Should You Remove The Tub In Your Jack & Jill Bathroom? Here's What To Consider

By doubling up on key amenities, a Jack and Jill bathroom can help to maximize space and functionality. It isn't an efficient layout choice automatically, however, which is why your selection of features and their arrangement is key to making a Jack and Jill bathroom work. Removing a shower in favor of a tub is definitely something to think about if you want to make smart use of the space. But there's more to it. The people using the bathroom and the value a tub adds to a home should also be considered.

If you're wondering what a Jack and Jill bathroom is, this term refers to a unique layout where two bedrooms are connected via a bathroom that contains a toilet, tub or shower, and two faucets (or three if there are more than two people, per Hilary Farr's genius sink upgrade tip). Commonly serving children's bedrooms, this setup can help reduce bathroom wars — but only if the layout is conducive to sharing, such as separate medicine cabinets. If you are planning on keeping the tub, installing a partition (or even a pocket door) can increase privacy between the sink area and bath. Not sure which route to take? Here are the main things to consider when deciding whether to rip out the tub in your Jack and Jill bathroom. 

A tub is great in homes with small kids and pets and is the perfect place to enjoy a spa moment, but it's usually less space-efficient than a shower. Taking out your tub might make sense in a Jack and Jill bathroom where floor area is limited. But if the bathroom is shared by young kids, a tub will almost certainly be a necessity. On the other hand, if the siblings are older children or adults, then a shower is likely fine. If it's a roommate situation and the point of the shared bathroom is to save space and resources, a shower will be the most efficient option. Cleaning will be easier, you can gain back floor space, and energy and water bills might be lower as showers are more economical than tubs.

However, the removal of a tub can be costly, not just in terms of the process but also in potential home value. David Bromstad says removing this feature can hurt your home's resale value. A much better move might be to transform your bath into a shower/tub combo so you can get the best of both worlds and maximize space to the fullest. This also doesn't have to cost a lot in supplies or labor to set up. All that's needed is to install a shower head on the wall or the ceiling and hook it up to the existing plumbing.