Homeowners frequently prioritize remodeling projects based on which would add the greatest resale value to their property since the return on investment is crucial in getting the most value for your money. One of the best ways to add value to your home is to convert your bathtub to a shower. Now let’s take a deeper look into the topic.
Can You Replace a Bathtub With a Shower Enclosure?
The short answer is yes! The most typical bathroom improvement is to convert a bathtub to a shower. Bathtubs are a godsend for families with little children, and it is never a good idea to forsake the tub in favor of a shower unless you have a bathtub in your house.
If you have more than one bathroom, nothing stops you to convert a bathtub to a shower.
Is It Hard To Convert a Bathtub to a Shower?
With the right steps to convert a bathtub to a shower, it is not difficult. All home renovation projects need a significant amount of preparation.
When you have a professional team involved in the project, they will aid with every step of the process to convert a bathtub to a shower, but in any case, you will want to put in as much research and effort as possible.
Failure to plan implies that you are unaware of the numerous issues that might arise when you convert a bathtub to a shower, which increases the likelihood of them because you cannot prepare for them.
What Is the Best Way To Turn an Ugly Tub Into a Beautiful Shower?
The best way to turn an ugly tub into a beautiful shower is to hire professionals who are well aware of the challenges, have the best available materials, and have all the knowledge required to convert a bathtub into a shower.
With their expertise, these professionals can complete the conversion in a relatively short amount of time.
Since they are well aware of everything related to the process to convert a bathtub to a shower, they won’t make mistakes, and there is no need for extra costs to fix the mistakes so the final cost will be quite reasonable.
However, for your convenience, we’ve outlined the steps to the best tub-to-shower conversion below.
- Demolition: The first step to converting a bathtub to a shower is to remove the tile from your tub area and the accompanying wallboard to which it was affixed. The wallboard might be concrete board, drywall, green board, yellow board, or another type of board. All of that must be removed.
The tub must also be removed after that. You will need to contact a licensed plumber or a remodeling firm to take care of the plumbing related to it if you don’t want to do it yourself.
- Rework the plumbing: This step may be optional when you want to convert the bathtub to a shower if you’re content with where the drain is currently located and create a custom shower floor. Getting a pre-formed base means you’ll probably have to move the drain.
To make room for the new shower controller valve, you’ll need to modify the supply lines if you’re receiving a new shower controller. It’s recommended to contact a licensed plumber for these chores if you don’t have plumbing knowledge.
- Create the shower floor: You may buy a pre-built foundation made of acrylic or fiberglass. However, one word of caution is to ensure you obtain a high-quality foundation. Cheaper ones break easily and will need to be replaced within five years.
Shower bases of high quality are available, and these are the ones you wish to install.
- Concrete board: The next step is to install the concrete board. Best concrete boards are significantly easier to use and lightweight. They feature an integrated moisture barrier that absorbs less water than the usual fiber cement.
- Tiling: The next stage is to lay tile on the shower’s walls and floor. When choosing your tile, ensure that the tile on the shower floor is no larger than 2 “x2” so that it flows with the slope of the floor.
The wall tile should have unsanded grout, whereas the floor tile should have sanded grout. If you intend to use an accent tile in the shower, ensure the thickness of the tile fits the thickness of the main tile.
- Shower Controller: After you have finished tiling, you may install your shower controller. If you intend to place a shower wand on a rail, use a diamond bit in your drill while drilling through the tile.
- Shower doors and enclosures: There are various possibilities available here. Shower enclosures and doors are available at large box retailers. If your shower has a normal 150 cm opening, sliding doors may be found for a reasonable price at these places.
These businesses may have one if you’re looking for a hinged glass door. Alternatively, you may have them custom-made out of tempered glass by contacting your local glazier. But it’s always best to contact professionals to measure and make the door in the best quality that fits well with no troubles.
Pros and Cons of Converting Tub into a Shower
There are benefits and drawbacks to replacing your bathtub with a shower, just as with any renovation.
Pros to converting bathtub to a shower
If you own a house and want to sell it in the future, a tub-to-shower conversion might increase the value of your property. This could be among the reasons why removing the old bathtub and replacing it with a shower is one of the most common bathrooms remodels.
You may make your bathroom look luxurious with a larger shower if you have a lot of extra space. However, if you own a small, you must generally make the most of the remaining space in your bathroom.
If your bath is taking up most of the area in your bathroom, removing and replacing it with a shower can allow you to make optimal use of your space.
It takes a lot of water to fill bathtubs. This is not a necessity for taking a shower. Showering instead of bathing may save you a significant amount of money each year.
Easier access is nice, and showers are safer than baths because of the better access. You could put some grabrails or a bench inside and have a simple access facility ideal for the elderly or disabled.
And the cons
If you only have one tub in your house, you should take your time before you make your final decision. Because when you convert your only tub to a shower, you may lose all the things the tub was offering.
If you sell the house, this might impact the price since everyone wants a tub in their house. As a result, ensure you won’t miss having a tub in your house before converting.
Bathtub to Shower Conversion Examples
It is always possible to convert a bathtub to a shower regardless of the size of the bathroom. Still, the most important thing is for you to have a visual example.
With some help from your imagination, it will assist you in seeing how your bathroom will look at the end of the project when you convert a bathtub to a shower and how you can use the available space in your bathroom more efficiently.
The Conclusion about if you should convert the bathtub to a shower or not
You may be interested in doing some DIY, however, converting a bathtub to a shower is rather difficult to do correctly, and you should hire an expert team to assist you with it from start to end.
When selecting materials for your bathroom projects, you will discover that using the best materials is much better, whether when you convert a bathtub to a shower or simply remodel the bathroom with enclosures.
When comparing the benefits and drawbacks of the end result after converting your tub to a walk-in shower, the greatest advice is to choose the one that best matches your lifestyle if you want to stay in your house for more than ten years.
You should love your house and the time you spend in it, so if you truly want to convert the bath to a walk-in shower, go ahead! Always keep resale value in mind, but most importantly, do what makes you happiest!
