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Original poster

Would you buy a home without a bath?

192 replies

makingithappen · 27/01/2019 10:50

Just pondering this question.

We will be starting a total renovation soon. It will be our family home for 5-10 years but we will then sell on. We have not used a bath for years - youngest is 11 years old now but obviously did when they were small. So I'm thinking, why install a bath when we could have a lovely walk in shower...

However, would it put people off buying a house with 2 bathrooms but no bath? Or would people just look past it and put in their own bath if that's what they need.

I would love to hear thoughts please.

OP posts:
mathanxiety · 31/01/2019 06:43

If your house is a young family house or in a young family area then I would keep one bath.

I personally would prefer a decent shower but I do not have young children any more.

mathanxiety · 31/01/2019 06:45

You could fit a shower head and create a bath/shower. Best of both worlds...

C0untDucku1a · 31/01/2019 06:46

Innever have baths but i didnt buy a house a few yeara ago becasue it didnt have a bath. Every room in the house needed replacing (kitchen) or decorating. The only room brand new was the bathroom and it had no bath.

but if you plan on staying there 10 years it will likely need a new bathroom when you move anyway.

Tumbleweed101 · 31/01/2019 07:09

I’d prefer to buy a property with a bath - showers are daily necessity but a bath is a place to relax.

That said, a nice large walk in shower room also sounds nice.

Given how long you intend to stay I’d say do what you want for now and consider the market at the time you want to sell to see if you might need to put a bath back in.

strawberrypenguin · 31/01/2019 07:11

Yes I would. We'll probably remove our bath when we re-do our bathroom as it so rarely gets used and the bathroom is small.

Do the house for you, you're living in it now.

Glitteryfrog · 31/01/2019 07:48

Yes.
I've lived in my current house for 8 years and had 3 baths.
I'd rather a nice shower.

DaphneduM · 31/01/2019 08:42

We're house hunting at the moment and there's only one on the market that interests us that doesn't have a bath. It has the biggest shower known to man (or woman!!!). For me, it went to the bottom of the list. In our house that we're selling we've got a big bathroom with a walk in shower and a bath. My husband rarely uses the bath, just the shower. However I love a bath - it's relaxing, soothes aching muscles and it's time to while away the stresses and strains of the day. Total indulgence!!!

SouthernPeach · 31/01/2019 08:55

I private rent and wouldn't rent a house without a bath because I LOVE my baths. If I was buying though, and there was no bath but space to have one installed, it wouldn't put me off buying.

woollyheart · 31/01/2019 09:44

A hot bath is my favourite luxury. Once or twice a week. And a shower for other days.

I would buy the house if there was room to fit a bath in. I'm quite fussy about my bathroom, and would be quite likely to change things anyway if the shower didn't work well or bath was the wrong size etc. So, I wouldn't expect the bathrooms to be perfect for me when I bought.

WitsEnding · 31/01/2019 09:48

I would not. I would buy a house with a tatty bathroom that needed replacing, but not one with no bath. If push came to shove, I would buy a house with no shower instead.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 31/01/2019 09:54

It's all very well for all adults, mydogisthebest, but speaking as one who had to do it for months on end, washing a baby who's too big for a baby bath, or a small child, in a shower, is a major PITA. And quite apart from the washing aspect, most small children love playing in the bath, and it's a great relaxation/wind-down before bedtime.

Personally I don't care what they do in Holland, Sweden or anywhere else.

mydogisthebest · 31/01/2019 11:28

Gettinglikemymother, I do realise lots of people use a bath for their children but, as I said, my neighbours say they don't use their bath only the shower and they have 3 children (the youngest 10 months) so they obviously manage.

I asked, but got no answers, if baths are fairly unusual across Europe. As I said, I have stayed in Airbnb apartments (so owner's own place) in Sweden, Holland, Belgium and not one of them had a bath in. The bathrooms were not big enough for a bath. So I guess parents there manage too

Maybe the rest of Europe are more concerned with the amount of water wasted with a bath than we are?

pearlkent · 31/01/2019 12:16

C4tastrophe - I’d much rather a walk in shower and a bit of extra space than a bath. You need to rinse yourself off after a bath anyway.

Eh? Why would you need to rinse yourself off after a shower? Does that mean every bathroom with a bath MUST have a shower in it to rinse yourself off?. Presumably you think baths don't get you clean?

mydogisthebest I think there is a common fallacy that baths use more water than showers, but in this day and age of powerful waterfall/rainfall showers I'm not sure that's true (especially for those people that spend 20 minutes or more in said shower).

ThanksItHasPockets · 31/01/2019 12:24

Maybe the rest of Europe are more concerned with the amount of water wasted with a bath than we are?

I wouldn’t be quite so smug.

From a slightly fluffy 2011 study commissioned by Unilever:

  • “The shower vs. bath eco-myth:The average shower is eight minutes long and uses nearly as much energy and water as a bath. Showering costs the average UK family £416 a year
  • Average power shower could cost families £918 per year: An eight minute power shower uses nearly twice as much energy and water as taking a bath”

www.unilever.co.uk/news/press-releases/2011/uk-sustainable-shower-study.html

mydogisthebest · 31/01/2019 12:39

I have timed my shower (I wash my hair in it too) and it is 3 minutes.

Also when I had a shower over the bath I sometimes used to put the plug in the bath to see how much water I used. It was very little. Certainly much much less than having a bath.

Many years ago when I did take baths I would fill it pretty high with pretty hot water. Because baths get cold so quick, I would have to top it up at least once even for quite a short bath time. So a whole bath of mainly hot water for around 10 minutes bath time!

I don't have a rainfall shower as I don't like them. I have an ordinary shower and it is more than powerful enough for me.

I don't see why it would take 8 minutes to shower. That is just a joke. If I am putting conditioner on my hair and want to leave it on for a few minutes I turn the shower off until I am ready to rinse my hair

blueskiesandforests · 31/01/2019 12:41

mydogisthebest I live in Germany and have never, ever been into a house without a full bathroom with bath and separate shower cubicle (either in one bathroom or two bathrooms, one with bath and one with shower, with the shower often being downstairs and the bath upstairs) here.

I've been to small city apartments with just a shower in lots of places.

The only place I've lived where not having a bath in family homes seemed common was Japan, but there the whole attitude around baths is different.

Aridane · 31/01/2019 12:49

Coming back to this thread

  1. if no bath and no facility to include without major reconfiguration, I would not view, still less make an offer

  2. two houses, one with bath, one without, would go for one with bath

  3. one house only, with shower only but possible to redo bathroom to include a bath- would make an offer but with c. £15 - 20k reduction. And would shrug and move on if offer were declined

ThanksItHasPockets · 31/01/2019 12:59

mydogisthebest

Good for you. I applaud your frugality. I think that you are very far from typical, however. I guarantee that the vast majority of people installing large walk-in showers of the type described upthread are choosing powerful models with large shower heads. I also strongly suspect that most of them are spending more than three minutes in there, as per the descriptions upthread.

woollysocksforwinter · 31/01/2019 13:02

When I was house-hunting, I didn't even look at houses without a bath.

Our current house has a bath but no proper shower. The one thing I'm going to do before we sell is put in a shower as I'm aware what a difference it makes to those who prefer showers.

blueskiesandforests · 31/01/2019 13:04

Changing the beds of anyone older than 12 seems hugely personal to me, like doing their laundry. Its not something anyone should do for anyone they don't live with without prior agreement, unless in emergency circumstances.

blueskiesandforests · 31/01/2019 13:05

Oops wrong thread! Blush

YourEggnogIsBetterThanMine · 31/01/2019 13:22

If there was space to put a bath in I'd consider it but my offer would reflect the cost and headache involved in immediately having the work done.

hihellohihey · 31/01/2019 13:35

We have lived in our house since April and the bath hasn't been used...

Pinkmonkeybird · 31/01/2019 14:49

I lived for 8 years in a house with just a shower/wet room and to be honest, I did miss having a bath. I'm now living in a house with both and it is bliss to have a bath again, especially after a good run/exercise.

woollyheart · 31/01/2019 14:55

Don't know about everywhere in Europe, but when I have visited people in Germany & Italy they had baths in their apartments.

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