Would you buy a house that has two showers and no bath?

[BubblingBobbling]

I'd like to get rid of our bath and install a shower cubicle which would free up some much needed storage space in our small family bathroom.

No one in our household has had a bath in years and I feel a shower cubicle would work better for us (me and two adult DC).

The master bedroom already has a small en-suite shower room which DH uses.

But I'm concerned no bath could put people off buying when we sell up in a few years time (5+ years).

Would you be happy buying a house with no bath?

Because not all houses cost half a million quid, and not everyone wants to fork out 10 grand on something you’d expect to already have?

If it’s considered a young family house then you really need a bath. I wouldn’t look at houses without baths if my children were youngsters.

Wouldn’t put me off at all. We have a similar set up. We’ve just redone our bathroom and changed the bath for a large shower cubicle. Two adults and three teens, all prefer showers. Though I might think differently if I still had small children.

We don’t intend to move anytime soon so works for us.

We took our bath out a few years ago as DM couldn't get in it for a shower. It would be an easy job for the plumber to put a bath back in though. Will have a think when we come to sell it. Houses on our street sell before the board goes up usually, even in this climate.

As a very old person I tend to browse Rightmove for bungalows and if I see there is no bath but a shower in the same space my mind automatically reduces the price by £5k or more!

I find it so weird people don't have baths. Like, never have a bath? So strange.

You’ll certainly narrow down your buyers. Would it put me off? No because I never use the bath and don’t have young children. But some people love a bath. And some people insist they need a bath for children.

I agree but my DH hates having a bath and always has.

Given you plan to sell relatively soon and it's a family style home, I'd keep the bath. When we were house hunting, we didn't consider any houses without baths. We just couldn't be bothered doing the work to change it, when almost every other house we looked at had one already.

It's the kind of thing that people will accept if there's few other options or the price is low enough. But if there are other similar houses, it could be the deciding factor against yours.

1. i would definitely buy a house with no baths provided the showers were decent ones and didn't need replacing but then I'd replace a bath anyway.
2. Many many people including me would probably want to replace a 5 year old bathroom anyway
3. One of the absolute worst decisions late DH and I ever made was to design our kitchen replacement based on our intention to sell. i still don't love the kitchen and circumstances meant that I am still here with an expensiveish kitchen I dislike.
4. TLDR put the shower in. Don't live your life by what someone else might want in the future. We designed the garden by what we wanted regardless of the future some 30+ years later I still love it

I think this is fair. I would buy it in a heart beat as I never bath (shower only) as do the rest of the family. When DD was a baby we managed perfectly well with a plastic tub in the shower for her baths. I've never undertood the attraction of a bath - the water gets cold quickly, and manky with soap scum, and they're harder to clean than a shower - but I do appreciate that many people love a bath, and for them it would be a deal breaker, so it's reasonable to say this will narrow down potential buyers in the future.

I like a bath, but if the house was otherwise good, it wouldn’t be a deal-breaker.

My only deal-breaker is a saniflo toilet. My current house had (past tense) two and they were a bloody nightmare.

Everything else is up for negotiation.

also a very old person who cannot get in or out of a bath. Generally fighting fit in other ways but old knee injuries. I know ALL about bath aids and am never using one.

I moved into a house with two showers and no baths this summer (not by choice). It's been ok so far but I did miss having a bath the other evening when it was cold out and I was very stiff from the gym. I also didn't have anywhere to strip-wash pillows, or soak the oven racks in dishwasher tablets, both of which I've always done in the bath. But those are minor niggles and I figured out other ways to do them. Biggest issue was when my nephews came over and usually I would throw them in the bath after dinner for a play - supervising slippery toddlers in the shower is not easy and I ended up completely soaked!

But don't design your life for a hypothetical buyer. They might rip out any bathroom anyway!

Yes. In fact I live in a house that has 5 showers and no bath. It costs a few grand to have one fitted if needed. We only used our old bath for a couple of years, and it started to corrode after 5-10 years of never being used. If we were to have a grandchild, we’d get a baby bath or pop up mini pool and use it in the shower if needed.

Our elderly relatives also prefer an adapted shower (rail and seat) to baths - my MiL slipped getting out of the bath and broke her wrist earlier this year, so is having her bath removed and changed to a walk-in with safety attachments.

So no, baths are not an issue and easily added if really needed.

I honestly don't think you can really clean yourself using just shower. Unless you use steam room/ sauna. How do you get all that oil, grime and old skin off without soaking? It's kind of gross.

Yes. We had our bath taken out a few years ago. Showers only now.

Where in my op did I say my house was worth over £500k?

I only had one bathroom in the house i owned a few years ago. I got rid of the bath when I renovated the bathroom and installed a big shower. I was told by many people at the time it would make selling the house difficult and no one with a family would want to buy it.
The actuality was when I came to sell I got a few offers for the house and the people who bought it were a couple with 2 young children .
The house I bought after selling also had only one bathroom and I again got rid of the bath. When I came to sell I had quite a few offers for the house and had no problem selling.
I currently live in a house with a bathroom with a bath and an over bath shower downstairs and I have a shower room upstairs. I actually use the bath in this house occasionally and have no plans to get rid of it.
So honestly I think all the tales about people not being able to sell houses if they don't have a bath are rather scare mongering.

Huh?

With a shower you are running fresh water over your entire body, how can that not result in fully cleansing yourself? Laying in a bath you are literally soaking in your own grime.

You like to float in a dead skin soup as part of getting clean?

a shower with soap and a flannel every other day is probably optimal for cleanliness and skin health

but if the house is a young family home a bath is useful as small children can be easier on a bath and can love baths

You like to float in a dead skin soup as part of getting clean?

Stop with the hyperbole. You are being ridiculous.

I have EDS and potentially POTs, baths leave me feeling unwell. I also just don't enjoy soaking in my own juices tbh.

I wouldn't buy a house without a bath. We faced this dilemma a few years ago when house hunting. Fab house but two shower rooms. Yes we could replace the lovely shower room and put in a bath, but reality was we went with another house with a set up that suited us. After the hassle of moving I want a bubble bath not wait 6 month

Yes, it that's what suits your family now. There are always going to be things buyers want to change, and you can't guess what they will be.

If we bought a house with only a bath, we'd want to change it to a shower.