# Have you ever seen a modern home with no bathrooms? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 20, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-modern-home-with-no-bathrooms/613460 "2012-02-20T21:24:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-modern-home-with-no-bathrooms/613460/21 "2012-02-21T03:39:02Z")
I know of a commercial building for sale nearby without any plumbing, $45K. Hard to sell, you bet. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-modern-home-with-no-bathrooms/613460/22 "2012-02-21T04:12:25Z")
I’m glad you mentioned commercial buildings. I wonder if zoning would allow a Port-A-Potty long term? For example, someone rents the building to install car radios and needs a bathroom for the employees. Might be cheaper to do that then spend a fortune getting plumbing into the building. But, I’m not sure if the zoning guys would go for it. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-modern-home-with-no-bathrooms/613460/23 "2012-02-21T04:19:34Z")
I’m still stunned that you can rent a whole house for $650 per month. You can’t even rent a bachelor suite here for that little. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-modern-home-with-no-bathrooms/613460/24 "2012-02-21T04:29:19Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’m glad you mentioned commercial buildings. I wonder if zoning would allow a Port-A-Potty long term? For example, someone rents the building to install car radios and needs a bathroom for the employees. Might be cheaper to do that then spend a fortune getting plumbing into the building. > > But, I’m not sure if the zoning guys would go for it. My car mechanic was in a building waaaaay out in the country with no toilet in the building and had a Portapotty out back for about a year. No zoning in the area. I was glad when he saved enough money to move baqck into a more civilized shop with indoor plumbing! An aunt in Mississippi had no in-house bathroom until the 70’s, though there was an outhouse. Water was available in the kitchen years before there was a toilet. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-modern-home-with-no-bathrooms/613460/25 "2012-02-21T04:33:53Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > I know of a commercial building for sale nearby without any plumbing, $45K. Hard to sell, you bet. Here’s a [listing data sheet for the building.](http://www.navicamls.net/displays/?n=374&i=484903&k=kEcbA9dU) (Note that this link may not work after 30 days from post date.) The building is in downtown Sturgeon Bay, the biggest city in the county, and the county seat. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-modern-home-with-no-bathrooms/613460/26 "2012-02-21T04:58:38Z")
Isn’t ‘indoor plumbing’ part of the definition of a modern house? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-modern-home-with-no-bathrooms/613460/27 "2012-02-21T05:03:24Z")
I guess whoever moves in is just SOL. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-modern-home-with-no-bathrooms/613460/28 "2012-02-21T17:22:47Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > An aunt in Mississippi had no in-house bathroom until the 70’s, though there was an outhouse. Water was available in the kitchen years before there was a toilet. The house I grew up in had no indoor plumbing until 1980. It was a 1 room schoolhouse back in the 30s-50s, then a storage building until my parents bought the land and renovated it into a house. Luckily, I was born after the plumbing was added in. My older brother still remembers running to the outhouse! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-modern-home-with-no-bathrooms/613460/29 "2012-02-21T17:46:38Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > There’s plumbing Canada? Well fancy that! The neighbours gather 'round on Sunday afternoon after Church to sit and watch it. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-modern-home-with-no-bathrooms/613460/30 "2012-02-21T17:49:50Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > I’m still stunned that you can rent a whole house for $650 per month. You can’t even rent a bachelor suite here for that little. Yeah, but the trade-off is you have to live in Jacksonville, NC. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-modern-home-with-no-bathrooms/613460/31 "2012-02-22T03:33:52Z")
The rent for the house my son is living in in Iowa is just $450 a month. Dumpy little place, but it’s two bedrooms, a bath and a huge garage and fenced yard. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-modern-home-with-no-bathrooms/613460/32 "2012-02-22T17:08:27Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > The neighbours gather 'round on Sunday afternoon after Church to sit and watch it. After lunch at Timmy’s, of course! ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-modern-home-with-no-bathrooms/613460/33 "2012-02-22T17:40:55Z")
There are some older apartments in Tokyo without baths/showers. They have toilets, but you have to go to the local pubic bath. My friend lived in one, and rigged up a shower on the veranda. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-modern-home-with-no-bathrooms/613460/34 "2012-02-22T17:42:56Z")
I agree that it is probably a data entry error and the house does have bathrooms. The only houses I have ever encountered purposely built without indoor toilets have been Roma or Traveler. In which, case the toilets have been fully modern facilities in a outbuilding connected, but not physically part of the main house which doesn’t appear to be the case here. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-modern-home-with-no-bathrooms/613460/35 "2012-02-22T17:50:26Z")
I once worked with someone who had an architecture background, and a fellow engineer asked him to design a house. The one stipulation is the bathroooms could have only urinals, no toilets. The reason: the engineer hated the thought of cleaning toilets (like you don’t ever clean urinals either). The architect asked the engineer several questions, like “What if you need to take a BM?” and got the answer “I’ll just go in to work and use their bathrooms” (three miles away). “What happens if you get sick?” “Oh, I never get sick.” Finally, “What happens if you get married?” The engineer never considered that. Finally they squeezed in a bathroom and he talked the engineer into it by citing code requirements. The house was never built. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-modern-home-with-no-bathrooms/613460/36 "2012-02-22T19:37:41Z")
To answer the OP: No, but I’ve seen TONS of modern houses with bathrooms but _no hand towels_. Or one little decorative handkerchief, at most. I assume those people never wash their hands. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-modern-home-with-no-bathrooms/613460/37 "2012-02-22T20:15:13Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > I know of a commercial building for sale nearby without any plumbing, $45K. Hard to sell, you bet. While I was checking out storefronts for the campaign office back in the 2008 election, at least one guy tried to rent me a storefront with no washroom in it. For a campaign office. Staffed largely by volunteers. I passed on that. (Don’t ask me what the clerks did when it contained a store.) ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-modern-home-with-no-bathrooms/613460/38 "2012-02-22T20:37:24Z")
> [@TokyoPlayer](#): > > They have toilets, but you have to go to the local **pubic** bath. Hee hee hee hee. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-modern-home-with-no-bathrooms/613460/39 "2012-02-22T23:25:20Z")
Awww, **Kushiel** beat me to it. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-modern-home-with-no-bathrooms/613460.md?page=1)