Goodbye Spa tub & shower

[wmc1000]

We recently, (Aug. 2020), purchased a new, (5 year old), home on 2.5 acres. The master suite consisted of a monstrous 5x5 spa tub and a small shower tucked into the toilet area. After spending a couple of months just to find a bathroom contractor who wasn't booked out until sometime in 2021 we found someone who was ready to start a new project!

Signed contract on Monday and they, (owner and his assistant), started that day. Today they brought in all the materials needed and commenced dismantling the spa tub. Owner said his assistant was interested in using it even though they needed to cut it in 2 pieces, (wall splashguard and nailing flange from spa tub body), to get it out of the house. Assistant say he has done bodywork on corvettes so it didn't bother him to have to reattach.

With spa tub out they will remove shower next Monday and then can start on new 5x8 walk in master shower and bathroom floor! Owner says 2 full weeks and they will be done.

[cbo111]

Good for you! Wish we had done that years ago. Our big spa tub just sits in the corner literally gathering dust. We haven't used it even once in the 5 years we've been in this house. It came with the house and I am too cheap to have it removed. Plus, maybe the next sucker....er, buyer will appreciate it more.

[pjigar]

We did the same when we renovated our house. No more tubs. Just showers everywhere. Look into Kerdi barrier if you are making a high end shower. Also consider a curbless shower. We did that in master bath.

[wmc1000]

Fortunately for us buyer had transferred 500 miles for another job and this neighborhood is far enough out that it wasn't receiving any offers and they kept dropping the price. We figured in the cost of all the changes we wanted to make, (about $30K in all), subtracted that off their already heavily reduced asking price and they quickly accepted. So we figured it as a win for us.

[wmc1000]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pjigar We did the same when we renovated our house. No more tubs. Just showers everywhere. Look into Kerdi barrier if you are making a high end shower. Also consider a curbless shower. We did that in master bath.

Similar to Kerdi, we are going with a Prova barrier system. Still have a tub in the second bath if needed.

[Jerry1]

Good for you. You’re gonna love it!

[wmc1000]

1800 sq. ft. pole barn is in my sights too. No that wasn't part of the $30K in needed improvements.

[Ready]

We want to get rid of our bathtub and replace it with a larger steam shower. Has anyone installed one of these?

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wmc1000 With spa tub out they will remove shower next Monday and then can start on new 5x8 walk in master shower and bathroom floor!

Wonderful decision! A big shower like that sounds fabulous. This might add to the resale, too, if you should ever decide to move out.

[ERD50]

Funny timing. DW and I are in the market and looked at a very nice house today. The biggest disappointment was a huge spa tub but a pitiful small/blah shower in the Master Bath.

I tore out an oversize bathtub ~ 15 years ago (regular bathtub, not a spa style, but 6"~12" longer?), and did a walk in shower. We love the shower, never used the bath.

There is still one bathtub/shower in the house, so I don't think it would hurt resale for those who feel they need a bath.

To each their own, but I just can't imagine filling a huge tub with all that water - I get bored just sitting after 10 minutes. A warm shower for maybe 10 minutes max feels great to me, better than soaking, and a lot less water.

-ERD50

[6miths]

Definitely as one gets older the appeal of tubs diminishes greatly. Especially if one has a hot tub outside. We took one large tub out entirely as our kids got older and replaced another large whirlpool tub with a standard size tub. The issue is that we live in a large family size house and IMHO a tub is essential when one has small children and a larger tub is a bonus if you have more than one to deal with at a time. When we sell, the buyer is most likely to be a larger than average size family (not thinking BMI).

[c998877]

There is an oversized jetted tub in our hall bath. We bought the house 1.5 years ago. The jets in the tub are dirty, we don't take baths, and there is no shower. We want to get rid of it. What would the cost be? $5000, $10,000? We're near Portland, Oregon.

[Bamaman]

The master bath of our "new" home has a spa bath and a 4'x4' shower with a custom 3 walled glass enclosure. The bath is huge room, and it's easier to just leave the bath we don't use.

The shower is manmade marble, and a home inspector spotted mold underneath. I got a $3K adjustment at closing to deal with the leak. After removing half the panels, I found the leak to be from poor workmanship. I resealed everything with Redgard, and it no longer leaks.

I've rebuilt a number of bathrooms throughout the years. Adding a custom built shower enclosure is no big deal--but time consuming. I built one shower for $135 in supplies. I also put a tile floor in one bath for $85 (cheap tile), and it sold the home. Tile work is not difficult or expensive to do for an amateur and the payoff can be great. The big expense in building showers is the shower doors.

Winter is upon us, and I have a bathroom floor to replace in our lake house. And the first shower enclosure I built 40 years ago will be torn out and replaced. I've already retiled the rest of that bath.

[ckelly78z]

One of the best things we ever did was to gut my downstairs bathroom, and replace the cast iron soaking tub with a large 36"x60" shower that has a moveable bench on one end.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/STERLING...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

This will set us up for any future disabilities, while also making much better use of the space we had. It's so nice to not step over that huge tub side, and risk a fall on the curved slippery parts.

[GalaxyBoy]

We have been house hunting for years with no luck. One of the things we always look for is how to remove those dang monster dust collectors tubs from the master baths. When we sold our last house the buyer’s inspector discovered the pump was dead, we had no idea for years.

Good for you, and good luck with the renovation.

[JoeWras]

I should start a thread on "Home Trends that Nobody Liked." These huge spa-tubs have to be on that list. Every single one of them I've encountered is rarely, if never, used by the owners. They do make good traps for dying roaches.

I wonder what trend going on today will soon be hated?

Anyway, congrats OP on finding a contractor. Hope you enjoy your new more usable space. I like the peace sign given by the worker. Cool picture.

[wmc1000]

Quote:

Originally Posted by c998877 There is an oversized jetted tub in our hall bath. We bought the house 1.5 years ago. The jets in the tub are dirty, we don't take baths, and there is no shower. We want to get rid of it. What would the cost be? $5000, $10,000? We're near Portland, Oregon.

For us the cost of the tiled walk in shower including 2 full glass panels, 2 oversize niches, a corner bench and new waterproof flooring in the rest of the bath and master closet is going to run $14K.

[pjigar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by c998877 There is an oversized jetted tub in our hall bath. We bought the house 1.5 years ago. The jets in the tub are dirty, we don't take baths, and there is no shower. We want to get rid of it. What would the cost be? $5000, $10,000? We're near Portland, Oregon.

Modest bathroom renovation runs at about $10000. But get this, material is way less than half the cost.

We renovated master bath ourselves. This was a walk-in curbless cove shower with double wall niches. The material was about $3000 including custom single vanity, faucets, plumbing, backer boards, kerdie barrier and drain, tiles, glass tile trims, frameless shower door. Biggest ticket item was the frameless shower door for $900.

[pjigar]

Here a picture of the shower cove. By the way, the faucet in the shower was added on purpose. DW like to fill bucket for washing small clothes by hand and to clean the shower. 20201018_101437.jpg

[wmc1000]

In my younger days I have done my own but it takes me a whole lot longer nowadays and DW didn't want to lose her master bath for any longer than necessary! Happy wife MUCH MORE IMPORTANT than money!!!!!