I am starting to speak with contractors about doing some renovations in our home. We have a 2 bed/2 bath condo. The master bath has a small walk in shower. The other bath is a bath/shower combo.

I wanted to rip out the bath/shower, and put in a new tub, etc. The contractor we had over this morning said due to the size of tubs pre-installation, replacing it might not be an option because they are usually brought in and installed pre-drywall. So, we might not be physically able to get a new tub in to the bathroom.

His suggestion, and he has done this in this neighborhood in another building, was to just rip out the bath and make a large walk in shower.

My question is:
Is it wise for rental/resale on our condo to have 2 bathrooms with NO bathtub? Is having at least one tub usually a must have for most buyers/renters?

thoughts? thanks in advance.

 

You can definitely put a tub back in, but it won't be a "1 piece" tub surround. It will be 2-4 pieces in total, and you just caulk the shit out of the joints. Contractors may want to sway you from going that route, saying you could have mould issues and water leaks through the caulking, but honestly, as long as you spend 10 seconds inspecting it once a year, you'll be fine. You can also reapply as necessary, though it would only be required like once every ten years. People install these in remodels all the time.

otherwise, personally, I haven't used a bath in decades. My wife never uses it either. We do like having a nice big shower though. The only issue I could see not having a bath would be if you need to give your dog a bath. But even so, if the shower is designed smart and you have a shower head on a hose, you can get by just fine. Oh wait, people with infants use them too, duh. That's about it.

I really don't think I know anyone who wouldn't buy a house because it didn't have a bath, unless they are new parents. You may close the door on a certain portion of the market, but I think most would be more than ok without one.

 

Simple answer. If it was good enough for you and yours to buy why wouldn`t that extend to another interested buyer.

If you can put a tub in there it would definitely add value to your place.

But if you can`t? I recently took a stand up shower in the second bathroom and re-caulked the surround,painted the bathroom and replaced the vanity and toilet. Basically sprucing it up.

 

Only if you expect buyers with kids

 

I feel like a lot of girls I know still take baths.

 

So in my mind, a shower is way better than a tub but then I remembered what happened when we bought our house, my opinion meant nothing. Due to this, I went ahead and asked my wife just now who said she would never buy a house without a tub, especially if we had kids so...

As for your contractor, I would find another but most are shady I'm learning, the hard way.

 

I'm getting that from a lot of people. My parents just did a major reno on their new place and had a really good experience.

The guy I had over today lives in my community and came highly recommended from several people. I want to get quotes/talk to two other people.

Having kids who takes baths...yeah, I get it, but my kids are at the age of taking showers. I think most people get comforted by having a bath, more than actually get used. In my parents reno they got rid of the master bath in favor a huge walk in shower. They are also almost 70, live in a community of 55 and older, etc...so resale, etc could be better by not having a tub with a more elderly accessibly shower.

 

What's wrong with the one that's in there? Can you just get it refinished to look new again? Unless you're moving it or it looks like crap, there's not a whole lot of purpose to removing it.

To answer your question, I'd make sure to leave a tub in there. It'll probably help with resale value.

 

For starters. I grew up in the Army. I never lived any place more than a year or two. I've been in my current condo for NINE years. So, I need to change some stuff up. I've also never loved our kitchen or this one bathroom. Ideally, I want a tub...just a tub with nice tile and not a generic looking white fiberglass shower/tub combo.

I was talking to someone who lives in my community who has identical dimensions and was able to swap out...So, I think there was either a miscommunication with the contractor I spoke with or he is mistaken and a tub will fit through the condo to get it into the bathroom.

I'll wait to see his quote. I'll be interviewing a couple others as well.

 

Sounds like he doesn't want to do the job, I'd get another opinion/quote from someone else like it sounds like you are planning to do

 

I'm working on that. Working on another quote right now from Home Depot across the street just to see how they price out comparatively. And I want to find another contractor to interview.

 

Angies list is your friend. I think it's free now too.

 

As a real estate agent and someone who's bought a few houses with a significant other, tubs aren't really deal breakers from what I've seen. If the rest of the property is great without a tub, they'll deal based on my experiences. And on appraisal an upgraded bathroom is an upgraded bathroom regardless of a tub. It's more like upgraded vs old/original.

 

After to talking to others...it should be more than possible to get a new tub in, so F the guy who said he'd recommend against it.

But what I learned today that's eye opening...Ripping out and building new kitchen cabinets is significantly cheaper than just new doors and refacing the existing cabinets...wasnt expecting that.

 

Great news on both fronts and good call on not refinishing the tub; they redid ours and while it looked great on move in, it will need to be replaced in a few years. I can't comment on the quality of the job they did because I really have no idea but it looked perfect but now it looks funny around the drain. I'm hoping it goes quick because I want to get a tub like below:



Oh we want pics

 

Got some pics? Especially of the proposed tub area.

 

Pics will take some time. I'm just pulling together quotes right now, so I know how much money I need to pull to pay for this all...

Just got the quote from the GC that lives in my hood...over priced...like ridiculously, wonder if he just didn't want the job.

I've been pricing out cabinets. Went and looked at kohler showroom today. Need to get some more quote for the tub/shower.

Overwhelming, frustrating, annoying...fuck. But in the end I know it will be worth it.

 

Home renos are supposed to be fun!!

Make the the best of it and enjoy the learning!

 

If money was no object it would be a blast!...And while I'm willing to spend a bit to get the job done...I have an anxiety ridden wife who does NOT want to spend a ton. In the end, she is some what right. We aren't going to live here forever, so we dont need to invest in dream home style stuff....but there are some thing I want.

 

From experience home renos suck. Especially dealing with the people doing it and they promises they don't keep. Good luck man.

 

Home renovations : add 50% to promised timeline and 25% to budget.


End result is 'worth it' but you gotta makendamn sure you find a good competent contractor.

 

I'm finding that out too. We are planning our kitchen remodel and have been getting bids at $30k for demo, cabinets, and countertops. Fuck that, I can demo myself and source my own cabinets and tops. Seriously considering doing my own.

 

The more questions you can take out of the bidding process, the better off you'll be. You need to be very specific about what you want so they don't pad the budget. I've done a few renovation projects and I always have my own contract written detailing all the work prior to taking any bids, and I take all the variable items such as tile, fixtures, etc on myself to provide.

 

Thanks, yeah thats exactly what I've been working on doing.

 

What do you mean? Like an itemized list of things to do?

 

Yes, so let's say Sarlac wants to just replace the vanity....

Demo and dispose of existing vanity
install customer supplied vanity/sink/faucet
patch/repair/finish existing floor and walls to match existing as necessary to accommodate installation
rework plumbing as required to new sink

You can add about the how you expect things to be neat and clean.. to code... when you expect to be finished... what times you expect them to be present working... etc... but you're liable to scare people off that way. So just do the list.

 

Is there a site where these types of lists are available? Contracting for dummies

 

Noted. As we are just in the early part of getting bids, I'm going to request this itemized list of tasks from each contractor anyway and supply lists to the others. I've already pissed off two of them with my engineering level questions, we'll see how this goes.

 

My first go 'round was to put a second story on the house... we had a good idea of what we wanted, so I started calling people out to look (which is a job in itself, since no one wants to return calls, or follow through once they've been out to visit)... and they all come back with a completely different interpretation of what you had told them, or they go overkill on everything, or they tell you that you can't do what you want to do, all with numbers seemingly pulled out of thin air. So I gave up on them for a while, did a bunch of reading up, and just made my own complete set of plans and specifications to go along with it.

 

Sounds like a very micromanaged approach but would definitely get you what YOU as a client want. But like you said, it may scare some contractors away

 

It may just be my character. I'm not particularly trusting of people... Especially when my money is on the line.

To use the example above, you can contract the guy to replace the vanity, and he does, but he leaves the old one out on your front lawn, and leaves a messed up wall and floor behind. It's all about expectations. I'd say if you're scaring anyone away, you're scaring the right people away.

 

This is how my dad did his renovation. That way there is no question who is supplying what and what is being done. He said he also worked out a milestone schedule with payments with their contractor that they both agreed upon.

 

Walked in to a highly rated cabinet store a mile from my place..walked out after 5 minutes. They said without even any measurements...at $10k, called everything else chinese made, and didn't seem interested. So, I left. Went to this builders supply place down in OC that sells in stock discount cabinetry (american made) and priced out what I want from them...few issues. Their stuff did look cheap. High gloss white that I want, but has aluminum edges...and inside is just plain pine colored particle board. Came out to about $5k...

I need to cut a small section of my crown moulding in the kitchen (the only place we have it) and see whats behind...I could potentially buy myself an extra 4" of vertical space and I might even give ikea a serious consideration for cabinets. I know lots of people who used them, like them, and they have a really good warranty. And I'm talking nice big 7 figure homes.

Checked out a Ferguson...Very nice how they have most everything on display to see and touch.

 

For cabinets, I went with the Chinese stuff. These are the ones that advertise that they are used on all the hgtv/tlc/etc shows. Came out nice. Good quality. Not great, good. They actually send the wood to China, they cut it, put together the panels, and stain/varnish, then send them back to the US where they are assembled by whichever distributor you buy them from. God bless America.

All the bathroom vanities I got from home decorators. I got some good deals and they turned out to be pretty nice stuff.

 

yup. Looking at all of that. I need good not great.

For the kitchen I want high gloss white. So I'm a tad more limited but I'm finding things.

That same buidler supply place had some nice vanities. Look at a 46" single...they seemed to be around $800 not including counter. Still exploring.

 

Which one and why? GO!!!

 

Corian was the craze years back but looks dated now.


Quartz is also low maintenance and is much more desirable now! GOGOGO! We got some gray Silestone in our kitchen remodel and love it. It looks amazing.

 

how about quartzite?

 

Quarian

 

Quartz or granite but i know that was not on your list.