Bath or shower in a small bathroom: what to weigh up

How much space you actually gain

A standard Soviet-era bathtub is around 150 to 170 centimetres long and takes up the full width of the room in most panel-flat layouts. A shower enclosure can be as small as 80 by 80 centimetres, so on paper the gain looks large. In practice, the freed-up floor is often an awkward strip rather than usable space, because the drain, ventilation duct and door swing are already fixed by the building.

The realistic gain is usually room for a washing machine, a taller storage unit, or simply a bathroom that is easier to move around in without knocking your knee on the tub edge. It rarely turns a cramped bathroom into a spacious one. If the room is under three square metres, a shower changes daily use noticeably; above five square metres, the difference is smaller than people expect.

Who a bathtub still suits better than a shower

A bathtub is easier for bathing small children and for anyone who finds standing for long periods difficult, including elderly residents and people recovering from injury or surgery. It also handles hand-washing bulky items such as bedding or a dog. None of this is marketing; it is simply what a tub is for, and a shower enclosure does not replace it.

If nobody in the household bathes rather than showers, and the flat is not likely to house small children or older relatives in the coming years, a shower is the more practical everyday fixture. Where that is uncertain, keeping the tub, or fitting a shower-bath combination, is often the safer long-term choice.

What resale actually means here

Estonian buyers are not uniform on this point. Families looking at a one- or two-bedroom flat often expect a bathtub, particularly if children are part of the picture; buyers of smaller flats or those without children frequently prefer a shower and see a tub as wasted space. Neither preference is stronger than the other across the market as a whole.

What matters more for resale is that the work looks properly done: a level enclosure, sound tiling, no visible patchwork around old pipe runs. A well-fitted shower in a small flat rarely puts off buyers, and a tatty, mould-stained bathtub helps no one. If the building has only one bathroom and the flat is aimed at families, it is worth thinking twice before removing the only tub in the unit.

What changes in the plumbing when you convert

Swapping a tub for a shower enclosure is not just lifting one out and setting the other down. The waste outlet usually needs to move and be re-graded for a shower tray, the water supply pipes are shortened or rerouted, and the floor around the new drain needs proper waterproofing before tiling. In an older panel flat, this often means opening up the floor screed, which was not designed with a shower tray's drain point in mind.

Where the building has cast-iron waste stacks, connecting a new plastic outlet correctly matters for both drainage and noise. This part of the job is where inexperienced work causes problems years later, usually as a damp patch on the ceiling of the flat below. It is also where the work should be done by someone who has handled the connection between old stack and new fixture before.

What to check before deciding

A few practical points settle most of these decisions faster than debating preferences. Go through them before committing to either option.

Some of these, particularly the waste stack condition and the waterproofing state, are hard to judge without opening up the floor, which is one reason it is worth having someone experienced look before you commit to tiles and fittings.

• Measure the actual floor area gained, not just the tub's footprint, once door swing and storage are accounted for.
• Check who in the household bathes and whether that is likely to change in the next five to ten years.
• Ask whether the building's waste stack is cast iron or already replaced, since this affects the connection work.
• Look at the floor's existing waterproofing, or lack of it, under the current bathtub.
• Consider the flat's likely buyer profile if you plan to sell within a few years.
• Get a fixed quote for the full conversion, including tiling and waterproofing, before assuming the shower option is cheaper.

When to bring in a specialist before choosing

If the plumbing behind the wall is original, if you are unsure whether the floor structure allows a recessed shower drain, or if the bathroom sits above a neighbour's flat and any leak would be their problem too, it is worth having someone look at the space before you decide rather than after. Photos of the current layout and pipework are usually enough for a first assessment.

We fit shower enclosures from 150 € per job, and where the bathroom needs more than a straight swap, a full bathroom renovation is quoted from 3500 € per job, with the figure fixed after we have seen the space or your photos. Either way, the plumbing rework is the part worth getting priced properly before you buy tiles or a tray.