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To bathe or not to bathe

By Fifty @ May 10, 2016

As you sit down with your builders to plot out your dream retreat from Rainey Homes, one question is sure to come up: Do you want a bathtub?

Before you take that as an unwarranted attack on your personal hygiene, consider the statistics. About half of today’s homebuyers don’t really care if their new home has one or not, and with good reason.

Two of the biggest population groups, millennials and Baby Boomers, really have no use for them. The younger set grew up on showers, and the older set fears slipping in the tub and breaking something.

If you’re into soaking away the day’s stresses, chances are you have hot tub in the backyard. You have to admit, showers are holding their own in the home décor market with frameless European doors, stone-covered walls and even the occasional bench.

But there’s surely some reason to still hang onto the tub, which could otherwise turn into an antiquity. A few come immediately to mind:

  • Where will you wash your dog? Sure, you can wash him outdoors. But what if he encounters a skunk in the dead of winter? Are you going to wait until next spring to rid him of his, um, eau de Pepe le Pew?
  • Ditto with your little ones. A newborn can bathe in the kitchen sink, and you might stretch out the experience a little if you install one of those trendy new farmhouse sinks. But c’mon: Doesn’t every kid deserve a childhood picture sharing a bubbly bath with his brothers and sisters? It’s like a toddler rite-of-passage—or, at the very least, a fun thing to pull out when she goes on her first date a few years later.
  • If you want to sell your house someday, you’re going to turn away a lot of people who still believe a house isn’t a home without a bathtub. The general consensus is that you should have at least one, in the children’s bathroom, to play it safe on the resale front.

But even that comes with a string attached: Make it a clawfoot tub, a nod to its legacy, or an otherwise mobile style to increase its flexibility. Frankly, we’re betting homeowners who have one of these are readying it for the curb!

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