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Why don't French loos have handbasins?


CherryB
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So many times when visiting various friends' houses I have used the downstairs loo and then had to come through to the kitchen, often with the sink full of washing up, to wash my hands. Our own house had no basin in with the loo downstairs and we had to fit one - why? It is quite disgusting in my opinion not to have hand washing facilities with a loo and makes me doubt that many people do in fact wash their hands.
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I was wondering how to explain that one, I think it's Tax Habitation that's effected. Sometimes you will find the washbasin in the bedroom for example.

Our house originally had a separate toilet with the toilet roll holder on the back of the door. The thing was the door was about six foot away from the toilet, just out of hand grabbing range. Even better the bidet was down the hall, we had visions of the previous owners wife shuffling down the hall with her knickers round her ankles on the way to the bidet. The separation of the bidet and toilet were for the same reason Clair has given with regards to tax, a toilet in not a habitable place where a bathroom is, or something like that.

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I wasn't aware of the handbasin rule. I have probably been paying a bit more tax than I should have been.

I have seen these in castorama which we will be getting once we start on the down stairs loo http://www.castorama.fr/store/Pack-WC-Dual-prod410078.html?isSearchResult=true&navAction=push&navCount=1

A little more expensive than a bog :) standard loo but cheaper than having extra plumbing.
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Now I'm worried, without asking permission or telling anybody I installed a small basin in my loo, will I go to prison. Do they have basins in the toilets there ? [blink]

A bit pricey but that dual unit looks interesting however does it evade the toilet into a bathroom tax issue. If so then as it's clearly a basin it would imply that it's the plumbing for a separate basin which generates the laibility, not the basin itself.

Obviously whoever drafted the rule never envisaged such a device so whether it officially reclassified a toilet into a bathroom would be down to local interpretation, situation normal there then [:D][:D][:D]

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Like AnOther I didn't know this rule. We have a bathroom which is accessible from outside. Our next project is to make a small toilet with a wash basin accessible from the outside and close it off in order to keep the bathroom private. Maybe we'll see you in prison.

The rule also explains why one of our bedrooms had a wash basin and a bidet. It doesn't explain why the bidet was mobile though.

Hoddy
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[quote user="Gardener"]I wasn't aware of the handbasin rule. I have probably been paying a bit more tax than I should have been. I have seen these in castorama which we will be getting once we start on the down stairs loo http://www.castorama.fr/store/Pack-WC-Dual-prod410078.html?isSearchResult=true&navAction=push&navCount=1 A little more expensive than a bog :) standard loo but cheaper than having extra plumbing.[/quote]

And there was I thinking it was to wash your hair while taking a whotsit [:D]

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[quote user="Gardener"]I have seen these in castorama which we will be getting once we start on the down stairs loo

http://www.castorama.fr/store/Pack-WC-Dual-prod410078.html?isSearchResult=true&navAction=push&navCount=1 [/quote]

Friends had the same problem and replaced an ordinary loo with a loo-with-basin which seems identical to the one mentioned by Gardener. In general they are pleased but not overly so as you cannot use any form of soap when washing your hands as this clogs up something somehow - well in their system anyway. But it is a definite improvement on the previous situation which was just as described - use loo, then wash hands in kitchen sink next door.

Sue

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Not just in France; our last 1930s art deco house in the UK had a loo with no washbasin and the house was 60 years old when we bought it!

I don't think I could possibly live in a house with no washbasin in the loo as I will have nightmares about people TOUCHING the door handle with hands full of germs before they can get to a washbasin either in the bathroom next door or in the kitchen![+o(]

This is one bit of extra tax I'll willingly pay .....and no I am not related to the late Howard Hughes who had an extreme phobia about germs!

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The good thing is that IF people have to go to an alternative bathroom or kitchen to wash their hands, then at least you know that they have.

 

My son used to stand next to our bathroom door, which his friends would have to pass after using the WC and would say that the basin was there, and if asked why, he'd tell them after using the WC you HAD to wash your hands.

 

We had our house built and I actually didn't realise that there would not be a basin in our WC until it was too late and there was literally no proper space for one. A big regret for me.

 

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[quote user="sweet 17"]

I don't think I could possibly live in a house with no washbasin in the loo as I will have nightmares about people TOUCHING the door handle with hands full of germs before they can get to a washbasin either in the bathroom next door or in the kitchen![+o(]

[/quote]

I have been told that the most germ-ridden thing in most people's houses is the computer keyboard.

When my daughter lived in Japan, she had a toilet which, when flushed, refilled via a small basin on top of the cistern (similar to the one referred to earlier). However, top-of-the-range toilets had all sorts of refinements controlled from a touch-sensitive electronic panel at the side. No need to have any contact with any germ-laden artifact or germ-laden body part!

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We're hoping to add a downstairs bedroom to our French house, with an ensuite loo and basin. Like Sweet, I'm willing to cough up the extra tax as there's no way I'd have a loo without a basin.  One of my sisters lives in an ex-council house in the UK, built in the 1960s/70s, and there the loo is separate from the bathroom and doesn't have a basin. [8-)]
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[quote user="idun"]

LOL PPP if it took up that much room it'd be a bath![;-)]

Still how the functionnaires look at these things may not be like I do[Www]

[/quote]

1 bath equivalent 5 mĆØtres carrĆ©s.

1 shower tray equivalent 4 mĆØtres carrĆ©s.

[:)]

Surreally Sweets Chateau extends beyond the moat.[:P]

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[quote user="KathyF"]One of my sisters lives in an ex-council house in the UK, built in the 1960s/70s, and there the loo is separate from the bathroom and doesn't have a basin. [8-)][/quote]That's reminded me that the 50's council house we lived in a lifetime ago had the same, separate loo with no basin.

If you think about it having to go into another room to wash might even be an advantage because unless you know for certain that every single person who used that loo had washed their hands afterwards you could not be sure that you were not contaminating yours simply by opening the door. If you had to exit and wash in another room that overrides that possiblity completely.

I wonder if the ubiquitous bidet has something to do with it, with that in the bathroom you don't have to worry too much about what goes on in the toilet itself - or doesn't !

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This seems very French as we have stayed in lots of hotels in France that have a seperate toilet from the washbasin.  I too would prefer a washbasin in the toilet.  Unfortunately in our house there is not enough space, but I always make a point in showing our visitors the    bathroom which does have a wash basin.  Even so, some guests do not use it, so I'm guessing even  if there was a wash basin in the toilet  that also wouldn't be used!
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[quote user="woolybanana"]So, to cut matters short, stupid bureaucracy and a money grubbing taxation system encourages lack of hygiene.[/quote]

 [:D]

The criteria used for grading of properties goes back to the seventies.

There have been mumblings about updating in keeping with more modern standards, but so far, that's all there is so far... mumblings.

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[quote user="Clarkkent"] I have been told that the most germ-ridden thing in most people's houses is the computer keyboard.

When my daughter lived in Japan, she had a toilet which, when flushed, refilled via a small basin on top of the cistern (similar to the one referred to earlier). However, top-of-the-range toilets had all sorts of refinements controlled from a touch-sensitive electronic panel at the side. No need to have any contact with any germ-laden artifact or germ-laden body part!

[/quote]

Except for the touch-sensitive panel, of course [:D]

 

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