The 4 Main Types of Bathrooms

Bathroom types are important when buying, selling, building, or remodeling a house. All houses will have one full bathroom, and many houses will have a second bathroom in the form of a full bathroom, three-quarter bathroom, or half-bathroom.

The number and types of bathrooms in a home are vital factors since they can inform a homebuyer if the home can reasonably accommodate future residents. Bathroom types give home sellers an accurate fix on the value of the home. For anyone contemplating building or remodeling a bathroom, bathroom types help you determine how much the project will cost.

Each bathroom component is considered to be one-quarter of four components that comprise a whole. These bathroom components—toilet, sink, shower, and bathtub—produce the four main bathroom types: full bathroom, three-quarter bathroom, half bathroom, and quarter bathroom.

Full Bathroom

Full bathrooms have a toilet, sink, shower, and bathtub/shower combination or a separate bathtub and shower.

Most homes will have at least one full bathroom. A full bathroom is versatile and valuable, packing many functions into a relatively small space. It is common for low- to mid-priced two-bedroom homes to have one full bathroom.

When a house with multiple bedrooms shares one bathroom, designing that bathroom as a Jack and Jill bathroom makes the bathroom accessible to two of those bedrooms. A Jack and Jill bathroom has two doors that lead in and out of two bedrooms.

Three-Quarter Bathroom

Three-quarter bathrooms have a toilet, sink, and either a separate shower or a separate bathtub.

As more bathrooms are being built and remodeled without bathtubs, this third component tends to be a shower. In this sense, the three-quarter bathroom and the full bathroom designations have begun to merge with each other.

Half Bathroom

Half-bathrooms have a toilet and a sink. Half-bathrooms are called powder rooms or guest bathrooms as often as they are called half bathrooms.

Half-baths allow more privacy for the homeowner, as visitors can use the toilet and wash up without entering the bedroom areas. Also, since full bathrooms tend to be more personal spaces with garments and medicines, visitors never need to see those items.

Since half-bathrooms are more for brief and limited use by visitors, they typically have only a minimum amount of storage space. An enclosed bathroom vanity cabinet is usually large enough to store the few cleaning items and toilet paper needed for the half bathroom.

Quarter Bathroom

A quarter-bathroom is a small room that contains either a toilet or a shower stall. Quarter bathrooms are often called utility toilets or utility showers.

Quarter bathrooms are not common. They are sometimes found in the basements or lower levels of older homes. These bathrooms would likely have been installed retroactively by the homeowner, not by the original builder. Quarter-bathrooms would provide a homeowner working outside or a handyman with a convenient toilet or shower, without having to walk through the house.

How Bathroom Types Are Calculated

Much like slices of a pie, when four slices are combined, the pie is complete. When all four components are included in a bathroom, that bathroom is considered to be a full bathroom. Three components comprise a three-quarter bathroom. Two of those four components make a half-bathroom.

On real estate listings, the bathroom type is often expressed as a decimal number. So, a half-bathroom would be listed as a 0.5 bathroom or a three-quarter bathroom might be listed as a 0.75 bathroom.

In some cases, the two figures are combined. For example, a full bathroom and a three-quarter bathroom would be combined and listed collectively as 1.75 bathrooms. In other real estate listings, collective bathroom figures are rounded up to the nearest whole number as a matter of convenience. So, it's important to read real estate listings carefully.

A toilet is nearly always included as a component. So, a common half-bathroom configuration is a toilet and a sink. But rarely will you find only a sink and a shower in a half-bathroom, without a toilet.

Is a Primary Bathroom a Bathroom Type?

A primary bathroom is one that is connected to the primary, or largest, bedroom in the house. A primary bathroom is also called an en suite bathroom or an attached bathroom. Typically, the primary bathroom is a full bathroom or a three-quarter bathroom.

A door permits entry to the primary bedroom, then a second door opens up into the bathroom. In a few instances, that second door is left off. If this is the case, the toilet is enclosed in its own space with a door for privacy.

As long as the house has a second bathroom of some type, a primary bathroom adds great value to most homes. Rarely will a home have only one primary bathroom, as this makes it difficult for users not sleeping in the primary bedroom to access the bathroom at night.