Short answer
Keep at least one tub in the house. It does not have to be in the primary bathroom. A family house with no tub at all narrows its future buyer pool; a primary bathroom with no tub does not, provided another bathroom has one.
Remove the primary tub if you have not used it in a year, the room is tight, and there is a tub elsewhere. The space almost always makes a better shower than it made a tub.
Keep it if you genuinely bathe, if this is the only full bathroom, or if young children live in the house — bathing a small child in a shower is a two-year problem you will remember.
On this page
How do you decide for your house?
Answer these honestly rather than aspirationally:
- How many baths did you take last year? Not how many you would like to have taken. This one question settles it for most people.
- Is there another tub in the house? If yes, the primary tub is a preference. If no, it is a house-level decision.
- Are there children under about eight, or likely to be? If yes, keep a tub somewhere within reach of where they sleep.
- How tight is the room? A cramped shower next to an unused tub is a worse room than a generous shower alone.
- How long will you stay? Under five years, weigh the buyer pool more heavily. Over fifteen, design for how you actually live.
The most common good outcome in a Dallas renovation: remove the tub from a tight primary bathroom, build a properly sized shower with a bench and two heads, and keep the hall bathroom tub for children and guests. Nobody regrets that combination.
What does removing the tub do to resale?
Two honest statements, and no promises — nobody can tell you what a specific buyer will pay for a specific house.
A house with no tub at all narrows the buyer pool, particularly among families with young children, and that is a real effect. A primary bathroom with no tub, in a house that has one elsewhere, is now common and widely accepted, and a large well-detailed shower frequently shows better than a tub nobody uses.
What genuinely hurts value is neither of those. It is a badly executed bathroom: a shower with visible waterproofing failures, tile set out badly, poor ventilation, or a layout where the toilet is the first thing you see. Execution matters far more than the fixture list — see the bathroom remodel planning guide.
This choice is made properly by looking at every bathroom in the house at once — where the tubs are, who uses them, and what the primary room can actually accommodate.
Jan Revels plans the bathrooms together, then builds them, so the decision is made on evidence rather than on a trend.
Tub types, and which room each suits
| Type | Suits | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Alcove | Hall and children’s bathrooms | Most space-efficient; combines with a shower over it |
| Freestanding | A primary bathroom with room to spare | Needs 4″ minimum to a wall, 6 to 12″ to clean around; filler decided at rough-in |
| Undermount in a deck | Traditional primary bathrooms | The deck eats floor area; access panel needed for the waste |
| Drop-in / corner | Awkward plans | Often the only way to fit a tub in an older room |
| Japanese soaking | Small footprint, deep bathing | Deep, short; check step-over height carefully |
Two specification points. Material affects how long the water stays warm — cast iron and solid-surface hold heat far longer than thin acrylic, which matters if you actually soak. And weight matters: a filled cast iron tub is heavy, and on an upper floor the framing needs checking before the tub is ordered, not after it arrives.
What the space gives you either way
A standard alcove tub occupies roughly 30 by 60 inches. Converting that to shower gives you:
- A 30 by 60-inch shower — larger than most, with room for a bench at one end.
- A curbless entry, if the floor structure allows, which is easier to clean and safer for everyone.
- A niche or two, set out to the tile course.
- Room for two heads, if the plumbing supports it.
Keeping the tub and adding a separate shower needs considerably more room — typically 30 by 60 for the tub plus 36 by 60 for the shower plus circulation. In many older Dallas bathrooms that is simply not available without taking space from a closet or a bedroom.
The practical details people miss
- The tub has to get into the room. Measure the route: door widths, stair turns, and whether the tub can be tipped. Cast iron cannot be flexed.
- Filler position is a rough-in decision. Floor-mounted fillers are set before the floor is finished, and a few inches out is permanent.
- Access to the waste. Deck-mounted and freestanding tubs both need a way to reach the trap. Plan the access panel rather than discovering the need for one.
- Hot water capacity. A large soaking tub can exceed what your water heater delivers. Check the volume against the supply before ordering.
- Cleaning around a freestanding tub. Four inches to a wall is a code-and-fit dimension, not a cleaning dimension. Six to twelve inches is what you want to live with.
- Shower glass is measured after tile, so it arrives late in the schedule. It is a common last-week delay — see remodel timelines.
Having both in a small room
Where the room is tight and you want both, three approaches genuinely work:
- A wet room. Put the tub inside the shower enclosure, behind one glass panel, on a single waterproofed floor. It is the most space-efficient way to have both and it looks deliberate rather than compromised.
- A shower over a tub, done properly — a good tub, a fixed glass panel rather than a curtain, and full-height tile. This is the standard hall-bathroom answer and there is nothing wrong with it.
- Borrow space. Take 18 inches from an adjacent closet. In older houses this is frequently the difference between a compromised bathroom and a good one, and closets are easier to re-plan than bathrooms — see closets and storage design.
Key takeaways
- Keep one tub in the house. It does not have to be in the primary bathroom.
- Count the baths you actually took last year. That answers it for most people.
- Young children in the house means keeping a tub near where they sleep.
- A primary bathroom without a tub is now common and widely accepted.
- Execution affects value far more than the fixture list does.
- A wet room is the most space-efficient way to have both in a small bathroom.
- Check the delivery route, the floor structure and the hot water volume before ordering a tub.
Frequently asked questions
Does removing the bathtub hurt resale value?
Should I keep the tub in my primary bathroom?
Can I have both a tub and a shower in a small bathroom?
What size shower do I get from removing a tub?
What should I check before ordering a freestanding tub?
Jan has practiced interior design in Dallas since 1997 and founded Chateau Concepts in 2001. She holds a BFA in Interior Design from the University of North Texas. She designs and general-contracts residential and commercial projects across the Park Cities, Preston Hollow and North Dallas. Read her full profile →
Written and reviewed by Jan Revels before publicationWork with Chateau Concepts
Jan Revels handles both sides of a project in Dallas and the Park Cities — the design and the build.