# Walk-in Shower vs. Freestanding Tub – Which buyers prefer more? **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Tags:** walk-in-shower, resale-value, freestanding-tub, homeowners, bathroom-renovation, renovation\ **Created:** [August 23, 2025, 8:56pm UTC](https://home.renovation.reviews/t/walk-in-shower-vs-freestanding-tub-which-buyers-prefer-more/22903 "2025-08-23T20:56:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Michelle\_Brown](https://home.renovation.reviews/user_avatar/home.renovation.reviews/michelle_brown/32/2325_2.png) [@Michelle\_Brown](https://home.renovation.reviews/u/Michelle_Brown)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2025, 8:56pm UTC](https://home.renovation.reviews/t/walk-in-shower-vs-freestanding-tub-which-buyers-prefer-more/22903/1 "2025-08-23T20:56:34Z")
Walk-in Shower vs. Freestanding Tub – Which buyers prefer more? ---
**Author:** ![Bobby\_Michael](https://home.renovation.reviews/user_avatar/home.renovation.reviews/bobby_michael/32/2057_2.png) [@Bobby\_Michael](https://home.renovation.reviews/u/Bobby_Michael)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 7:56am UTC](https://home.renovation.reviews/t/walk-in-shower-vs-freestanding-tub-which-buyers-prefer-more/22903/2 "2025-08-24T07:56:58Z")
Walk-in shower is better I think ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_Michael1](https://home.renovation.reviews/user_avatar/home.renovation.reviews/tim_michael1/32/6294_2.png) [@Tim\_Michael1](https://home.renovation.reviews/u/Tim_Michael1)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 3:13pm UTC](https://home.renovation.reviews/t/walk-in-shower-vs-freestanding-tub-which-buyers-prefer-more/22903/3 "2025-09-08T15:13:59Z")
The previous one i guess ---
**Author:** ![Chick-asaw](https://home.renovation.reviews/user_avatar/home.renovation.reviews/chick-asaw/32/1735_2.png) [@Chick-asaw](https://home.renovation.reviews/u/Chick-asaw)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 5:05pm UTC](https://home.renovation.reviews/t/walk-in-shower-vs-freestanding-tub-which-buyers-prefer-more/22903/4 "2025-09-08T17:05:41Z")
Freestanding tub is the best ---
**Author:** ![MichaelRobert](https://home.renovation.reviews/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@MichaelRobert](https://home.renovation.reviews/u/MichaelRobert)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 7:15pm UTC](https://home.renovation.reviews/t/walk-in-shower-vs-freestanding-tub-which-buyers-prefer-more/22903/5 "2025-09-08T19:15:56Z")
will work on this friend ---
**Author:** ![BuildersLTD](https://home.renovation.reviews/user_avatar/home.renovation.reviews/buildersltd/32/14872_2.png) [@BuildersLTD](https://home.renovation.reviews/u/BuildersLTD)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2026, 10:59am UTC](https://home.renovation.reviews/t/walk-in-shower-vs-freestanding-tub-which-buyers-prefer-more/22903/6 "2026-04-18T10:59:18Z")
Toronto tradesperson view on this one since it comes up in almost every bathroom consult we do. For **resale** in the GTA, the data has shifted over the last 3–4 years. What we actually see at listing time: - **Primary bath with no tub at all** still scares a subset of buyers — families with young kids, buyers from cultures where a soaking tub is a default expectation, anyone with mobility concerns. If the house only has one bathroom or this is the only tub in the home, pulling it for a walk-in shower can quietly cost you at offer time. - **Primary bath with a walk-in shower PLUS a freestanding tub** is the sweet spot on anything 2,000+ sqft and on any home targeting move-up buyers. The freestanding tub does more work as a visual anchor in listing photos than it does in actual weekly use. - **Secondary bath as shower-only** is totally fine if any other bathroom in the house has a tub. This is where the resale math flips. A few things homeowners keep getting wrong here: 1. **Undersizing the walk-in.** 32×48" is a closet with a head in it. 36×60" minimum for anything you want to feel like an upgrade. Curbless if the floor framing allows the drop — we use Schluter Kerdi-Line with a linear drain on almost every one of these now. 2. **Buying a freestanding tub before checking the floor.** Cast iron and stone resin tubs land around 350–600 lb filled. In a pre-1970 Toronto house with 2x8 joists at 16" OC, you may need sistering or a blocking plan before the plumber shows up. Ask your GC to confirm. 3. **Forgetting the filler spec.** Freestanding tub filler means a floor-mounted faucet on its own rough-in. That’s roughly $1,500–$3,500 added to what looked like a straight swap. If the bathroom is big enough to fit both comfortably (roughly 10×8 or bigger), put both in. If you have to pick one, pick for how you actually live in the house, not for resale — a tub that nobody uses reads worse in person than a well-executed walk-in. — BuildersLTD ---
**Author:** ![BuildersLTD](https://home.renovation.reviews/user_avatar/home.renovation.reviews/buildersltd/32/14872_2.png) [@BuildersLTD](https://home.renovation.reviews/u/BuildersLTD)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2026, 12:29pm UTC](https://home.renovation.reviews/t/walk-in-shower-vs-freestanding-tub-which-buyers-prefer-more/22903/7 "2026-04-18T12:29:24Z")
Totally fair — but the freestanding-tub-as-default answer depends a lot on who’s actually using the bathroom. Two angles worth flagging for the next person reading this thread. Aging-in-place: if anyone in the household is 55+, or you plan to stay in the home 10+ years, the deep freestanding tub becomes an accessibility liability fast. 23" from floor to rim is a hard step-in for anyone with knee, hip, or balance issues. We’ve ripped out more “dream tubs” for 60+ clients in the last 3 years than we’ve installed. A curbless walk-in with a fold-down teak bench, grab-bar blocking behind the wall, and a hand shower is the forward-compatible pick. 2026 GTA pricing reality-check on a curbless walk-in: floor buildup with Kerdi-Line + pre-sloped tray is running $1,800–$2,600 in labour/materials before tile, assuming the joists don’t need sistering. Tile adds $12–$28/sqft installed for midrange porcelain, more for large-format. If you’re pricing out both, budget the curbless walk-in at roughly 1.3–1.6x a standard tub-and-shower combo on the reno side — the payback comes from resale photos and long-term usability, not day-one cost. Small market, big ripple: whatever you pick, spec the rough-in wide. Moving plumbing later is where the real money goes.