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cas66ragtop

Remove garden tub - replace with washer & dryer?

cas66ragtop
12 years ago

I have a strange question. Of course I am strange, so it goes with the territory.

We have a large garden tub/jacuzzi in the master bathroom and there is a seperate shower. We are "shower people", we hate bathtubs. We have never used this tub and doubt we ever will. We are not organized or patient enough to draw the water 1 hour ahead of time in this huge monstrosity to get any use out of it. It is just a waste of space. I was thinking of remodeling the bathroom, making the shower larger, getting rid of the tub entirely, and putting a washer & dryer where the tub sits. It is a large bathroom - we have a walk-in closet, and this is also where my wife irons clothes, so its not too much of a stretch to also have the washer & dryer there. It would work great for our lifestyle. The washer & dryer is presently located in a small laundry room. Taking the washer & dryer out of there would give us a really nice linen closet or storage room.

I was just wondering if we were to do this, would it turn people off when it came time to sell the house? Will people look at this as being strange? Just about every new house I see, there is always a seperate shower and garden tub. Is this REALLY what people want, or is this just what the builders THINK people want?

Comments (12)

  • Fori
    12 years ago

    I would think it was a great improvement. I don't understand the modern thing for big bathrooms, but if it had the W/D in there it would make sense. Warm towels!

    But

    resale wise, as soon as kids hit the teens, they oughta be doing their own laundry and you don't want them doing it in your bathroom. Maybe if you maintained the hookups in your new linen closet and had a plan for making the bathroom W/D into a linen closet should you have to sell?

    Losing the tub though? I don't think that will hurt you.

  • enduring
    12 years ago

    I've heard that without a tub it isn't considered a full bath, but instead a 3/4bath. If that is true that will impact the house description.

  • cas66ragtop
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    I never thought that removing the tub would now classify it as a 3/4 BA. I guess that could reduce the house value.

    I agree leaving the W&D where they are and putting an extra closet where the tub is does seem better, but in our case it doesn't work. Where the tub is now, there is a row of 3 windows - so a closet will not work there. The windows are just high enough where the window sills will be about 5 inches higher than the tops of the W&D. I think this should look ok. If not, we can have a carpenter build some custom cabinetry to hide the W&D and provide storage for the laundry supplies. Another good reason to move the W&D is because now, when we run laundry, it gets noisey and you have to turn the TV up louder or move to another area of the house to talk on the phone. We have an open floor plan, and the laundry room noise can be heard all over the "common areas" of the house. If the W&D were in the Mstr BA, we will eliminate that noise. We do not have children, so there will not be any issues in getting laundry done while someone is "occupying" the bathroom.

    OK well thanks for the advice. I was just wondering if anybody would find this to be really tacky or a real turn-off.

  • salviastreet
    12 years ago

    I am planning a bathroom renovation that accomplishes just this. Our corner garden tub is an 80's eyesore in a big bathroom in a historic foursquare home, and just doesn't fit. The PO had enlarged the bathroom, borrowing space from an adjacent bedroom, in order to fit this in. So we look at it and say, gee, there's a lot of space to put a washer and dryer in.

    We are switching the stand-alone shower to a regular 5' bath/shower combo and bringing the washer and dryer up from the basement. Is it ideal? No, of course there will be times when the laundry and bathroom functions clash. But the tradeoffs for us made it worthwhile.

    I wanted custom cabinetry to hide them in, but after seeing the cost I ordered semicustom inset from Medallion. The fronts of the machines will not be covered up at all, but the wall cabinets above will hopefully give it a finished/ intentional look.

    So you're not crazy. But when I looked for good images for inspiration I couldn't find many.

  • Fori
    12 years ago

    Check with a Realtor about the 3/4 bath listing business. Where I live a shower-only bath is still listed as a whole bath.

  • User
    12 years ago

    Yes, check with your local realtor about your specific area as it can vary. Where we are, having a 3/4 bath as opposed to a full bath does not have much influence on value at all. The only time it does is when there is no longer a tub in the house. We removed the tub from our master bath 2 years ago because we're not bath people either but we have a tub in the guest bath for resale or in case someone should need it. Its really all about the finished product and how it functions in the house. In our case, the improvements 3/4 bath and all increased our value.

  • pps7
    12 years ago

    it really depends on the size of the house and neighborhood. Getting rid of the tub is a great idea, but I'm not sure about a washer dryer in the master bath. is it possible during the renovation to make the master closet bigger and put the washer and dryer in there?

  • Linda Peterson
    10 years ago

    I, for one, would not buy a home for our family that doesn't have a tub in the Masterbath. I love my whirlpool bath at the end of the day and consider it to be a spa-like pleasure.
    So, remember, for resale, there are tub people, who expect an air bath or whirlpool in the master suite. I wouldn't mind if a children's bath or guest bath was converted into a large shower in my house, but in the Master, many people demand tubs.

  • smaloney
    10 years ago

    I'm looking at doing something similar. Our laundry machines are in a utility room off our very small galley kitchen; meanwhile our first floor bath has a Jacuzzi tub and is almost as big as the kitchen, because the previous owners had used it as a master bath (second marriage; second round of kids, parents moved downstairs and added on.)

    I like having separate space for the laundry, but not as much as I'd like having a kitchen where two people can stand simultaneously. Stealing the 20 square feet or so that the washer and dryer operate seems like a good compromise. And I'm taking the Jacuzzi tub out anyway, since the only time it gets used is when our kids want to have a pretend pool party

  • HU-410646268
    9 months ago

    We have a spacious laundry room in our finished basement with washer and dryer, utility sink, folding table, hanging rack, and shelving. It is accessed through a large guest bedroom. We don’t have lots of guests, and it works okay for us for now. However, we are concerned it will become an issue as we continue to age. Our master bathroom is spacious with a water closet, shower, and garden tub. We are not tub people and have discussed replacing the tub with a washer and dryer and perhaps some wall cabinets for linens. The other option would be a chairlift from main floor to basement. Which would be the better option?

  • cpartist
    9 months ago

    Start a new thread asking your questions as this one is 10 years old and most will not open such an old thread.