Removing your only bathtub can be the right call, but whether it hurts resale depends on who is likely to buy your home and how long you plan to stay. The risk generally matters less when you plan to stay many years or age in place, and a local listing agent can judge how much it matters for a condo, a smaller home or a retiree-heavy neighborhood. National survey data shows many buyers prefer both a shower stall and a tub in the primary bath, but it didn’t measure sale prices, bedroom count or whether the home has any tub at all. If another bathroom still has a tub, keeping it may address some of those buyers’ preferences, since the survey asked only about the primary bath.

What do buyers say they want in a bathroom?

The most useful national data comes from the National Association of Home Builders. In its 2021 What Home Buyers Really Want survey, 72% of first-time buyers and 72% of repeat buyers rated having both a shower stall and a tub in the primary bath as essential or desirable. In the same survey, 27% of both groups said they “do not want” only a shower stall in the primary bath. NAHB reads that answer as meaning those buyers are unlikely to buy a home without a tub there as well.

Those numbers have two limits. First, the question asked only about the primary bath, not whether the home has any tub at all, so a house that keeps a tub in the hall bath may still satisfy many of those buyers. Second, the numbers are stated preferences, not measured sale prices. They don’t show how quickly a home sells or how it appraises.

We couldn’t find reliable local data on how many buyers in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties have young children or are retirees or military families, so these surveys can’t put a dollar figure on your specific risk. A Pensacola-area listing agent who sells homes like yours is the best judge of what local buyers expect.

Does a home need a bathtub to be sold, financed or listed as a full bath?

A continuing-education course hosted by the Florida Building Commission describes the minimum plumbing for a residence as a kitchen sink, toilet, lavatory and “a bathtub or shower”, citing FBC-Residential R306.1 and R306.2. By that source, a shower can serve as the required bathing fixture in place of a tub. However, the course was written by a private provider for an older edition and isn’t the code text, so confirm the current requirements and any local amendments with your building department before work starts.

VA financing is a common question for military buyers. VA Pamphlet 26-7, Chapter 12, requires space for sanitary facilities in each living unit, plus potable water for drinking, bathing, showering and sanitary uses, hot water, sanitary facilities and safe sewage disposal. The two topics that cover those requirements don’t list a bathtub.

Bath counts are where removing a tub can matter. On appraisal forms 1004, 2055, 1073 and 1075, the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac UAD requirements tell appraisers to count a three-quarter bath as a full bath in all cases, so a shower-only bath still counts as full for that purpose. Listings can work differently. The RESO Data Dictionary 2.0 defines a full bathroom as a room with a toilet, sink, bathtub and shower head, but it also notes that practice varies. Where an MLS doesn’t use the three-quarter field, its full-bath number may include three-quarter baths. Before you convert, ask a local listing agent how the Pensacola-area MLS would list a bath with a shower and no tub, so you know what buyers will see.

When removing the only tub makes sense, and when it’s riskier

The longer you’ll live in the home, the more the daily benefit of an easy-entry shower outweighs an uncertain resale effect. AARP’s 2024 Home and Community Preferences Survey found that 75% of adults 50 and older want to stay in their current home as long as possible. Among older adults planning home modifications, 72% plan bathroom upgrades such as grab bars and no-slip tile. Those figures show what homeowners want, not what buyers pay for. If you plan to age in place, though, a sale may be many years away.

Young children are a common reason to keep a tub, but a newborn doesn’t need a full-size one. HealthyChildren.org, the American Academy of Pediatrics’ site for parents, passes along the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recommendation of a hard plastic infant tub made on or after October 2, 2017. It notes that some parents use a bathinette, a towel-lined plastic tub or a sink, and it advises against bath seats in adult bathtubs.

If you expect to sell within a few years, such as when new military orders are likely, buyer preferences may matter more than a few years of your own use.

Middle-ground options that keep a tub in play

You don’t always have to choose between keeping the only tub and removing it. These three options give you an easier shower while keeping a tub, or the option of one, for future buyers:

• If the primary bath already has a shower stall and the only tub is in the hall bath, upgrade the primary shower to a walk-in and leave the hall tub in place.
• Replace the old tub with a new tub-shower combo, which keeps a tub while updating the shower.
• Build the walk-in shower within the old tub’s footprint which may make it more feasible for a future owner to put a tub back, though the drain, valve, waterproofing and finishes may still need work.

There’s no reliable public data on how much a Pensacola-area buyer would discount a home for removing the only tub. For the conversion itself, ask for written pricing that addresses these choices:

• tile or a grout-free panel system
• a curbed or curbless entry
• the glass, whether a door, a fixed panel or an open entry
• whether the valve and drain need to change
• any repairs needed once the old tub is out

Whichever contractor you choose, ask whether removing and disposing of the old tub is listed in the written scope. If you’re handling disposal yourself, your county’s solid waste office can tell you the options and any fees.

Do you need a permit for a tub-to-shower conversion?

Plan on a permit rather than treating a conversion as a simple swap. Inside Pensacola city limits, a bathroom remodel requires an alteration permit when all cabinets and plumbing, gas or electrical fixtures are being removed, or when sheetrock comes out to rough in subtrades. The city lists an exemption, effective July 1, 2026, for non-structural work on a single-family home valued under $7,500. Confirm the current threshold, and ask the city whether a conversion with plumbing work qualifies before assuming it does. Even then, you must apply for a Building Permit Exemption Application through MGOConnect, including the exemption form, a detailed scope of work and your signed contract, and a $40 administrative fee is due once the application is processed. The city applies the Florida Building Code, Plumbing, and all permitted work must be inspected, and the same city page says the permit holder schedules inspections by phone or through the online portal.

Santa Rosa County warns that “most often a permit is required except for minor repairs,” and its Development Services office at 850-981-7000 can answer questions about a specific project. For unincorporated Escambia County, the county building department can tell you when a conversion needs a permit. On Pensacola Beach, the plumbing permit application says SRIA approval is required and must be submitted when applying for a building permit. If you live in a condo or HOA community, including on Pensacola Beach or Navarre Beach, check the association’s rules before you schedule work. On Academy projects, we pull the plumbing permits and the work goes through the required inspections.

What the new shower has to meet

The Florida Building Commission course, which is again based on an older edition, gives the FBC-Residential minimums for a shower. The shower must measure at least 30 by 30 inches (900 square inches), with 24 inches of clearance in front of the entrance and at least 70 inches of height above the drain. The finished opening must be at least 22 inches wide, and any hinged door must open outward. Shower and tub/shower valves need pressure-balance or thermostatic mixing controls, or both, with a high-limit stop set to 120 degrees maximum.

Shower and tub spaces need a nonabsorbent surface at least 6 feet above the floor. If water-resistant gypsum board is used as a backer for tile, it can’t go over a vapor retarder. The course also lists glazing in doors and enclosures around showers as a hazardous location requiring special attention or detailing. Include any glass door or panel in the permitted scope and product specs. Don’t assume the shower can drain through the old tub drain unchanged. Have a licensed plumber and your local building department confirm whether the existing drain and trap can serve a shower and what the current code requires.

Designing the shower for aging in place

If safety is your reason for converting, design for it from the start, but you don’t have to meet ADA standards. The U.S. Access Board says the ADA doesn’t apply to privately owned housing not used as a public accommodation, including single-family homes and condominiums. The ADA FAQ Knowledge Base adds that only the parts of a residence used as a public accommodation, such as a home day care, are covered. That means curbless entry, grab bars and a bench are choices rather than legal requirements, and a walk-in shower isn’t automatically ADA compliant.

Decide on a curbed or curbless entry before demo, because that choice affects how the floor and drain are built. Ask for solid blocking in the walls where grab bars might go, even if you install the bars later. Decide at the same time whether you want a bench and whether you prefer a glass door, a fixed panel or an open walk-in layout. For the floor, ask the tile or pan manufacturer what test its slip-resistance rating is based on. That question matters because ASTM withdrew F462, its voluntary standard for slip-resistant bathing facilities, in 2016.

If you’re still deciding, start with three questions: how long you expect to stay, whether another bathroom has a tub, and who usually buys homes like yours. Next, ask a local listing agent how a shower-only bath would be listed. Then compare written scopes for a full conversion, a tub-shower combo and a shower that keeps the tub footprint.

Academy specializes in tub-to-shower conversions, including grout-free wall systems, and gives a written scope with itemized pricing and a realistic schedule before demo day. A standard grout-free conversion typically takes 3–5 working days. We offer a free in-home consultation if you’d like to walk through those options in your own bathroom.