Walk-In Shower vs. Tub: What's Best for Resale?

Does removing a bathtub hurt resale value?

It depends on which tub. Removing the only tub in a three- or four-bedroom family home narrows your pool of buyers, because parents bathing toddlers will notice. Pulling the tub out of a primary suite is a different story when the hall bath still has one; few buyers object, and a well-built shower often shows up in the listing as a selling point.

It also helps to keep expectations about payback realistic. Realtors surveyed for NAR and NARI’s 2025 Remodeling Impact Report put the expected cost recovery on a bathroom renovation at roughly half, 50%. That figure argues for choosing the layout you will enjoy living with, not the one you guess a future buyer wants.

What homeowners are choosing for tubs and showers

Houzz surveyed 1,738 homeowners in July 2025 for its annual bathroom study, and their tub decisions split roughly into thirds:

• 34% of renovating homeowners upgraded their bathtub.
• 26% kept the existing tub.
• 25% removed the tub altogether, and 9% had no tub to begin with.
• Among those who removed a tub, 82% used the space to enlarge the shower.

In other words, removing a tub is common but far from universal. Many homeowners keep or upgrade a tub for soaking, for children or for resale comfort, and plenty of primary baths now have no tub at all.

Walk-in shower vs. tub for everyday use

Is a walk-in shower the right call for aging in place?

For most people planning to stay put into their later years, yes. Stepping over a tub wall is one of the bathroom tasks that gets harder first. Nick is an NAHB Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist and a Certified Living in Place Professional, and his accessible bathroom designs usually include a low or zero-threshold entry, a bench or fold-down seat, a handheld shower reachable from that seat and wood blocking inside the walls so grab bars can be added later.

Code sets a floor, not a target. Michigan’s residential code follows the International Residential Code here, requiring at least 900 square inches of shower floor with no dimension under 30 inches. A comfortable walk-in shower is considerably larger, and a curbless design needs the floor framing recessed so water stays inside the wet area.

Brighton and Saline buyers, and the one-bath question

In Brighton and Saline, much of the housing is 1990s and 2000s subdivision homes with a primary bath and a hall bath, and those neighborhoods draw families. In that setup, converting the primary tub to a shower and keeping the hall tub is the low-risk path. Older homes near either historic downtown sometimes have just one full bath, and there we usually suggest keeping a tub-shower combination or planning a second bath before removing the only tub.

If a second bath is on the table, keep the payback math honest there too. In the same NAR and NARI report, Realtors estimated that a bathroom addition recovers about 56% of its cost and a new primary suite about 54%, close to the figure for renovating an existing bath. A second bath earns its keep mainly through daily use: a family of four sharing one tub-shower in a split-level is a real problem, and the resale benefit is a bonus on top of fixing it.

What a tub-to-shower conversion involves

A tub-to-shower conversion is more than swapping fixtures. Under the plumbing code Michigan uses, a shower drain is typically 2 inches while a tub drain is often 1½ inches, so the drain line usually changes. The new valve must be pressure-balancing or thermostatic to prevent scalding. The walls and base need a continuous waterproofing system, and a window on the old tub wall needs a plan to keep water off its sill and frame.

The good news is that a 5-foot tub alcove converts into a generous walk-in shower without moving walls. We confirm the drain path, the joist direction under the floor and the glass layout before the design is final, because each one affects price and schedule.

How does a tub-to-shower conversion unfold, step by step?

On site, a conversion in a standard 60-inch alcove usually runs in a predictable order. The sequence below is how we lay it out for a client before work starts, so the days without a working shower are planned rather than discovered.

1. 1

   Measure and confirm the alcove

   Nick checks the alcove width, how square and plumb the walls are, which way the joists run and where the existing drain sits, because those four facts decide the base and the glass.

2. 2

   Choose the base and entry

   A low-curb prefabricated base, a mortar bed with a sheet or liquid membrane, or a recessed curbless floor; each changes cost, schedule and how much framing work is involved.

3. 3

   Demolition to the studs

   The tub, surround and usually the drywall or plaster come out, which exposes any rot at the subfloor or sill plate while it is still easy to repair.

4. 4

   Plumbing rough-in and inspection

   The drain is reworked for a shower, the valve is replaced with a pressure-balancing or thermostatic body, and the rough plumbing is inspected before walls close.

5. 5

   Waterproofing and slope

   The floor is sloped to the drain and the walls and base get one continuous waterproof layer, flood-tested where the membrane maker calls for it.

6. 6

   Tile, trim and fixtures

   Tile goes up with the niche and bench planned to the grout lines, followed by the trim kit, handheld and any grab bars set into blocking.

7. 7

   Glass last

   Frameless glass is measured once tile is finished and installed after fabrication, so plan a short stretch with a curtain or rod in place.

Two code details catch people out. Glass near a tub or shower must be tempered or safety glass, and the NKBA planning guidelines flag any glazing within 60 inches of the floor next to a tub or shower; that includes an old window on the alcove's back wall. Converting to a shower also means more steam in the room, so we check that the exhaust fan is ducted outdoors and sized for the space before the ceiling is patched.