The alarm goes off. You lay bleary-eyed from another sleepless night staring into the darkness. No sunlight creeps through the curtains. It won’t rise for hours on this cold winter morning. You linger here, the blaring alarm seems distant as though it were only the last fading wisps of a dream. You know you should rise, but you are lost amid your own gnawing thoughts. Against all reason, you cannot bring yourself to leave the bed, not while it is so close. It is waiting just steps away, at the end of the hall, in the next room, maybe behind that closed door in your bedroom. Lurking just out of sight.

Steeling yourself you rise, taking measured deliberate steps toward the source of your anxieties. You stop outside of the doorway, unable to yet cross the threshold. Bracing one hand on the door you draw a deep breathe as though submerging into endless depths. Pushing it open the familiar shadowed outlines come into view. You wish that you could go about this affair in darkness but you know too well that it cannot be. Flipping the switch, the full scope of horrors comes to life!

Yellowed linoleum races toward your feet, threatening to crawl up your legs covering you with it's faded surface. The corners of aged wallpaper reach down in tattered wisps. The once bright floral pattern faded into the dusty hue of an unkempt lot of an abandoned home. The toilets furred lid sits open, gaping like the rust-streaked maw of some porcelain creature. But undeniable amidst all the rest, like a terrible crowning jewel from a darker age, the tub lies waiting for you. Its quarters are cramped and stifling. It’s colour a historical record, achievable without lead paint. Every surface mildewed and worn. Beckoning you forward you know you must obey.  

Rest easy my friends, this story does not have to suffer a bitter ending. There are options to make that old depressing bathroom beautiful again. If you are unhappy with your bathroom, and particularly with your tub or shower, you might be thinking that the quick and easy solution is to pop an acrylic liner over the old tub. Out of sight, out of mind. While there is no denying that this is an effective solution, you might be putting more out of mind than you know.

Acrylic liners are a suitable solution if you are satisfied with the size and depth of your current tub, as they are custom made to fit the dimensions of the existing tub. They will allow you to choose any colour and style but the aesthetic limitations are not the real cause for concern. If your bathroom looks anything like the one described above then it’s safe to assume your home wasn’t built yesterday, and in a older home you might be covering up more than an ugly tub with that liner.  

If you don’t want to reenact your favourite scene from The Shining then may we recommend that when you decide to update your bathroom, you opt to replace the old tub with a shiny new one. The cost is only a marginal difference and a full replacement can often be completed in one day. Not only will a new tub or shower offer you the full suite of choices for customization of style and sizing, but we will get to take a look at the structures underneath. 

When we pull out an old tub you truly never know what you are going to find. Thankfully most times all is well. However just about anything could be waiting underneath. Rotten floorboards, corroded copper pipes, busted flanges, improper repairs from the previous owners just barely hanging on, it’s a grab bag of potential issues under there.

But when we get to see underneath we know we aren’t going to find anything that we can’t handle. We know bathrooms floor to ceiling, so whatever the problem we’ve got the solution. With the old tub removed it’s the best time to check for issues that might arise down the road. No point in having a custom liner installed over a tub that falls through the floor a month later because you didn't know that over the years a small leak had rotted the floorboards.

If you are thinking about a new tub or shower please don’t hesitate to book an in-home assessment with us. It’s no cost to you and you won’t be pressured to buy. But you will get our expert opinion on the state of your bathroom.

If you want to know more, grab a copy of the Bathroom Renovation Guide. It’s a free eBook that has everything you need to know about bathroom renovations before you get started.

Let’s make your bath beautiful together.