Bath/Shower Question and value of home.. (floor, drain, bathtub)

[thegirlinaz]

We live in a 1200sf, three bed, two bath house. The two bathrooms are just regular size. Both of them have the shower/bath combo where it is just one big plastic piece. that goes up the wall a little. Here is an example of what I am talking about, although this isn't ours..

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We are thinking of taking the entire shower/bath piece out of the master bathroom and making it just a shower with tile on the walls. Like this for example:

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My question is.. would that increase or decrease the value of our home? The shower would be nicer, but it will be the same size minus a bathtub (although there is still a bathtub in the other bathroom).

What are your opinions? Is this hard to do yourself or should we hire someone? Has anyone ever done this? What did it cost you? Is it easy to move the drain over also?

Any insight would help

[eggalegga]

I am a shower taker, not a bath taker. I prefer a shower and would much rather have the updated, nicer, tile shower. However, whenever I watch House Hunters or smilar shows, the wife or woman of the house seems to want a bathtub in the master bathroom. So I guess it just depends on who you might potentially sell your current home to. How long do you intend to live there? If you're going to be there for quite some time you might just do what works best for you.

[M3 Mitch]

I doubt you would make money on the project if you did it and then sold the house, if that's what you are asking.

Maybe because I'm an old car guy as well, but to me 2 bathrooms in the house that "match" and are "period correct", even if the period is the 1920's, is more to my liking than one like the first picture, and one like the 2nd picture.

Leaving well enough alone is always free, and always works...

[thegirlinaz]

Well I hope we won't live in this house forever.. but we definately aren't planning on selling it anywhere in the near future. I just figure that if we want to take a bath we could always use the one in the guest bathroom. And like I said, our masterbathroom isn't huge, the tub is just a small regular tub (so it isn't like a selling feature or anything). I just don't want to make the change then lose more value of the home and have it be a waste of money, but I like the idea of a nicer shower with tile.

[T. Damon]

As long as you have one tub in the house, change that other one out to your liking- it will not adversely affect the value of the house and trust me you'll love not having to step over the side of the tub to get in the shower.

[GaryH3]

We did just the same in our new house. We have a nice roomy shower in the master bathroom and a tub in the second bathroom. I had plenty of people express their opinion that it would be a big negative when we decide to sell. When I ask those same people how often they use their soaking tub, the answer ranged from "never" to "almost never". We had a big soaking tub in the master bath of our last house that we used exactly twice in 18 years. Even without use, it still needed periodic cleaning and was a waste of space for us. Real estate professional were the most adamant that this was a mistake, so maybe most people really do ask for a soaking tub. I just haven't met any that actually use it.

[Elke Mariotti]

As long as you have one tub you'll be ok.
I just had one buyer nix an otherwise "perfect" house because there were two shower stalls and no tub; they have young children who are not ready for taking showers and doing over a bathroom wasn't something they wanted to do the minute they moved in.

[Poltracker]

Oh well, guess I'm the oddball. Can't live without a bathtub, soaker or not. Personally, I would take out the cheap plastic bath, put in a real tub and nice tile. That is just me though.

[Elke Mariotti]

Originally Posted by Poltracker

Oh well, guess I'm the oddball. Can't live without a bathtub, soaker or not. Personally, I would take out the cheap plastic bath, put in a real tub and nice tile. That is just me though.

Not an oddball at all - I need a tub too (have two LOL)
After a stressful day, a nice long, hot, bubbly, relaxing bath does wonders

[f_m]

It's easier to take a shower in the stand up shower because the floor is bigger and doesn't slope. So for some that's better.