Freestanding bath or shower over bath?

[Lokielo]

We have a 4 bed 3 bathroom house. The two en-suites have showers without a bath. The main bathroom has an old freestanding cast iron bath that either needs full restoration or changing for something modern. We’re planning to change it because having looked into restoration cost and process, I don’t think it’s worth it.

We’re debating whether to have a new freestanding bath or put in a bath with a shower over. There’s not enough room for a bath with a separate shower. DH thinks adding a shower over the bath will make the house easier to sell and favours it for practical reasons. I favour the more luxury look of the freestanding option. I don’t think having a shower that you can stand up in is an essential with two others in the house. We don’t really need a third shower.

Just looking for opinions on which option other people would go for? We are likely to need to sell before having to redo the bathroom again (and potentially within the next couple of years) so we need to consider the impact on a possible sale.

I'm with dh on this one (considering you may need to sell its important to look at the market). I'm assuming a large house you'd sell to a family buyer. I wouldn't want my teens dc traipsing into my ensuite to use the shower (all 3 of my dc have not had a bath since probably end of primary).

Your husband is right.

I hate showers iver baths and think a freestanding bath is a much attractive option in a house with multiple bathrooms. I would be taps with a hand held shower attachment as well though, for hair washing purposes.

If we do go for a shower over bath, the next debate will be layout. It’s a small space in comparison to the size of the house because it was split in two to make one of the en-suites before we bought it.

Taps with a shower attachment is what we have at the moment. It works absolutely fine for our family and I love having the deep bath.

When we will need to sell is a real unknown at the moment but we will need to at some point. We could be living with this bathroom for 10 plus years. I’d sell now to get it over and done with but DH won’t get onboard with it so every decision is a debate over not spending too much, impact on a possible sale but also doing it for us. I find it all very stressful.

I had both a couple of houses ago. Shower from the ceiling, rather than the wall, and an oval shower rail. Something like this https://images.victorianplumbing.co.uk/products/chatsworth-1928-traditional-free-standing-bath-shower-system/mainimages/ygt001f-wbsw-2_l.jpg

I’ve just had the same dilemma but with only one en suite. If either of the kids ever come back I don’t want them in my ensuite so begrudgingly put shower over bath and the free standing roll top is just in my dreams! I put a lovely basin set into cupboard with nice taps to make up for it. (It doesn’t!!!!!).

Ooh, this is a gorgeous solution 🤩

He’s rejected this idea already. It was my solution but he doesn’t like the look.

Agree with this.

Definitely agree with dh here.

Plus, I always think a free standing bath creates extra / more difficult cleaning with the open space underneath and all around the bath.

I really hate showed over baths. I won’t use a bath if it has a shower over it. The dripping. The awkward shower screen or curtain. The fact baths with showers over are usually quite shallow and make a poor bathing experience. The thought of all the feet and detritus. I understand in a house either just one bathroom you may not have much choice if you want a bath/shower.

So I would say a freestanding (with a contraption to wash hair) or wall bath or a shower, not both as you have other bathrooms with showers in.

Personally I would be quite happy with no baths (expensive, water gets cold, who has the time) but some people love them or prefer them with small children.

Do you have a floor plan of the bathroom? We've recently renovated including 2 en-suites and other bathrooms. I'm surprised you have room for a free standing bath but not a separate shower and bath. We considered a free standing bath in the family bathroom, but even the bathroom company suggested they look nice in a glossy magazine but in practicality can be a PITA. Cleaning underneath and at the back, no where to store soap/shampoo and if you have a shower over the top- those bloody shower curtains! 😱

I've never had a bath when staying with friends or family, and wouldn't want to walk through their bedroom to get to their en-suite for a shower. Unless the 2nd en-suite is the spare room?
If you have a pocket door or one opening out into the hall, you'll save 1m2 of floor space within your bathroom.
I shall link a recent thread about free standing baths if I can find it.
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/shopping/5488875-freestanding-baths-comfy?reply=150498182

Are you sure you can’t squeeze a separate shower in, perhaps with a different bathtub?

We took space from the hall bath to enlarge our minuscule en suite, and upgrade both. To keep the new hall bath from feeling cramped, we put the shower over the bath.

Although I grew up with this arrangement, I don’t like it. I am the only family member who uses the bathtub, our only one. I always feel it needs a quick scrub before I am happy to have a soak, then another one afterwards for everyone else. Quite the faff.

I rejected a design with a slightly small bathtub and a separate shower because I thought the room looked crowded and lacked floor space. I deeply regret this now!

Definitely not room for both (having measured all the options and used bathroom design software to double check. You might squeeze it in with a 70x70 shower and a very small bath but it would make the room very crowded and the bath really wouldn’t be big enough. There also isn’t an option to take room from anywhere else.

I can’t add an image at the moment. It’s an awkward space because there’s a box cut out of it for the ensuite so there’s a corridor around that and the cupboard with the hot water cylinder in at the opposite end do the corridor to work around. The space to fit the suite in is about 180cm by 210cm with a window on the longer length. The bath is currently under the window.

Will the bath stay under the window?

The only time I ever lost part of my deposit on a rental was with a shower over in this situation. Despite my best efforts, the window sill rotted to some extent.

I agree the room sounds too small for both. I would favour taps with a shower attachment, but in such a manner - eg built into a corner - that a person could easily stand (away from the window) to rinse off whilst minimising the splashing of water out of the tub. Europe is full of these.

Layout isn’t decided yet. We’ll tile the window return if the bath does stay under the window. Usable wall space in my very artistic sketch.

Another thought - would it be possible to put the door to one of the en-suites on to the landing, so people who want a shower can use it without needing to traipse through someone else's bedroom ?
It is SUCH a better layout for a house, but rarely seen.

No, that’s not possible. The en-suites aren’t near enough to the landing to do that.

The dimensions might be completely wrong as depends on the window length and in hindsight, I'd swap the sink for toilet, but another idea. Would a unit like the pic fit under the sink and still fit a corner shower?

Window is too wide for the shower to go in that corner unfortunately. We’ve been debating having the sink in front of the window and the toilet where you’ve put the shower, but the lack of a mirror is putting us off.