If you don't plan on selling the house in the near future, IMO, then this shouldn't be an issue. If you feel the tub to be useless, why not put in a shower you'd be using innumerable times?

Even when contemplating resale value, a lux shower could be a plus, when marketed right.

We aren't doing a tub in our master bath. We have another bathroom in the house with a tub. I think one is necessary.

Sinvce this is a "master bath" you have another bathroom in the house, correct?

If you have another bathroom in the house that has a tub, then a large walk-in shower is a big plus in a master bath. A tub is not a necessity.

Steam showers are a big plus in a resellers market as well.

Personally, I'm not a fan of body sprays, but that's just me. I do like a regular shower head with a good strong spray, I do like a rainshower head with it's gentler shower, I'm not into steam showers either.

Mongo

I am building new home and will not have tub in master bath.
There will be a tub in one of the bathrooms. We never use
a tub. I only clean the hair and dust out of it.

We are just completing our master bath remodel and we took out the Whirl pool tub and put in a large shower with body sprays and rain head. No regrets about taking out the tub at all...never use it and we have one in the guest bath.

We are gutting the house. Decided a large steam shower in the master bath would get (way) more use than a tub. So a 6 foot tub is planned for the second bath.

We just took the tub out of our master bathroom, in favor of more cabinet space for storage and a larger, nicer shower with a bench. We used to have one of those big 'ol corner "garden" tubs that we rarely used and that dominated the space. Our other bathroom on the upper level still has a tub.

I agonized over this decision a little, because I was worried it would hurt resale, but my contractor told me he's taking these tubs out of master baths all the time now - it sounds like it won't be all that unusual in the coming years, and that a lot of people are opting for more luxurious showers and foregoing a tub.

The shower enclosure was just installed yesterday, so I haven't actually used it yet. But so far I'm thrilled with the look of the bathroom without that big eyesore, and am over the moon at the prospect of reclaiming some of the old tub space for much-needed storage.

We're planning a redo of our master bath too ... and would love to eliminate the soaking tub we have and just have a big shower. We've decided against it because we've been told by a real estate person that if we list the house...the bathroom cannot be considered a full bath...but a 3/4 bath. We have one other full bathroom. I think if we were sure we'd be staying here another 10 years or more we'd just take out the tub, but on the other hand if we want to sell - wouldn't be good if we couldn't attract buyers just because of the '3/4' bath designation. Anyone else heard of this??
d

I think you should remodel to suit yourself. Unless you are planning on selling the house soon, and you are actually remodeling for the new buyers. In which case, line up the new buyers first. If you don't like baths why would you want a tub? As long as there is a second bathroom with a tub for someone with kids, I doubt it would be much of an issue.

My sister remodeled her bathroom and opted to take out the tub. She hates baths. Me, on the other hand, I love baths and insisted on a soaking tub in this remodel. But I bought this house without a tub in the master, cuz it's a super duper neighborhood. In this remodel, we lost a bedroom and a half bath on the first floor but we are making the house really comfortable for our family. It's wonderful to free yourself from worring about resale. Worry about resale too much and for sure you'll be dying to move :-)

I dunno, this particular style of question comes up so much that I think a lot of people must end up with spaces they can never really love, just because another person in the future might not agree with their remodeling decisions.

Just remember, everyone who tells you that they would never buy your house because it didn't have a tub is just that person's deal, not everyone who will ever be shopping for a house. My sister would buy your house! I myself would never want to buy a house with blue vinyl siding. However, those blue houses get sold. And when I was house hunting, I saw LOTS of ugly granite that no doubt the owners put in for "resale". Huge turnoff for me, but those houses still sold.

In the end it always comes down to cleanliness, correct market pricing, and location.

Unless you're a house flipper, life is too short to make decisions based on what somebody, somewhere, may or make not like in the future.

Good luck!

Realtors operate on generalities -- what some average homebuyer supposedly wants. They want a biege house with a checklist of things from the 1950's, apparently. Personally when I was looking at houses, I valued most highly those with generous walk in showers; whether they had a tub was utterly and completely irrelevant. And while I ended up buying a house in a conservation district with a tub (complete with its original 1948 bathroom in pink and blue color scheme), that is coming out and a walk-in-shower going in!!

Never heard of the 3/4 bath thing. Sounds like more realtor-school 101 bs to me. BUT, even if you spend $25,000 and recoup only $15,000 upon resale, that $10,000 is your opportunity/pleasure cost. And I personally think 90% of buyers are just like you and me -- they think tubs are useless and large walk-in showers are a godsend!! IMHO

In our MB, we yanked out our big ole jacuzzi tub and made a big shower (with a bench) out of the space.

We're not one bit sorry. We do have a tub in a guest bath, which we use when the grandbabies visit.

Does two 3/4 baths equal a 1.5?

I bet this bathroom remodel question is asked more often than any other.

We installed a corner soaking tub when we remodeled our MB and, despite all of the other bells and whistles we opted for, visitors inevitably admire the bathtub first.

That said, we only use our big tub occasionally and I always resent having to clean it just to remove a layer of dust. However, for those times when I really want a nice hot luxurious bath, IÂd sure hate to be without it.

Here in SoCal at least, a bathroom with just a shower (no tub) is indeed called a 3/4 bath. A powder room is a half-bath. A bath with a tub is a full bath. Probably a carry-over from the '50's, but that's what it is. (My main credential is that I'm married to a realtor.)

But the typical suburban (older) home has 1-3/4 baths, or sometimes 2-3/4 baths. Upper end homes with 3 or 4 baths....fractions are seldom used. They aren't summed to a total, that's for sure.

That aside, 10 years ago, we purchased a home for my mom-in-law in our neighborhood. The main bath had been converted to a shower only - tub removed, space is now a large shower. There is also a 3/4 bath with a shower. Even though she was elderly, she preferred showers, and the house had enough other selling points that it was the one she bought. She still uses the showers - with a seat - and only occasionally wishes she had a bath.

I would not remodel my house for sale, unless I were planning to sell within 3 or 4 years. But on the other hand, sometimes people do things to their houses that make it hard to sell if it is not a good seller's market. DH saw a home not long ago that had a nice laundry room open to the kitchen, big plus in our older neighborhood. Next to the washer and dryer, with a nice window view of the street, was a urinal. Didn't get rave reviews from the agents on tour.

In our master bath remodel we managed to squeeze in a tub and a shower stall -- but it is a very small shower. It was that, or no separate shower as this is the only bathroom with a tub so we decided we would not jettison the tub. (The second full bath has a shower). There are some smaller deeper soaking tubs out there that might allow you to squeeze in both a shower and a tub.

We are currently building a new house and much to the dismay of my plumber we opted to not put any tubs in the house. We chose to go with showers only.

We decided to build for our lifestyles and not resale.