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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

DH keeps banging on about getting rid of the bath.

127 replies

MrsMaxwell · 05/03/2018 18:16

Ok not a third world issue here.

Have a 4 bed house (4th bed is attic conversion with en suite shower room and toilet).

Have tiny main bathroom (Victorian house semi) where most of us shower none of us have baths on a regular basis.

OH gets quite worked up and anxious about stuff and the bathroom gets really steamed up we have tried various things to overcome this but OH is paranoid the ceiling is going to come down (the paint keeps peeling off).

He wants to get rid of the bath and I guess turn it into a wet room with the extractor directly above the shower.

I don’t have baths but I just think this is a really bad idea as it’s handy for washing things out by hand, will devalue the house and in the past I have had back problems (major surgery) where baths helped, and occasionally people (we have 3 kids living here and two have partners regularly staying and 3 step kids stay a lot) just want a bath.

OH reckons we’ll be here at least another 10 years (I do not) and I just feel especially from a resale POV this is a really shit idea?

OP posts:
JaneEyre70 · 05/03/2018 18:57

I would never buy a house without a bath.

We had issues in ours with damp and got a really good quality extractor put in, plus a window we can lock slightly open. We've also used proper bathroom paint and it's made a huge difference. We also get more steam from the shower than we do the bath. You aren't venting the room well enough, get a plumber in. But don't take a bath out.

Original poster
MrsMaxwell · 05/03/2018 18:58

DinosaurFarmer

Yes I am kind of wishing I had NC for this thread to do the same Grin

OP posts:
psychomath · 05/03/2018 19:00

Leave the door open after showering and put an electric dehumidifier in the next room? Or just get a better extractor fan (I assume there's no window you can open). I don't really see how removing the bath would help to be honest.

If it really is that damp though then I would look into getting someone in to check for structural damage - a few years ago I rented a house where the kitchen ceiling fell in due to a leak, and it was an enormous pain in the arse even though we didn't have to get it fixed ourselves. Not to mention that it could have been really dangerous if anyone had been in the room at the time.

expatinscotland · 05/03/2018 19:00

I'd never buy a house with no bath. I once stayed a lovely campsite with an enormous shower/wet room. And even with that, everything was soggy. Fuck that. Get a better extractor.

ScreamingValenta · 05/03/2018 19:01

Another who wouldn't buy a house without a bath.

psychomath · 05/03/2018 19:02

I'm another one who wouldn't buy a house without a bath btw (I've even made a fuss about it in fairly short term rentals!)

psychomath · 05/03/2018 19:02

I'm another one who wouldn't buy a house without a bath btw (I've evenmade a fuss about it in fairly short term rentals!)

Graphista · 05/03/2018 19:02

Wow buy a better extractor and erm...some physics lessons for dh? Does he really think a smaller area for steam to build up in will be less problematic?

Sevendown · 05/03/2018 19:02

Get a better extractor.

Ivy79 · 05/03/2018 19:03

No, no, no. Sad

I have had baths ALL my life, and about 7 years ago, we moved house to a small house with a wet-room. (No bath - and nowhere to put one really.)

I really do miss it terribly. I mean it doesn't affect my life - but I do long for a long, hot soak sometimes.

I love the house we have very much, and the area, and the neighbours, but this one thing does niggle me a bit. (Occasionally!)

Don't give up your bath!

NapQueen · 05/03/2018 19:05

We swapped to a pan head shower and the steam is down to practically nothing.

Dahlietta · 05/03/2018 19:06

Can't he just open a window? Grin

Quartz2208 · 05/03/2018 19:06

Yes just open the window that should solve the steam issues a bit

Original poster
MrsMaxwell · 05/03/2018 19:06

We have a small window which we should probably open every time and don’t always because it’s so drafty Blush

Also my neighbours in the house behind have no blind in their bathroom and we see them doing all sorts so I worry about people seeing all sorts.

OP posts:
bittern79 · 05/03/2018 19:07

I'd improve your extraction fan or get advice from a plumber re the damp. I think if it was a wet room you'd still have the same damp problem - maybe worse!

Do you open the windows after every bath/shower to ventilate the room?

And I would be put off by a house with no bath! I love baths. And dd would refuse to move anywhere without a bath...

FluffyFerrets · 05/03/2018 19:10

I agree with you OP and the majority.
A house, for me, must have a bath.
My sister took a house that has a walk in shower thinking it wouldn't be an issue (there's her and my 2 nieces) as they rarely had baths in previous houses. She began wishing for a bath after around 6 months.
The girls go mad to come to mine for a bath now and then :)

JessyJames · 05/03/2018 19:11

We bought a house with two showers. One the first things we did was put a bath in one of the bathrooms.

WheresTheHooferDoofer · 05/03/2018 19:11

The shower is in the bath but he seems to think if the steam is contained in a shower cubicle it will produce less steam

Actually, I've found the opposite seems to be true. I've never had a house without a bath, even tthough I only have a bath rarely. I've been in numerous holidays lets, etc, that only had a shower room, and they were really bad for steaming up.

You need a better extractor, make sure your windows are open a bit when you shower, and perhaps a dehumidifier. While your paint may be peeling, I'd be surprised if the ceiling needed anything other than a new coat of paint, with a bathroom paint.

As with most other posters, I wouldn't buy a house without a bath. I'd be fine with an en-suite shower room as long as the family bathroom had an actual bath.

NotTheNineInchNails · 05/03/2018 19:12

I don't understand wet rooms. A family member has one as their only bathroom (to be fair, she has a child with disabilities and it's far easier for them to manage than a bath), but they are a shoes off household, whenever I go in there I end up with damp socks which is a bloody awful feeling.

Don't get rid of the bath! He sounds like a "DO SOMETHING" kind of bloke which is great but in this instance, he wants to DO the wrong thing!

N0tfinished · 05/03/2018 19:12

Just FYI, we have a wet room shower with the extractor directly over the shower, and it doesn't efficiently extract enough steam to prevent dampness. I have to run a dehumidifier & leave windows open to prevent mildew.

I don't think this plan would achieve what your DH expects. Extractors aren't that great, from what I can guess, it's just a vent with a fan in it.

Besides, why not just install an extractor over the bath?

Another FYI, you can't have a proper wet room on an upper floor. Or so my Mum was told when converting a bathroom to an accessible shower. It has to be on a ground floor.

HazelBite · 05/03/2018 19:12

Ds's Pilsgot rid of their bath, when selling their house all the agents who came round to give valuations suggested that they re-install a bath as no bath would put a lot of prospective purchasers off.

SmokedPaprika · 05/03/2018 19:13

We've got 2 shower rooms and 1 room with a shower over the bath. Above the bath we have an extractor with a light fitment and some sort of sensor inside it, the more steam there is the harder the extractor works. It clears the air better than the 2 shower room extractors, both of which are the more traditional ones.

MacaroniPenguin · 05/03/2018 19:14

It's a complete non sequitur. Removing the bath won't help the condensation problem, surely. Just get a good extractor.

If you were wanting to remove the bath anyway then I'd be inclined to say do it. In 10 years' time it might not be a problem for sale, and if it is, you can swap it back. But don't remove it just to solve a problem it won't solve!

Motoko · 05/03/2018 19:14

You need to open the window after you've finished showering, so the moisture has somewhere to go.

I also wouldn't buy a house without a bath. I hate showers.

Pixelpuffin · 05/03/2018 19:17

I have a bath almost every day
DP has power shower everyday
DS does his best to avoid both

I love soaking in the bath

As for peeling ceiling ? You did use proper bathroom paint, right
And extractor not taking the steam out? Again probably a really simple explanation ?

Like others, I wouldn't consider a house without a bath.
Even when we go on hols I ask for a bath if possible.
Grin