I need some advice on how to add a shower to a beautiful existing garden tub we have in our master bath. The tub came with the house we bought back in 1990. We have carpet in our bath which has become old, stained, and a bit moldy and plan on re-doing the floor.

However, the tub is a bit of a problem area. My husband prefers showers and I often do, too as we are on a cistern and showers take less water. So my hubby is using the guest bath which has a regular sized tub with a shower. I use the small shower in our master bath as I prefer the big bathroom as it has an overhead exhaust fan/combination heater which we installed years ago. Also when we do have guests, my husband complains about the small shower.

My husband is thinking about tearing out the maroon garden tub which is BEAUTIFUL and LARGE and buying a corner tub/shower combination... possibly one with a whirlpool. I would much rather install a shower in the existing tub and add a shower surround on the walls... or perhaps use tile on the walls. ( We now have wallpaper around the garden tub.)

My husband has already added a three story addition on to our home... ALL BY HIMSELF as he is now retired... plus put in a basement under the addition for our heating systems... one for each part of the house. He has always done all our plumbing, carpentry and electrical work.

I haven't mentioned my idea to him as I found this forum and felt it might be a very good place to ask my question. I'm also enclosing a small photo of the garden tub. We are running a bit low on money because of the addition we built.. plus all the new laminate flooring we bought to replace carpet as we both have allergies. I just wondered if you had any advice as to HOW to add a shower to an existing garden tub and if it would be a tremendously hard job? Or would it just be better to buy a new tub and shower combination? The problem is... that I LOVE the color of our beautiful tub! And I can't WAIT to take up that old carpet and put down a beautiful floor that is easy to clean. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks so much.

Catnip

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Hi Cat,
Don't tear out that beautiful tub. Show me a picture of where the water comes in. I can't see the fill valve. I have some ideas that don't include tearing up your walls but I need to know how the tub is plumbed. Hang in there we'll figure out something and when we do your tub will give you "bathroom bragging rights".
Regards Tom

I've had a clawfoot tub for a long time and thought I was going to have to get rid of it but this guy made some good arguments for making a tub to shower conversion... so I did and it was a great decision. My point is that in many instances you can work with what you have just like these people did with their garden tub. Don't let people tell you something isn't possible. If you can dream it, then it can be built. Good luck!

jbwalla,
Thanks for your imput and so true.
Now look in the upper left hand corner of the post for the date. You're responding to a five year old dead thread. Regards, Tom

I have a garden tub in a 90's house too.
My husband wants to remove it to put in a corner shower but I also would like to convert and enclose the tub into a shower.
Advice and directions greatly appreciated!

For openers, you just can't convert a tub into a shower floor. You can enclose it and had a shower head, but that's about all you can do with it. Did you have any specific installation in mind? Back to you, Tom