IMO ask his parents what they prefer I like to have a bath every night and would not find a shower a great replacement.

i agree that asking his parents makes the most sense if there isnt another obvious reason why one over the other. i'd say this tho, the shower will be narrow. when you have a tub with shower curtain, generally you can install either a curved rod, or move the rod out an inch or so, giving more elbow room. it can also cost less to do a combo.

*thinking about all those nice roti*

In India, most people still bathe in a bucket. They moved into a luxury high-rise about 8 years ago, so they now take showers every day. They somehow have a *jetted tub* in their tub-shower combo, but still no hot running water in the building. (Every bathroom has a small water heater that you turn on 10 minutes before you fill up your bucket).

In that case, I'd do the tub-shower combo. It won't hurt anything to have the bathtub in any case, and it might just be that they or another visitor from India might prefer to take a bucket bath. They could still do that in a bathtub, but it's more difficult to fill a bucket or foot bath from a shower head.

I'm a bath person too and even though I'm North American I'm actually quite well versed in bathing from a bucket due to growing up with sauna culture. Couldn't fit in the wash tub after about age six!

You need more than 30” for any of this. You can do a 32”x60” tub shower. Or a a 32”x60” shower. But 32” is the minimum needed to allow a 30” circle under the fixture, as is required by code. 36” is much better for both the tub shower and shower only. 48” would be the minimum to do curbless.

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Thanks Sophie. Code requirement pretty much settles it -- tub-shower combo it is!

(Just measured the tub upstairs, it's 29 inches?!!?! What kind of remuddle did we move into five years ago?)

In your situation, don't do a tub/shower combo for the guest bath unless your parents can't live without a bath tub.

I am getting rid of the tub/shower combo in my master bath and replacing it with a large shower because it's so much more comfortable to shower in and far safer than clambering over the edge of the tub - something to think of as your parents age (again unless they are desperate for their own tub because they bathe - most adults I know don't). I see no reason to have a crappy tub and a crappy shower in lieu of having a really nice shower - and one that is safer for me too.

Your parents are probably of the age where they would appreciate a nice shower that is easy to get into and one with a bench.

If you're keeping the toilet and vanity in their current position and the vanity in it's current size, I would do a 36x60 shower. My standard guest bath is 5x8 with a 30" vanity, toilet and 32x60 tub, all of which meets code for toilet spacing, etc. Since your vanity appears to be 24", you would easily have room to add another 4" to do a more comfortable 36x60 shower with bench. A downstairs bath with shower would be better for aging in place and I think having a first floor bath with shower would be good for resale as well.

Is there room to have the door swing into the hallway versus into the bathroom?