Master Bath Renovation Opinions Needed Please

[QueenIsabella]

Well, I think a house needs to have a tub somewhere. People still bathe their little kids. We never use a tub and I don't like showering in a tub, but we kept the one in the hall bath when we remodeled.

I love the look of the fancy master baths with big shower and soaker tub, but who has room for that?

Agreed, you need a tub somewhere. I also think, personally, that having a big soaker tub is nice, but I like having a regular tub for bathing kids. My kids love using my big tub now, but they only use it occasionally--I wouldn't want to have to fill that thing with water regularly, and it's like a swimming pool.

We have a huge master bath--18'x14', plus a separate dressing area and large closet. It's nice, but to my mind, a huge waste of space. I'm in there, what--half an hour a day, tops? And it's weird, not only is ours poorly tiled (it looks like they used remnants from other tile jobs), but we have a teeny, tiny shower. When I shave my legs, I feel like I'm being waterboarded. Yet, it has all this open space, and even in the current configuration, the shower could have been twice the size--there's a towel bar between it and one of the vanities. The real irony is, when our neighborhood was built, this was the builder's house. Downstairs, it's obvious that a ton of thought went into it--plenty of outlets, huge closets, etc. But then upstairs in the MBA, they filled grout holes meant to hold 1" square tiles.????? I can't imagine those being a budget-breaker! Because those tiles are surrounding the humongous jetted tub that could house a family of four. I don't get it.

 

[Skellingtonj]

I wanted to remove our tub as well my husband said we couldn’t sell the house if we did. I asked his cousin who helped with our renovation and he agreed. We have no plans to sell, but it seems a tub is a selling point.

 

[loves to dive]

I'm with you original poster, we have the same thing and I've been begging honey to take out the garden tub and put in a huge shower and maybe just a small cast iron tub (like from the 30s) instead. We have 3 full baths and 2 half baths so taking out the tub wouldn't matter but we don't really care about resale value. We have a real hot tub in our basement so don't need the garden tub and our master shower is a tiny fiberglass one, which I hate. We also have a huge picture window over the garden tub, which makes no sense to me since it looks out straight to our neighbors house so the shade is never up. I'd like to take that out as well, there is a high window in the bathroom as well so light still would get in there without the window over the tub.

 

[Dancind]

We do have a nice big tiled shower, with an overhead rain type shower head. DH is a remodeling contractor, and I let him make all the decisions since I figure he's the expert. If I had a do-over, would pick a less masculine tile, a hand held attachment on the shower head and maybe not the direct overhead one, and a seat at the end. Girly stuff.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Take out the tub and put in a luxurious oversized shower instead. This is the way of the future, especially in the master bath. The lack of tub will be almost meaningless. Most people want the oversized walk in shower. If you are in an area where older people are likely buyers, get a shower that is nearly level or even potentially roll in.

In our area, the lack of tub would have ZERO effect on resale value IF the shower is nice...e.g., tiled and not prefabricated with a nice glass enclosure. This is what is being put into nearly all new construction. Think double shower heads, a rain shower head coming straight down, etc.

Here is an example of what I have in mind:

https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...21879001415/IMG_8156_HighRes.jpg?format=1500w

Someone sees a shower like that, they aren't even going to notice the lack of a tub.

Wowee!!! Very cool.

 

[Aimeedyan]

We've owned 3 homes and only 1 had a bathtub in the master. It was a big garden tub and it was used 2 times in the 7 years we lived there. It just collected dust and was a pain to clean! We are not bath people, evidently.

The other 2 homes were older and only had a shower/sink/toilet in the master. One was built in 1980 and our current house was built in 1965. There was a tub in the hall bath so I guess it wasn't important to have 2 in the house. We had no issues selling our 1980 house, but of course most looking for a house in our area found the same thing in the master bath because that's how the houses were built.

I think resale should be considered before making major home decisions but I also think it's your home now and you deserve the love the space you live in. Who knows - you may live there for 20 years!

 

[Julie's Haircut]

So what does Zillow or Realtor.com consider a master that has a toilet, tub, separate shower. and two sinks? A 5/4 bath???

I've never seen a listing with anything as ridiculous as a 3/4 bath. If it has a shower, it's a full bath.

 

[GoofyBaseballMom26]

Thanks everyone for your input. Really good information and it's given me a lot to think about. Feeling better about the big shower!!!

 

[QueenIsabella]

So what does Zillow or Realtor.com consider a master that has a toilet, tub, separate shower. and two sinks? A 5/4 bath???

I've never seen a listing with anything as ridiculous as a 3/4 bath. If it has a shower, it's a full bath.

You can think it's ridiculous all you like, but it's a real thing. It may well be regional, I don't know. A full bath has a tub, a 3/4 bath only has a shower. TVguy quoted Zillow in Post #17--he hadn't heard of it, either.

 

[EveDallas]

Take out the tub and put in a luxurious oversized shower instead. This is the way of the future, especially in the master bath. The lack of tub will be almost meaningless. Most people want the oversized walk in shower. If you are in an area where older people are likely buyers, get a shower that is nearly level or even potentially roll in.

In our area, the lack of tub would have ZERO effect on resale value IF the shower is nice...e.g., tiled and not prefabricated with a nice glass enclosure. This is what is being put into nearly all new construction. Think double shower heads, a rain shower head coming straight down, etc.

Here is an example of what I have in mind:

https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...21879001415/IMG_8156_HighRes.jpg?format=1500w

Someone sees a shower like that, they aren't even going to notice the lack of a tub.

I would definitely notice the lack of tub, no matter how fancy the shower is. Can't really soak your aching muscles in the shower at the end of the day.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

You can think it's ridiculous all you like, but it's a real thing. It may well be regional, I don't know. A full bath has a tub, a 3/4 bath only has a shower. TVguy quoted Zillow in Post #17--he hadn't heard of it, either.

It has to be regional. I am a moving all the time it seems, and have never seen it in a listing. It is full or half bath here. Half bath meaning there is NO TUB.

I would say a MASTER BATH includes a TUB. As per OP's idea, IF she put in a cool set up you could away with it.

Technically you are reducing your "house listing" in baths but eh. If you plan to stay there enjoy life I say.

 

[NHdisneylover]

It has to be regional. I am a moving all the time it seems, and have never seen it in a listing. It is full or half bath here. Half bath meaning there is NO TUB.

I would say a MASTER BATH includes a TUB. As per OP's idea, IF she put in a cool set up you could away with it.

Technically you are reducing your "house listing" in baths but eh. If you plan to stay there enjoy life I say.

It might well be regional---we'Vve lived in multiple states and seen the 3/4 bath designation as meaning has a shower but no tub quite a lot. It doesn't work the other way around--ony a tub but no shower is a full bath. I'd rather have jsut the shower over just a tub, and we ran into a handful of places that the only full bath was tub only with a slanted roof or some other issue which made adding a shower fixture impossible--I always wished there was an easy way to weed those listings out. I don't recall ever being somewhere which did not use that term in MLS listings--though it might have happened; it's not like i was specifically looking for it.
I actually think the term may be going out of style now that large and luxurious bathrooms often have "only" a high send shower in them.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

It might well be regional---we'Vve lived in multiple states and seen the 3/4 bath designation as meaning has a shower but no tub quite a lot. It doesn't work the other way around--ony a tub but no shower is a full bath. I'd rather have jsut the shower over just a tub, and we ran into a handful of places that the only full bath was tub only with a slanted roof or some other issue which made adding a shower fixture impossible--I always wished there was an easy way to weed those listings out. I don't recall ever being somewhere which did not use that term in LLS lkistings--though it might have happened; it's not like i was specifically looking for it.
I actually think the term may be going out of style now that large and luxurious bathrooms often have "only" a high send shower in them.

Can I say I HATE sliding glass bathroom doors with the fire of a thousand suns. I am not even using my Master Bath right now since it is a PITA to clean and we are going on the market in a few days.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Can I say I HATE sliding glass bathroom doors with the fire of a thousand suns. I am not even using my Master Bath right now since it is a PITA to clean and we are going on the market in a few days.

None of ours slides. We have edgeless with hinges---SOOOO easy to clean and bright. It cost a small fortune, but dang i am glad we bit the bullet when we built---I love them.

 

[kidshop]

The house we just bought does not have a master tub. In this area as long as there is one tub in the house, all is good for resale.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

None of ours slides. We have edgeless with hinges---SOOOO easy to clean and bright. It cost a small fortune, but dang i am glad we bit the bullet when we built---I love them.

Well I am quoting you. That sounds cool, edgeless hinges. Thanks

 

[NHdisneylover]

The small one is simiar to this, except the floor is the same bathroom wide and there is no track at the base--the very minor tilt in the shower floor keeps water from going out. :

 

[NHdisneylover]

I think I finally figured out how to post a photo of my own---if this works, here is the large shower (in a space originally slated to have a tub/shower combo). The door swings both directions and is wide enough for a wheel chair if we ever need that . We put mirrored glass on the one side but could have had clear all the way across. I'm sure a real estate agent could make it looks much prettier in the photo--in real life it looks really good but getting the top and bottom in in a photo was hard for my skilless self---I couldn't even figure out how to avoud the reflection of the window in the glass

 

[tvguy]

Not true. A bathroom with just a shower is considered a 3/4 bath. This has been the case at least since 1987, when we bought our first house, which had one.

I wouldn't want a house with no tub, anywhere, but a snazzy master shower would totally work for me. We'll keep the tub in our MBA when we (eventually) renovate, but mostly because there's a ton of room for one. We're looking at renovating our downstairs bathrooms sooner, and plan to turn the downstairs "second master" bathroom into one with just a large walk-in shower, maybe with a bench. Our DS20 (current resident) doesn't care, one way or the other, but we're looking at our possible needs for the future.

From the California Board of Realtors....and yes, this may be California specific:
"We used to call those types of bathrooms 3/4 baths, but not anymore. We call them full baths now"

 

[NHdisneylover]

From the California Board of Realtors....and yes, this may be California specific:
"We used to call those types of bathrooms 3/4 baths, but not anymore. We call them full baths now"

That makes sense now that only a shower doesn't mean "too small to fit a tub" as it tended to a decade or more back. I have a feeling that things will slowly swing that way in more and more areas.