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Do you NEED a tub? Modern tubs are lousy to actually take a bath in. When I redid my upstairs bathroom, instead of a standard tub, I went with a larger tiled shower. I had a base unit that covered the footprint of the old tub, re-tiled the walls, went with sliding clear glass doors and, had shower panel installed. If I were to do it again, the only think I would change is the shower panel (and possibly add a seat). Afterwards, I found lots of good ideas on Moen's website and would now use some of Moeen's ideas. I find taking a shower in a roomy, well planned shower, is much nicer than standing a relatively cramped tub. I've been VERY pleased with all the Moen fixtures I bought then (eight years ago) and would highly recommend Moen.
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"Do you NEED a tub?"
Again going back to the issue of resell, if that is his intent. I did a complete gut to the studs remodel on my sisters bathroom (the house she just sold) It was done before she knew that they would be moving due to a new job in another town.
We took out a traditional tub and replaced with a walk in shower to accommodate a family member that stayed with them, who had limited mobility. When it came time to sell the the house, the lack of a tub in the main bathroom eliminated a number of potential buyers that had young children that were not quite "shower ready". I think it took us longer to sell because it was basically a starter house. In the end it sold to an older lady who was happy to have the walk in and no tub to clean.
On a side note there are lots of cheapy units out there but there are some good ones. We ended up with a Kohler unit that was well made. I also laid up the pan in a bed of mortar which made the unit feel very solid. It was also direct mount to studs with the drywall (actually yellow board / fiberglass wall board) lapping over the flanges, so it all felt very substantial when finished - built in and not stuck on.
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I don't have the receipts handy, but I think my March remodel went like this:
Greenboard and Redgard waterproof sealant: $80
New tub, one up from most basic Home Depot model: $130
2x2 Glass tile from closeout outlet, all the way to ceiling: $200
Tub doors: $240
New tub fixtures $100
New granite vanity top $40
Floor tile $100
Brother-in-law labor (contribution to niece's tuition fund) $2500
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lafinfil wrote:
[quote=lazydays]
If I had my way I think we'd put in new linoleum and call it good but I know we couldn't sell the house that way.
How soon are you selling ? I'll be the odd man out and say (without seeing the bathroom) that if it is in decent condition and just needs a facelift you may be best just to do as little as possible and make an allowance in price.
I just spent well over a year helping my sisters family find a new house. There were many that had remodeled kitchens and baths that we looked at and hated the style and wished that they had just left it for the new owner. We walked away from many of these because the owners had the price jacked to regain their "investment" while we were thinking that we would need to gut and start over. That's pretty tough to do on expensive rooms like these.
I'll second Lafinfil's opinion on this. So often on "Home Improvement" shows they'll rip out high quality and perfectly functional but dated fixtures (usually they're from the original period of the home being remodeled but occasionally they're from a previous remodel in the fifties, sixties, or seventies) only to replace them with trendy, up-to-the-minute stuff that will be just as dated five years from now and that is of far lesser quality.
