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a real estate agent might advise against it (resale value!), but i think if it suits your lifestyle better to have a shower stall, you should go for it. tubs can be important for families (for bathing babies), but in a 1/1, i wouldn't be overly concerned about targeting future buyers with kids.

I'm a bathtub fan. When I was hunting for a place, I told realtors I wouldn't look at places that didn't have a bathtub. The hot tub and pool would be nice, but if you're into a long hot soak, it's not the same.

That said, I had to specify this because there were a lot of shower-only apartments out there. I saw condos with 2 bathrooms - and both had showers. Obviously, there were shower-happy buyers out there.

I would never, never, never live in, let alone buy, a place without a bathtub, so my advice is to keep the tub for the resale value. Sure, your hypothetical bathtup-loving buyer could re-do the bathroom, but most buyers of 1-bedrooms are probably not rolling in dough and may not have the cash to re-do a bathroom right after purchase. Just my 2 cents...

Oddly, despite very rarely taking baths, I would not rent or buy something without a bathtub. Not sure why, but I wouldn't. Looks like the existing tub is pretty inoffensive anyway. I bet new vanity, fixtures, paint, and lighting would do wonders. Maybe new floor/tile around the tub/sliding tub doors if you want.

Curious- what's the actual issue with the tub? (If it's not broke, etc...)

I haven't taken a bath in over 20 years, and would prefer a shower if I were buying again. I may be wrong, but there is likely a male/female divergence as well. How many guys take baths??

I'm sure a real estate agent would say don't do it. But, I'd go for a deluxe super indulgent shower. It's your place now, not the next/future buyer's.

I love baths, and one of the things I loved about our current place was that it had a bathtub, but honestly, I don't use it that much. What I do love is that the shower/bath gives us a really big shower.

If you replaced the bath with a really nice, big walk-in shower, I don't think it would be a negative selling point.

While I'm not a bath-taker, I would kick myself for buying a place without a tub when it came time to wash my hand-made quilts. The dog you could manage in the shower, but anything large in need of soaking might necessitate an actual tub.

I did that in a bathroom 1.8 x 1.9 metres or about 6x7 feet.

That enabled me to have a toilet, washing machine, large porcelain basin & shower in the space. Don't need a drier in sunny Sydney (actually, its raining today!) - hang stuff on a low airer on my balcony, invisible from the street.

I have excellent floor drainage, so 10 minutes after a shower, the floor is damp not soaking.

Admittedly I haven't tried to sell, but as I did this in 1990, anyone buying 5 years from now (when I'm ready for a nursing home) would probably want to rip it out & start again. At first I fixated on the 'sale value', but as the years rolled by, I stopped caring. Right now I'd like to regrout & paint.

Only regret: I should have bought a larger heated towel rail - holes drilled in tiles are permanent.

So, how long are you planning to stay?
If the taps are on the wall next to the toilet & can't be moved, you may want to install a glass screen to stop the toilet getting wet.

PS I **LOVE** my heated towel rail because Sydney is very humid, and it stops towels getting smelly. Even in summer, they don't dry between showers. You have no idea how many times I have talked people into them & no-one has ever said they regretted it.

Actually there is an issue with the existing tub. It's old, starting to lose its finish and chipped. I was thinking along the lines of taking the whole area thats taken up by the tub and tiling it to make one big shower and maybe adding a steam function perhaps?

yeah! i'd take a fancy new shower over a plain old tub anyday. and i like baths too, but a non traditional modern shower is well, so non traditional and um, modern.

i think new tile too would look great.

i say of you do get a new tub get a claw foot. those make bathrooms so much bigger.

If you have the budget for demolition and put a very nice/modern shower header and tile. I said go ahead. You can read more about how to remove bathtub in this book:
Complete Do-It-Yourself Manual: Completely Revised and Updated by Reader Digest.

I too have a 1br/1ba and have been contemplating doing away with the tub. The only way I can seem to justify is to do something really special design-wise. Personally I take showers 99% of the time- so a really cool shower would be a selling point to me if I were buying again.

i might be wrong here, but if you get rid of the tub, wouldn't the unit be considered a 1bd and 3/4 ba? I think the only way it is considered a full 1 ba is if you have the tub, and a 1/2 bath is when you only have a sink and toilet. something to think about as far as resale goes.

la - you raise a good point! i haven't seen too many listings that include a 3/4 bath. so i think most county codes (and real estate agents) will consider any bathroom with 3+ fixtures = a full bathroom. but i have no expertise here -- i'm basing my opinion on the county records and housing listings i've come across over the years.

We just gutted our one and only bathroom and removed the tub/shower combo. We put in a walk-in tiled shower stall with no door, the entrance is somewhat smaller than a door so very little water splashes out. We did have contractor hot-mop and he also put in this special subfloor with corrugated plastic underneath to keep it all waterproof. I love it, it is much more spacious than the tub, we added a small built-in seat as well and a rain-type showerhead. This is a granny unit so didn't have to worry about resale value. I wouldn't see this as a negative if I was buying, it is now a bathroom with a high-end look to it rather than the tired old 70s tub. That said, my last bathroom gut job I went the opposite way and bought a vintage clawfoot tub and had the contractor put in a shower kit. These are made for clawfoot tubs with a shower ring and that turned out very nicely as well. Sold that house in two weeks.

We are moving away from a house where we just put in a brand-new six-foot tub. So if you do go with a tub, my advice is to get the biggest one you can afford. Our move will be great, but I'm so depressed to be losing my wonderful bathtub that I can actually stretch out in!

Just happened upon the same question on AT:NY from a few months ago.

Click on my name for the link.

I just moved into a new condo ( new building ) and there are no bathtubs - only showers - seems to be the wave of hte future. For prospective buyers -think of more than an ordinary shower -maybe a rainfall shower head - or special jets, all marble, steam shower, glass doors - these will be more appealing to a buyer than a boring bathtub.

5 years or less keep the tub. More, put in your dream shower.

But FIRST find a freind/architect to review your floorplan and see if a full bath can't be squeezed in, perhaps by borrowing just a bit of some adjoining space. A good designer can shoe-horn bathrooms into amazingly little space. Depending on your floorplan this might be a piece of cake.

There were a couple of condos when I was in the market that I walked away from, just because I found out there was no tub. Even if I don't usually take baths, I need it BE there, in case I'm injured, or in case my mother comes to visit and wants a bath..... I wouldn't ever consider not having one and it was definitely part of my shopping criteria.

We are also considering removing the bathtab and replacing it with a shower (faux marble). We have three baths and all will have showers. We figure if and when we sell we'll either lower the price on the house or replace for the new owner.

I thought about young families with small children but...everyone that comes to visit us takes a shower.

I say...go for it!