Houses from the 1950's

So I have been browsing the housing market in hopes of purchasing a house in about a year. One thing that I have noticed is that many of the houses build in the 50's and 60's only have one bathroom. They have 3 or 4 bedrooms but only 1 bathroom. Did people not use the bathroom in the 50's? Maybe children were not allowed to use the bathroom? Many of these houses look really nice, but one bathroom? Really?

Well, bathrooms are some of the more expensive rooms in the house. Especially back then, in the days of cast iron drain pipes and galvanized supply pipes. It was a lot cheaper to add a couple extra bedrooms. Bathrooms, not so much.

bashe said:

So I have been browsing the housing market in hopes of purchasing a house in about a year. One thing that I have noticed is that many of the houses build in the 50's and 60's only have one bathroom. They have 3 or 4 bedrooms but only 1 bathroom. Did people not use the bathroom in the 50's? Maybe children were not allowed to use the bathroom? Many of these houses look really nice, but one bathroom? Really?

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I grew up in a much older house with a single bathroom and a family of 6. Its not that hard to share. In the 50's multiple bathrooms were still a luxury and "master bath's" were unheard of. Now we're just spoiled.

Craig

There was no 'Pill' in the 50's, and back then, everyone didn't feel entitled to more than they needed.

In other words, they dealt with things and worked them out a little more than now.

bashe said:

So I have been browsing the housing market in hopes of purchasing a house in about a year. One thing that I have noticed is that many of the houses build in the 50's and 60's only have one bathroom. They have 3 or 4 bedrooms but only 1 bathroom. Did people not use the bathroom in the 50's? Maybe children were not allowed to use the bathroom? Many of these houses look really nice, but one bathroom? Really?

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Looking in South Side? My bro had a house off Green Springs Ave a few years back and it only had 1 bathroom. They converted the "mudroom" at the back entrance to a half bath.

My inlaws' house sounds very similar, and it was the house that my wife was born and raised in. Buy once, and that's where you lived. 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom. Not unusual at all for the time.

Yeah, the house my MIL grew up in (South Buffalo) was built post-war, six kids, one (small) bath. The house my MIL bought in the same neighborhood was the same, just one bath. Maybe that's why they planted trees in the backyard, for the little boys to use!

SmugMug said:

Looking in South Side? My bro had a house off Green Springs Ave a few years back and it only had 1 bathroom. They converted the "mudroom" at the back entrance to a half bath.

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I am mainly looking in hoover. many of the houses are newer but the ones with the big yards are all older.

bashe said:

I am mainly looking in hoover. many of the houses are newer but the ones with the big yards are all older.

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Whatever you decide to do, make sure you have someone do a thorough inspection on the house, especially if it's older. I've had friends tell me horror stories about some of the older houses in Cahaba Heights. They all looked nice and were decently priced which meant the buyers would have more money for updates/additions. Turns out that most of them had structural issues and that extra money went to repairs. Not sure how true it is, but sounds valid enough to me to be aware of older homes.

FYI - Ben Chenault at Mortgage Banc is a fantastic broker if you're looking for one.

What made it worse besides having girls spending too much time in the bathroom were the boys. When you share a bedroom with others it's the only room in the house where you can get some privacy.

My house has 1 full bathroom, and six bedrooms. The bathroom was an afterthought , the house was built in 1880. At our peak we had 8 kids living with my us, including 3 teenage girls. You can make due with anything. More bathrooms just mean more to clean.

I have thought many times about getting a parcel of land to subdivide and build 50-60s style homes as starters and buck the trend of "luxuray homes" that young couples can't afford.

Like others have said, bathrooms used to be a luxury.

Interestingly enough, my house was built in 1960---it has 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths. Not too shabby.

I grew up on an old farm homestead, the original house only had one bathroom. Of course, it was in the backyard and no heat in the winter, and smelled like **** in the summer

Also look at insulation. This will most likely be non existent unless someone has installed it since. I found this to my surprise when running power for a dishwasher. Knocked a small hole in the dry wall and could see the front wall. No insulation in the whole wall. There is in the attic but that is it.

IrregularPulse said:

Also look at insulation. This will most likely be non existent unless someone has installed it since. I found this to my surprise when running power for a dishwasher. Knocked a small hole in the dry wall and could see the front wall. No insulation in the whole wall. There is in the attic but that is it.

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My house was almost that bad a product called rock wool about an inch thick. Come to find they still use it for ridged fireproof insulation.


my house had 1 bath room and a tiny kitchen. You did your business in the bathroom and got the hell out real quick no 30 minute showers or reading on the bowl . And a shower curtain you could not see threw was a must cause if you were in the shower and someone needed the toilet they went.

kitchens were made to cook and that's it, now they are the entertainment area of the house . No wonder everyone is fat now ..lol

Now i have 2 1/2 baths and a huge kitchen and the kids are gone?!!

My house was built in the 50's. It is nicely updated now and the basement has a couple extra bedrooms and a bathroom. The insulation thing seems true, the outside walls on the house get fairly cold in the winter. Is that blow in insulation useful in this situation? Seems very intrusive...

My folks home was built around 1920. It had a single toilet and we had to build the closets in ourselves.

I'm glad bathrooms are a priority now.

I have 6 kids, three being teenage boys who have some serious bowel issues at times. If I had one bathroom, there would be more than one occasion where someone would have to sit on the others lap and **** between their legs, or I'd have "special" Homer bucket on the back porch for emergencies.

conpewter said:

My house was built in the 50's. It is nicely updated now and the basement has a couple extra bedrooms and a bathroom. The insulation thing seems true, the outside walls on the house get fairly cold in the winter. Is that blow in insulation useful in this situation? Seems very intrusive...

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Anything will help. My house was built in 1954 fuel oil was less than 5 cents a gallon . Didn't matter if the furnace ran all the time.

A friend of mine brought his first house many years ago in the heart of Trenton, NJ (???) and it had a porch with a door to the side. When you open the door there was a toilet! Only accessable from the porch. I guess it was for when you are sitting on the porch drinking you did not have to go far. Not sure how old it was but it was pretty old.

jgln said:

A friend of mine brought his first house many years ago in the heart of Trenton, NJ (???) and it had a porch with a door to the side. When you open the door there was a toilet! Only accessable from the porch. I guess it was for when you are sitting on the porch drinking you did not have to go far. Not sure how old it was but it was pretty old.

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At least it was behind a door.

People also showered less back then. Cuts down on the time the bathroom is being used when it's a weekly thing.

ChshreCat said:

People also showered less back then. Cuts down on the time the bathroom is being used when it's a weekly thing.

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Hell, once every two weeks to knock off the build up, and I'm good.

The house I'm in right now was built sometime in the 20's or 30's (I have no idea) and it is a three bed 2 bath. though the "master bathroom'' was very obviously added on sometime later and it is tiny tiny tiny! I'm also fairly certain there is no insulation in the house either, but then again that really isn't a necessity here.

GregR said:

I'm also fairly certain there is no insulation in the house either, but then again that really isn't a necessity here.

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You suck.

My house was built in 1916. It has one bathroom, although the basement has a half bath that looks way new. The attic is finished, but I'm sure there's NO insulation behind the lathe and plaster. It's been heating up like crazy during the summer, and in winter it was as cold as outside. I plan to eventually rip it out and put in more insulation in the ceiling, just to get some more climate control.

My old house in Maryland was built in 1867,origianally no bathroom, no kitchen, no insulation and no closets. Now we have so much **** we have to use storage buildings. I don't know whether this is good or bad

bashe said:

At least it was behind a door.

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What? Toilets make great ornamental planters! Honestly, who rips out an old toilet and SERIOUSLY thinks to themselfs, "Wait a minute, that sure would look pretty out front with some flowers in it!"

GregR said:

The house I'm in right now was built sometime in the 20's or 30's (I have no idea) and it is a three bed 2 bath. though the "master bathroom'' was very obviously added on sometime later and it is tiny tiny tiny! I'm also fairly certain there is no insulation in the house either, but then again that really isn't a necessity here.

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Insulation keeps Cold air in as well. Unless you don't have air conditioning or like providing climate control for you neighborhood

Insulation also helps reduce sound transfer. There's a reason I put in insulation between the_Bean's room and our room!

Unless, you know, you LIKE your neighbors being able to listen in to all the excitement. I think my neighbors finally insulated their bedroom (or at least are keeping their windows shut), because we used to get an earful last summer!

Ditto, I grew up in the '50s. Six kids, one bathroom. Not that big a deal, except during flu season. When we moved to NJ in 1965, the house had 1.5 baths. Since my four sisters were all in or hitting their teens, dad instituted a "no makeup in the main bathroom" policy.

Citidiots across the valley have a 5500 sq.ft. house with SIX bathrooms plus a 6800 sq.ft. 2-bath 'shop'.



For a couple.

What the hell do you do in a 6800 sqft "shop"? Hell, that's probably three times the square footage of Norm's New Yankee Workshop! There's no way in hell someone who feels the need to own six bathrooms also likes to build their own furniture or tinker on their own cars!

IrregularPulse said:

Insulation keeps Cold air in as well. Unless you don't have air conditioning or like providing climate control for you neighborhood

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we don't have air conditioning, and we've never used the heater.

IrregularPulse said:

Insulation keeps Cold air in as well. Unless you don't have air conditioning or like providing climate control for you neighborhood

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GregR said:

we don't have air conditioning, and we've never used the heater.

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it's like 67° in January and 77° in July in San Diego isnt it ? We go from below zero in winter to 100° + in August-Sept

springer said:

it's like 67° in January and 77° in July in San Diego isnt it ? We go from below zero in winter to 100° + in August-Sept

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it can get into the low 50's at night in the 'winter'. but this whole week we aren't supposed to see anything above 75.

I used to live where the weather changed. not as drastic but near Yosemite we would get a couple inches of snow in the winter and 100+ in the summer.

average San Diego temperature by month

we really don't get our 'summer' until late july. . .