Remove Bath from Main Bathroom or Not?

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niceoneted

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I have been having an inner battle in my mind as to whether I should get rid of my bath from the main bathroom and replace with a proper shower unit.
I have my house from new and have never been happy with the layout of the main bathroom. I did look to have it changed by the builders but no joy. I had recently hoped to move closer to the city but with reduction in pay etc that is not now an option so am staying put.
The bath has been used less than a handful of times in the 7.5 yrs I'm living in the house. Guests and any lodgers I've had have always used just the shower part which I feel is inadequate.
I cannot see myself selling this house for the medium term at least so is there any major draw back in removing bath and installing a proper shower unit.
Thoughts please and thanks.
 
If you only have one bathroom (no ensuites) maybe it might be handy. My parents friends are in their late 60's and find it easier to use shower unit rather than a bath. It also makes their bathroom seem much larger than previously.

However my only concern would be resale, if on the open market it would not appeal to the family segment.
 
I'll 2nd what Vinnie cork said.

If i was looking at buying another house it would put me off big time that there was no bath. Not just because i had children but for my self as well.

I could count on one hand how many baths i've had in the last few years but i still like the idea that i can have a bath well i want to just lie there and read a book.

You might want to find out if you needed to how much it would cost to put a bath back into the bathroom. If it would only be 1k and you were planning to stay in the house for 5/10 years, then for you to be happy with your bathroom there 1k isn't a huge amount of money. On the other hand if it would cost 5k, there's a bit more thinking to do about it.
 
I would also weigh in on the "keep the bath" side. Getting rid of it will definitely hurt your resale, and although you say you don't see yourself moving in the medium term, when you do you won't want the hassle of reinstalling a bath at that stage. I bought a house and redid the bathroom and I replaced the bath with a new bath, even though I haven't had a bath since I was a kid and don't forsee having one any time soon. But it's really no extra hassle to have it, it's nice to have the option (for myself or a housemate or guest) and I also do believe it'll be worth if I ever go to sell.

But you say that you've never been happy with the layout of your bathroom, so if you're spending money maybe there's a way to improve the layout without losing the bath. For example, you could get one of those baths that has a "bubble" at the shower end so you'd have more room when you shower.
 
We've been having the same discussion in our house - bathroom badly needs refurbishment and the bathtub hasn't been used more than a handful of times in the last 10 years and since the 'child' is now a 'teenager' and only showers, it has become completely redundant.

Absolute waste of space to have something as large as a bathtub which is never used.

After much discussion, we've decided to take it out and put in a large shower unit and note where the plumbing is under the new tiles so that if we come to sell in the future, we can put a smaller one back in again for the sale.
 
If it's only for the convience of guests and lodger rather than the overall needs of you or your family (if you have any) then I wouldn't bother - nobody minds showering in a bath for a week or 2. If it would suit your family better - then go for it & worry about the resale whenever that may be (maybe never !! ).

If it's any help, I was in the same position a few years ago - the kids kept coming into use our en-suite shower rather than the shower over the bath. As they got older, I felt it wasn't the most appropriate setup & considered changing the bath to a shower. The resale value bothered me so I opted to install a power shower instead. For 4 years I regretted it as they still prefered the "proper shower" option and kept using our ensuite & the bath remained unused.

Then about a year ago, my OH & 2 of the kids decided baths were the best thing ever and the bath is now used several time every week!! Personally, I's still love to get shot of it, but if it's being used, so be it!!
 
Does your ensuite have a bath? If so I don't think there's a problem getting rid of the bath in the main bathroom, I did it a few years ago and installed a really good shower. The main bathroom now looks far more spacious.
 
Thanks for all the feedback and ideas. I have been doing some research on bathroom suites and pieces and I think the best thing would be to get a bath and shower combination. when I went to investigate there are a lot of pipes running under the bath itself so it would be too much to cover/move these I feel.
Now to get pricing it!!
 
How big is the bathroom?
We stripped our bathroom back to the brick and removed a redundant airing cupboard (hot press) and had a full size roll top bath, 1200 x 900 shower cubicle, whb and two radiators/towel rails fitted.
The bathroom is 3.4m x 2.4m and still seems quite spacious.
 
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