Another vote for keep the bath, it’s great for families and pet lovers 

Ditch it.. It's the first thing I plan to kill from my house when I renovate the bathroom. 

alisam:

 

Handle9:

 

What would the benefit be of getting rid of the bath? If you have an ensuite I'm assuming you shower in there. What will you use the space for if you delete the bath?

 

If it's a 2 bedroom family house I'd expect a bath when buying. Generally buyers will be families with kids. With young kids you really want a bath, once they move on to showering it's not so important but for 5 or so years it's pretty great to have a bath.

 

Don't expect renovations to make a big difference to the value of the house. If you get your money back that'd be a good result but often it doesn't work out that way. Your expectations may be too high for the current market.

 

 

His and her bathrooms!!!

 

How does removing the bath improve things? Is there a separate shower already in the "family" bathroom or is it a shower over bath?

A bath is a pretty cheap way to fill up a renovated bathroom. It's one of the easier and cheaper things to replace "like for like."

If you're planning to sell before you die, keep the bath. 

My parents renovated in their early 60s and got the bath removed, regretted it a few years later when grandchildren came along. 

In our first home there was no bath, a couple of large buckets in the shower served the kids well enough. But not everyone will see it the same way. 

Personally I would do what you want, not what other people might want for "resale value".

If you wanted more info, you might like to speak to a real estate agent about what the target market buyers for your house would be and whether a bath would really be a factor. As others have said, my instinct is that baths mostly appeal to first home buyers/families with young kids whereas an accessible/no step shower potentially is of more appeal to older buyers. But if your target market is reasonably affluent second/third home buyers, they're probably going to want to do at least some renovations to put their stamp on things anyway.

You've obviously got the space for a bath, so one halfway option for renovating your bathroom might be to make it "bath ready" - i.e., in wall plumbing and drain installed for a free standing bath while you're renovating, but not actually install the bath. I've seen real estate agents spin worse... "All the hard work has been done, all you have to do is find the free standing bath of your dreams and you're good to go."

mdf:

 

Personally I would do what you want, not what other people might want for "resale value".

 

If you wanted more info, you might like to speak to a real estate agent about what the target market buyers for your house would be and whether a bath would really be a factor. As others have said, my instinct is that baths mostly appeal to first home buyers/families with young kids whereas an accessible/no step shower potentially is of more appeal to older buyers. But if you're target market is reasonably affluent second/third home buyers, they're probably going to want to do at least some renovations to put their stamp on things anyway.

 

You've obviously got the space for a bath, so one halfway option for renovating your bathroom might be to make it "bath ready" - i.e., in wall plumbing and drain installed for a free standing bath while you're renovating, but not actually install the bath. I've seen real estate agents spin worse... "All the hard work has been done, all you have to do is find the free standing bath of your dreams and you're good to go."

 

 

 

I like your 'bath ready' idea. We are in similar dilemma. The bath plumbing is in the wrong part of the room for a new shower installation so your suggestion to leave plumbing capped in position for a future bath is great for resale especially if the space is made into a wet room with this in mind.

I would definitely be doing the renovation to suit personal future issues rather than future buyers. Consider that you can’t suit all of the people all of the time and even the most beautiful renovations could be another persons worst.

Our friend just completed a bathroom using white subway tiles which I abhor. My taste is warmer sandy colours, so that would put me off buying that particular place or I would need to factor in cost of re-tiling or just live with it. 

Do what makes you happiest and makes most sense for your situation.

alisam: I would like to get rid of the bath but facing strong opposition.

I've had this circular argument several times with people: You can't get rid of the bath because a house needs a bath, you can't have a house without a bath because it needs to have a bath, repeat ad infinitum.  Of the people I know whose houses have baths their uses are towel storage, clothes rack, drying area, and dead insect storage.  Zero people that I know actually use them.

When we redo the bathroom, we'll get the bath (actually a shub) removed.  "Oh noes, how will you sell the house if there's no bath?" -> "Well, I guess it'll be bought by someone who doesn't care if the house has a bath or not".

The "house needs a bath" thing seems to be the equivalent of the paint locker on the Sea Shadow stealth ship, which couldn't be painted because it was coated in RAM.  Nevertheless the Navy insisted it have a paint locker because it was a ship and ships should have a paint locker.

+1 keep a bath.   Kids  and pets. and cleaning some big stuff.

Baths can be cheap, so its not like its that crazy much more to keep a bath.   

Silly people see a 90s house and make low ball offers, never got the "i want a turn key house" thing.   Really it should be, see a 90s hours or earlier, get more land.  nice.

I wouldn't like to live in a house without a bathtub, great way to unwind after a hard day of work.

What about a bath tub in a shed or down the end of the garden for times when the dog needs a wash or you have to soak four sets of greasy overalls. Summertime kids would probably love a wash outside. Might take my own suggestion when we remove the bath. 

That's what we had as kids, Father Neb's old copper tub that he used for water for the concrete mixer.  When a bunch of kids came up from the beach covered in sand and salt crust we got washed down in the tub.

For washing infants, we had a small mini-tub that you could sit on the sink bench, to avoid having to bend down to floor level to do it in a bathtub.

Dulouz:

 

I wouldn't like to live in a house without a bathtub, great way to unwind after a hard day of work.

 

Periodically I love soaking in a nice hot bath, read a book, drink some wine, and r-e-l-a-x.....

Our current bath is so shallow its worthless, so we (Make that a royal we) plan to rip it out and put in a nice deep one with some place for the wine glass.

It will be cheaper to buy, cheaper to run than a spa pool.

Eva888:

 

mdf:

 

Personally I would do what you want, not what other people might want for "resale value".

 

If you wanted more info, you might like to speak to a real estate agent about what the target market buyers for your house would be and whether a bath would really be a factor. As others have said, my instinct is that baths mostly appeal to first home buyers/families with young kids whereas an accessible/no step shower potentially is of more appeal to older buyers. But if you're target market is reasonably affluent second/third home buyers, they're probably going to want to do at least some renovations to put their stamp on things anyway.

 

You've obviously got the space for a bath, so one halfway option for renovating your bathroom might be to make it "bath ready" - i.e., in wall plumbing and drain installed for a free standing bath while you're renovating, but not actually install the bath. I've seen real estate agents spin worse... "All the hard work has been done, all you have to do is find the free standing bath of your dreams and you're good to go."

 

 

I like your 'bath ready' idea. We are in similar dilemma. The bath plumbing is in the wrong part of the room for a new shower installation so your suggestion to leave plumbing capped in position for a future bath is great for resale especially if the space is made into a wet room with this in mind.

 

I would definitely be doing the renovation to suit personal future issues rather than future buyers. Consider that you can’t suit all of the people all of the time and even the most beautiful renovations could be another persons worst.

 

Our friend just completed a bathroom using white subway tiles which I abhor. My taste is warmer sandy colours, so that would put me off buying that particular place or I would need to factor in cost of re-tiling or just live with it. 

Do what makes you happiest and makes most sense for your situation.

 

It's a solution looking for a problem. If there is no bath and you are adding one you are likely looking a full renovation of the bathroom. At that point you are saving very minor amounts of money if it's plumbed for a bath. If the space is left empty what's the point of not having a bath? You are spending a fair chunk of the money and getting nothing in return but wasted space.

I certainly wouldn't pay any more for, or be more likely to buy, a house with no bath but that was plumbed for one. 

Have a bath or don't have a bath but don't waste money trying to please everyone. You won't, you'll just waste your money.