Taking out a bathtub in hall bath?

[WOT?*]

One of my friends did this and I kind of love it. She took out her bathtub and made a large shower in the bathtub footprint. Kind of like this:

We plan on being here for at least six to ten years and probably won't be doing this until we get some other stuff done downstairs (signed off on new kitchen countertops and backsplash this morning! and will be doing office and family room built-ins before we move upstairs. Possibly some outside stuff as well.) The bathroom is not large, with 48" single basin sink set by toilet set by shower, all of them fitting fairly snugly. It is the bathroom the granddaughters (12 and 14) use every day and also guest bath.

We have a 5-piece master (with separate bath and shower) so we won't be without, although we seldom use the tub. Thoughts?


(Sorry for the delete and repost. The link didn't appear to be working and it wasn't posting the image either when I went that route.)

[munkii]

Mine will probably be the unpopular opinion: Do it. I prefer showers with no tubs. People, for the most part, use less water with showers. They're easier to get into, especially if it's designed as a roll-in with a flush/trench drain. I've never understood the need for bathtubs, even when a family has young kids. Most of my family lives in Mexico, and tubs are rare, which means my cousins grew up just fine without tubs.

[icedcoffee]

For me personally it would be a deal breaker when buying a home. In fact, for me a bathtubless master bathroom was also a deal breaker. With that said, I think it’s becoming more popular so if you want it I would do it.

[WOT?*]

May 27, 2018 12:33:07 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

For me personally it would be a deal breaker when buying a home. In fact, for me a bathtubless master bathroom was also a deal breaker. With that said, I think it’s becoming more popular so if you want it I would do it.

I'd have a bathtub in the master, so the house would definitely have one fall-back. I'm thinking if folks are giving their kids baths then it's probably still the age they should be supervising them anyway so as long as the house has one bath.

But then, my son-in-law is a soaker and I assume as a kid he always was so if the hall bath doesn't have a tub there wouldn't be one for kids and teens to take bubble baths and luxuriate unless they co-opted the parents' bathroom. Hmmmmmm.

[cmeon]

May 27, 2018 12:39:11 GMT -5 WOT?* said:

May 27, 2018 12:33:07 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

For me personally it would be a deal breaker when buying a home. In fact, for me a bathtubless master bathroom was also a deal breaker. With that said, I think it’s becoming more popular so if you want it I would do it.

I'd have a bathtub in the master, so the house would definitely have one fall-back. I'm thinking if folks are giving their kids baths then it's probably still the age they should be supervising them anyway so as long as the house has one bath.

But then, my son-in-law is a soaker and I assume as a kid he always was so if the hall bath doesn't have a tub there wouldn't be one for kids and teens to take bubble baths and luxuriate unless they co-opted the parents' bathroom. Hmmmmmm.

Is the master tub huge, though? I fucking hate filling ours, it takes forever and uses so much water- I would never do toddler baths in it. It will definitely turn some families off. I don't think that's reason alone not to do it, but, it's definitely something to think about.

[Susie]

If your home's target demographic is families, then I think it would be a drawback to buyers when you go to sell.  Depending on the buyer it might be a dealbreaker or just a minor thing, but it probably would be a (-) rather than a (+).  

I have a toddler, and I don't want to fill a full size master bath tub every night to give her a bath.  Sure, I've done it when we were on vacation and that was the only option in the rental house.  I've also given her a shower when it was the only option where we were.  But it isn't how I want to live all the time.

I also would not want to have to bring her into the master bath every night for her bath.  We don't have a master bath yet (we aspire to add one in the future, but only have 1.5 bath now), but when we add it the whole point is that it's our space, i.e., I don't have to pick up and toddler proof everything.  I so look forward to all the rubber duckies and spout covers and character towels staying in the bath that ISN'T MINE!

The other thing I use my tub for is dog baths.  I want to do that in a hall bath, not in/adjacent to my bedroom, and I want to do it in a ~13" deep tub that my dogs can jump in/out of, so I don't have to lift big wet dogs out of a soaker.

So, for my purposes as a mom of a young kid and two big dogs, the master soaker tub wouldn't address the lack of hall bathroom tub, and that would be a ding mark as I was comparing houses.

All of that being said, the average home buyer is sort of like the "reasonable person" standard in law -- that person doesn't actually exist.  Who the heck knows who will buy your house and what they will want.  It's your house now and it's going to be for a while, so do you.

[dottyblue]

I personally am not a bath person. But a house without a tub in the “main” family bathroom would have been a dealbreaker because I had a young kid and one on the way when we bought.

I agree with you that I love it.

[lilac05]

I’m torn. I love the look of the shower in the picture. A bathtub in the main bathroom is important to us, though admittedly, ours rarely got used. We usually put both of our boys in the master tub because that’s where they could fit together comfortably and still have room to play. I think that most young families will expect a tub in the main bathroom and many wouldn’t see using the master tub as a good option when there’s probably another house just down the street for about the same price, but with a tub.

However, if you’re planning on being there another 6-10 years, that’s a long time and a lot of money to invest in something you don’t love. It’s your house NOW...it might be someone else’s home in 6-10 years...if you stick to your current plan. I’d talk to your real estate agent and get their thoughts. I think it’s probably really market specific.

[kadams767]

I don’t have kids or a master bathroom, so take this with a grain of salt, but from a potential buyer’s POV, if I had both, I’d prefer to not have my bathroom overrun with kids stuff if I had the option. So given that, I’d prefer the hall bathroom have a tub. And as Susie said, I also give my dog baths in the tub, so if I could avoid that in my personal bathroom too, I would. Basically, in the fictional world where I have a master bathroom, I’d like it to be calm and spa-like, with no bath toys or dog hair.

[k3am]

Agree that as a buyer, I would have a hard pass on a home without a tub in the bathroom kids would be using primarily. Since you only plan to be there 6-10 years AND it's late on your timeline, so you'd only get a few years use out of it, any remodel I'd do would be with future sales in mind. If this were the master bath you were thinking of doing, or you planned to be there long enough to really enjoy it and get your money's worth out of it, I'd be all for it.

[bunnies]

I did this last year in my 2/2 condo to one of the bathrooms. Removed the tub and installed a nice 60" tiled shower with glass doors (also new floor, toilet, vanity, counter, sink, lighting, mirror, etc.). I love it! It's also much easier to clean than my old nasty tub and tile (original to 1989). My other bathroom still has the tub.

[allhis]

We just removed a larger jet tub from our master in the home we are renovating in favor of a big spa shower, and only have another shower on the main level, but one of our downstairs bathrooms will have a bath for soaking kids and we have a hot tub for soaking adults I would worry about resale to anyone with small kids if there wasn’t a tub somewhere in the house...

[auntie]

I have a friend who did this in my neighborhood. Single home at a medium price point in a very hot market- excellent schools and very kid friendly.

When she sold, it was a turn off to some, but there were plenty lined up behind. Her buyers were trading up from a smaller townhouse in the community with tween aged kids and saw it as a plus. House sold at just over asking in 3 days.

[nicolewi]

We put IN a tub in a bath that had just a shower.

We have a large master tub but really wanted a "kid tub." I don't want their stuff all in my bathroom! Our kids were 8 months, 2 and 4 when we moved in and we later had one more baby. I do think a tub is a huge positive for re-sale to families with small kids. Also, some adults just like to have a tub. Personally, I'd leave it.

[nowa]

Our kids bathroom is like that. It’s an addition and the previous owners put in a double wide shower instead of a tub. I love it so damn much. I would 10000% do it to our master if this was definitely going to be our forever home.

But I guess I would want to have at least one tub somewhere on the house if we plan to sell.

[lys]

We have one of each - one bathroom that is similar to the photo and the other bathroom has a tub/shower combo

[sandandsea]

Our upstairs guest suite has this (before we moved in) and it works really well. We are going to do a double spa shower in our master bathroom by taking out a jacuzzi tub and existing shower. We will keep one tub in our house in the hallway bathroom. Showers are simply more practical but I would keep one tub in the house.

[TBM]

We are trying to decide whether we should take out the bathtub in our main bathroom and just go with a shower, but it is fairly worthless as a tub as it is.

I have no idea how/if previous owners used it to bathe children or pets. It is a shallow, dangerously slippery, sunken tub that is difficult to get into or out of. I always feel bad for guests, although we at least have something there to keep them from slipping so it isn't too awful.

We find it easier to wash dogs in an enclosed shower than in a regular bathtub, since it is easier for them to get in and out of, and it keeps the room dryer. We have a raised dog bath for the little dogs, but they often just get showers with the handheld shower sprayer.

We just want to fill in the tub and raise the level to floor level, since we can't really put a standard tub in unless we take out the sliding glass door that is there. Besides, a shower seems more age friendly as we (and all of our friends and family) get older.

[ellipses84]

As a home buyer I want at least one bath tub for young kids. However when my kids had a bath with a tub attached to their room, they still took baths in our room because they liked the giant spa tub. That doesn’t bother me, but you may want to think about the future of the house and if you or future owners would have guests who would need or want to use a tub, that you wouldn’t want in your master. Even at my mom’s I bathe my kids in her spa tub rather than the “kids” bathroom, and they don’t seem to mind.