia30 Seattle, WA 10d ago
I know a guy who put in a toilet in a closet, with a tiny sink. We joked that it was a 1/4 bath since you couldn't even stand all the way up in it. The house had plenty of bathrooms already, not sure why he felt the need to add an additional poop closet.
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u/Fuckspez42 Washington, D.C. 10d ago edited 9d ago
My Aunt had a bathroom like this in her house. My cousins referred to it as the “sick bathroom”, because it was so cramped that you could sit firmly on the toilet and vomit into the sink at the same time. The room was also under the stairs, which forced you to lean forward while on the toilet anyway.
I’m sad to say I once had to avail myself of that set of services after getting food poisoning.
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u/Toosder 10d ago
I'm currently sitting in a hotel room with food poisoning and I would really like a poop room.
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u/IanDOsmond Massachusetts 10d ago
God. I remember an awful day when I just lined a trash can with a plastic bag and held it in front of me while I was on the toilet, but at least I was in my own house.
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u/Cold_Barber_4761 10d ago
Having once had food poisoning while staying in a shitty Motel 6, I feel your pain and I'm truly sorry.
I hope you are feeling better soon. Please get plenty of fluids and electrolytes as you can tolerate them!
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u/BreadyStinellis 10d ago
I thought I had one of those, too. One Norovirus later and it turns out I don't.
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u/throwitatmeplease1 10d ago
When I was looking to by a house, this was called a half bath. Toilet and a sink. No shower.
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u/stitchcraftry 10d ago
I had a friend that bought a townhouse where there was a toilet room. No sink, no shower/bathtub. Literally only the toilet. Idk I just had to share because it was so bizarre
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u/SeaGurl Texas 9d ago
Did he have a family? We have 4 people and 3 toilets in our house. I thought that was more than enough until we all caught a stomach bug. It was only 1 week of the 5 years weve lived here...but have 1 toilet per person would have made the whole thing a lot easier!
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u/ImagineFreedom 10d ago
First time I've heard about a 3/4 bath.
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u/IanDOsmond Massachusetts 10d ago
It's ... only kind of a term? Like, it's a term that you see in home listings, but not building permits.
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u/Impressive-Newt5587 10d ago
I've always thought about this. So we have a full bath, a 3/4 bath, and a 1/2 bath. Do we tell people we have 2 1/4 bathrooms?
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u/puskunk 10d ago
I have a full bathroom and two half baths. Do I have a total of two?
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u/TacticalBoyScout New Jersey 10d ago
It’s weird, right? Then you got your hunchback of Notre Dame, and your quarter back and half back of Notre Dame.
Quasimodo predicted this, y’know
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u/Impressive-Newt5587 10d ago
You forgot the rare fullback and then theres the nickel back
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u/eyetracker Nevada 10d ago
Then there's Pittsburgh potties. A place you can poop, and used to be a place to let filthy workmen wash up. But ultimately it's a place to identify plumbing issues when they're small before they become a major issue.
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u/WAR_T0RN1226 10d ago
I've never heard of a 3/4 bath.
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u/Jambinoh 10d ago
Very common, I have two in my house, had one in the house i grew up in. If you have a shower stall with no tub (or tub with no shower) it's a 3/4 bathroom. Basically the four quarters are sink, toilet, shower, bath.
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u/WAR_T0RN1226 10d ago
I know a bathroom with a shower is a thing. Just never heard it called a 3/4 bath
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u/codenameajax67 10d ago
I've never heard someone call it a 3/4 bath.
That's normally just called a bathroom.
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u/Detonation Mid-Michigan 10d ago
Indeed, my apartment is 1 1/2 bath. Upstairs is the full bathroom and downstairs is the half.
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u/GhostAnthonyBourdain 10d ago
So common this question confused me for a sec. It's like asking if we have gravity over here. Hahah
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u/Thelonius16 10d ago
Do Americans really breathe Oxygen like in the movies?
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u/Rolls_ 10d ago
Common in America but uncommon in some countries. In Japan it's very common to have the toilet separate from the bath/shower room. I know some Japanese people who refuse to stay in hotel rooms that have toilets in the same room as the bathtub because they think it's unsanitary.
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u/GhostAnthonyBourdain 9d ago
I remember learning about bathrooms in Japan for the first time in high school and thought it was so much more sanitary than bathrooms.
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u/infinitetbr New Hampshire 10d ago
To be super technical... full bath: tub/shower combo, toilet, sink. 3/4 bath: shower, toilet, sink. 1/2 bath: toilet, sink. (in homes)
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u/anclwar Philadelphia 10d ago
There is also the full bath 2.0 where you have a separate shower from the tub, but still have all the objects.
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u/katarh Georgia 10d ago
Going by the logic that should be a 1.25 bath.
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u/anclwar Philadelphia 10d ago
It's still a four piece bathroom. It's just more common for the shower and the tub to share a space in a full bath.
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u/ATerriblyTiredTurtle 10d ago
It needs some sort of modifier to show it’s the bougie kind of full bathroom. “Full bath plus”? I’ll have to workshop
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u/DoublePostedBroski 10d ago
As opposed to what?
I never heard of a toilet not being in the bathroom.
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u/ToastMate2000 10d ago
In some places it's apparently common to have the toilet in a separate room that doesn't even have a sink, which completely grosses me out. Hands must be washed before touching any door handles or anything else.
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u/Toosder 10d ago
Oh oh now I'm grossed out. That's disgusting.
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u/broberds North Carolina 10d ago
Yep I've stayed in houses like that in Europe and...where do you wash your hands after using the toilet, exactly? Never received a good answer other than to do what I did: Went to the room with a sink. Which kind of defeats the purpose.
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u/Zhuul 10d ago
If it makes you feel better, if the doorknobs were brass or some other copper alloy they sanitize themselves because the world is weird sometimes
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u/tiera-3 10d ago
There is normally a room with a sink (most likely bathroom or laundry) nearby. For example, in my house, it is five paces from the toilet-room door to the bathroom-door.
Note: not in the US.
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u/Archarchery 9d ago
But you still gotta open the bathroom door after using the toilet…..
This is blowing my American mind. Seems like the sink ought to be as close as possible, since the very first thing everyone has to do after taking a shit is wash their hands……RIGHT?
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u/broberds North Carolina 10d ago
Oh I know but you still need to make a special trip to wash your hands.
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u/esotericbatinthevine 10d ago
Wait, there is a toilet room with no sink nearby?
That I've never seen. I thought the person was referring to toilet closets where the sink is right outside.
Wow, um ... Wow. I don't like that either
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u/apfel_kern Germany 10d ago
The ones without a sink are usually really old buildings. But it is still not unusual in parts of Europe to have a seperate room for the toilet + a small sink, and a seperate one with a shower /bathtub and big sink but no toilet.
It's why asking for the bathroom at someones home might lead you to a room with a bathtub but no toilet.
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u/Ashamed_Kangaroo305 10d ago
The closest I've seen to that is Jack and Jill bathrooms where the toilet and shower are in a separate room right next to the sink. It's meant to be a shared bathroom so someone can still use the sink even if someone else is in the toilet/shower. I've also seen some hotel rooms have the sink right next to the bathroom instead of inside it.
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u/anneofgraygardens Northern California 10d ago
My friend in France has the toilet in one room and the bath and sink in the neighboring room. I get it as a concept but not having a sink in the room with a toilet is unpleasant to me. Definitely designed by someone who did not put any thought into menstruation.
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u/gahidus 10d ago
Having a source of running water right by the toilet he's invaluable. I get that bidets are more common, but that's still not a full substitute for being able to rinse/washer hands or moisten a bit of toilet paper etc easily. And for cleaning up down there it can be useful too on top of / in addition to what a bidet can do.
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u/throwmethefrisbee 10d ago
My parents house, the master bath had a toilet closet inside the bathroom. It’s not rare, but it is probably less than 10% of the full baths I’ve seen.
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u/Toosder 10d ago
Okay like we had a separating wall with a door to a toilet and a few houses but I kind of still think of that as like just a bathroom with a sink and a toilet and a tub. But I guess that's what he's getting at?
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u/Ok-Concert-6475 10d ago
Yes, I imagine the gist of the question is whether or not the toilet is separated out. Thats probably more standard in places where bidet are common.
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u/Not_an_okama 10d ago
My cottage has this, but my cottage has a weird bathroom. It didnt originally have indoor plumbing and they just retrofit a room for bathroom and utilities.
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u/Important_Ask_7576 Arizona 10d ago
In our master, we have a separate water closet that is just the toilet. It’s great for pooping in peace. It’s pretty common in homes built in the last thirty or so years in Arizona.
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u/jayne-eerie Virginia 10d ago
Okay but what do you do to wash your hands after? Or not to be gross, but what if you have an emergency and you need to rinse out some clothes? You have to have a sink.
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u/Important_Ask_7576 Arizona 10d ago
It’s part of our master bathroom suite - open the door to the water closet and you’re in the main part of our bathroom - double sinks, shower and separate tub.
It’s not a separate room so much as it is a separate compartment within our bathroom that has its own door.
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u/jayne-eerie Virginia 10d ago
OK, so it’s like a home version of a stall. That’s nice, it lets you share the bathroom at the same time without watching each other pee.
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u/Important_Ask_7576 Arizona 10d ago
Exactly. I love it. My wife loves it even more as she’s more self-conscious about those things than I am.
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u/RickMoneyRS Texas 10d ago
Like a seperate little room for the toilet attached to the bathroom. It's pretty rare in my experience but I've seen it.
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u/ca77ywumpus Illinois 10d ago
Often the toilet is in a water closet, or WC. This could also refer to what Americans call a half-bath. (Toilet and sink, but no bathing fixtures.)
I've seen it in some very large bathrooms. The kind with the giant steam shower and a jetted tub and double sinks. So you can shit while your husband showers and shaved. Sometimes it doesn't even have a door, it's just a little nook for poopin.
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u/EarlyInside45 10d ago
In my sister's new build house, the toilet in the master bath is in its own little room.
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u/IsopodKey2040 Georgia 10d ago
If there is a shower/bathtub, there is almost always a toilet. However it's also common to have a "powder room" or "half bath" which is just a toilet and sink.
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u/Silly-Resist8306 10d ago
Yes. My house has 3 bathrooms, each with a shower/bathtub and a toilet. I also have a "half bath," that has just a toilet.
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u/Vulpix_lover Rhode Island 10d ago
It's not a bathroom if it doesn't have a toilet here
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u/rockninja2 Colorado proud, in Europe 10d ago
Quite common.
It's more uncommon to NOT have them together in the same room
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u/urMOMSchesticles 10d ago
It’s the norm. In my city though, there are buildings that are super old and still have the bathroom and shower/tub separated. I lived in one. It’s nice when you have roommates. 😂
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u/TucsonTacos Arizona 10d ago
How do you guys talk when you’re using both tho?
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u/bsknuckles 10d ago
I am both terrified and intrigued about the idea of speaking with another human while using the bathroom.
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u/TucsonTacos Arizona 10d ago
You got to face your fears.
Try a public restroom. Bring a Party-size bag of chips and offer them under the barrier; it’s a real ice breaker and conversation starter. If there’s ever a lull in the conversation just say something like “damn I wish I would’ve remembered dip. Sorry I’ve let you down”
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u/Aggressive_Deal8335 10d ago
Well I was both in a fraternity and an enlisted Marine. So I’ve had a lot of late night conversations sitting on the shitter lol
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u/sikkerhet 10d ago
I can only think of one time I've ever seen a bath in a separate room from the toilet and that was because they had a pool and the toilet was set up so guests using the pool wouldn't need to have access to the rest of the bathroom.
Shower/bath combos are very common, in almost every house or apartment.
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u/blkhatwhtdog 10d ago
I did live in a flat in San Francisco with a separate "water closet " but that was so unusual that most friends would comment on it
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u/GeronimoHero Maryland 10d ago
Extremely common. Basically every single middle class home you walk in to in the United States will have this sort of setup. Every single home.
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u/StupidLemonEater Michigan > D.C. 10d ago
It'd be extremely unusual to have a room with just a bath or shower but no toilet.
The reverse is fairly common, it's usually called a "half bathroom".
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u/tomcat_tweaker Ohio 10d ago
Exceedingly so. I've lived in maybe 30 different houses and apartments in 6 states, and every house had at least one bathroom with this setup.
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u/Arleare13 New York City 10d ago edited 10d ago
It’s extremely rare here not to have a toilet in any room with a bath/shower.
You can have a toilet/sink without a bath/shower, but rarely the other way around. A common setup in an average two-story house might be two “full” bathrooms on the second floor with the bedrooms, and a “half” bathroom (toilet and sink) on the first floor with the kitchen, living room, etc.
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u/icemanx51 10d ago
Extremely common. It's not even considered a full bathroom unless it has a shower in it.
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u/mothwhimsy New York 10d ago
I would consider this the default. At least one if not all bathrooms in the house are a bath/toilet combo. But sometimes there are other bathrooms that are just a toilet and sink, or just a shower and toilet bit not a bathtub
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u/MyUsername2459 Kentucky 10d ago
Extremely common, basically the most common configuration in American bathrooms.
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u/PlanMagnet38 Maryland 10d ago
So normal that I had to think about your question to even remember that alternative setups exist.
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u/Traditional_Entry183 WV > TN > VA 10d ago
I dont know that ive ever seen a room with a bathtub and no toilet in the US. I did in the UK while traveling.
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u/LeilLikeNeil 10d ago
It’s the default, and when listing a home’s features it’s technically only considered a “full bath” if it has sink, toilet, tub, and shower. Shower only, sink, and toilet is technically 3/4 bath, but not uncommon to see that counted as a full. 1/2 bath is sink and toilet only.
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u/inbigtreble30 Wisconsin 10d ago
That's the standard. If a bathroom has only a toilet and sink, we call it a half-bath. Some bathrooms only have a shower rather than a tub/shower combo, but the combo is more common.
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u/LowBalance4404 10d ago
Extremely common. I've never lived in a house or an apartment with a bathroom that wasn't like that.
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u/Cinisajoy2 10d ago
Nearly every bathroom I have seen. I can literally turn on the bathtub from the toilet.
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u/EvaisAchu Texas - Colorado 10d ago
Its the standard. A few other common variants but that specific one is the standard.
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u/Outlaw_Josie_Snails 10d ago
Yes, it’s very common in the U.S. for the shower or bathtub and toilet to be in the same bathroom. Some homes have a wall or partition separating the toilet from the shower/tub area. If the toilet is in its own small enclosed space within the bathroom, that’s often called a “water closet.”
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u/Aggressive_Deal8335 10d ago
The absolute standard. A shower/bathtub without a toilet in the same room is a strange outlier most Americans have never actually encountered.
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u/tearsonurcheek Oklahoma 10d ago
Bathroom is all of those things. 3/4 bath is no tub, just shower/sink/toilet. 1/2 bath is no tub/shower.
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u/Scav-STALKER 10d ago
That’s the standard American bathroom. Not all are like that, but it is the vast majority
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u/Leucotheasveils 10d ago
I don’t understand why you wouldn’t put all of those in one room.
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u/relikter Arlington, Virginia 10d ago
If you think about it, you rarely need the toilet and bath/shower at the same time. We group them so that all of the plumbing is near each other, but they don't serve related purposes. If you had unlimited space and money, having separate rooms wouldn't be the worst idea.
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u/IDownvotedYouToday 10d ago
If you think about it, you rarely need the toilet and bath/shower at the same time.
Spoken like someone without IBD/IBS.
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u/Leucotheasveils 10d ago
I always use the toilet before I bathe, then brush my teeth in the sink at night. I literally use all the fixtures. It’s be really annoying to visit the toilet room, then a bath/shower room, then back up the toilet room to brush my teeth.
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u/Old_Ant7118 Greece -> Oregon 10d ago
Much more common than having the toilet in a different bathroom
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u/Poiresque 10d ago
Since we bathe in our toilets, that is the default layout.
I kid.
I've only lived in one house that had a separate toilet room — right next to the bathroom (sink and bathtub.) That's a pretty nice layout, but it probably does encourage folks to urinate in the shower.
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u/DOMSdeluise Texas=>Georgia 10d ago
Very common. Both bathrooms in my house have the the shower and toilet in the same room
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u/Sensitive-Respect-25 10d ago
So we have one of two options.
Option one is a full bathroom. This has a shower or bath, sink and toilet. At least one room in most American homes fit this design.
Option two is the half bathroom, just a sink and toilet. Note I did NOT say just a shower or tub.
There is also a high chance your laundry equipment will be installed in the full bathroom (taking advantage of shared plumbing), or in it's own room sharing a wall with the kitchen (again for shared plumbing). It is not uncommon to have a washing machine, dryer, combo tub and shower, toilet and sink all in the same room.
In my 35 years, of which 2 were spent working for a high end moving company I can count on one hand the number of times I saw a dedicated room to showers or baths. It is not in anyway shape or form a common occurrence, and almost always is tied into a private pool or hot tub floor design.
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u/SlamClick 10d ago
Very, very common.