What?!? You don't want your Luuuv Tub?!? I'm shocked!

What is below this? Basement? Crawl? Slab? First floor?

It is on the second floor of a stick built home so I am fairly sure it is just the subfloor. First floor hallway is below.

I don't think it will be an issue. You will cap it all off just below the floor level working from the upstairs. Patch the sub-floor and then do finish flooring. Might have to cut it up to get it out.

I agree with Jan. This is a moderately complex, but not difficult, job for an experienced contractor. But I guarantee that, if you dig into this yourself, there will be problems and surprises that won't make you happy.

I'm curious -- why does everyone hate the tubs?

I don't have one and *think* it would be great to have one.

I have hardly used the tub in 17 years but I use my tiny shower every day. I really want to let the door open completely and reclaim the space. I do have two other bathrooms with tub/shower combos for resale. I won’t miss it if I can afford to remove it.

The bath is a gut. Get a contractor. Save stress, heartache, and yes.........even MONEY. Do overs are not cheap.

The OP didn't overtly state that it was a DIY job. My impression was that they were inquiring as to the general feasibility of this.

The shower will also need to go you can’t just add on to ashower it will take a pro to do what you want and IMO do not touch it until you have the pro lined up and ready to start. Gina I don’t think people hate them but honestly if you never use it why have it. I got the impression they were doing the work from the last statement about doing the floor.

ditto above

I want to remove this bathtub and knee wall to upgrade and expand the shower a few inches.

The first two won't cost anything (if you can isolate & cap the water supply to the tub yourself.) Sledge hammer, Sawsall, wheelbarrow.

Expanding the shower? Is the shower to the left of the tub? How big is the shower now? If the shower is left of the tub, you will gain very little extra space because the window is a limiting factor.

The shower will be the pricey item. However much you want to spend. From less expensive pre-fab kits to full-out custom multiple shower head $pendy, $$pendy, $$$pendy...

I can expand the shower width 7 inches and add up to 30 inches in length. It will feel so much bigger. My biggest concern was feasibility to remove the tub. Budget is a concern and wondered how expensive and complicated it would be to get it out of the room. If that part of it would be 10k then I would have to keep the tub. I kind of hoped removing the tub and repairing the drywall would be under $1500. Not including LVT for the floor or interior paint.

A few inches would really make a difference.

wrmonroe-

I think you might be surprised how expensive the whole project could be. A couple of years ago I replaced a sunken tub with a freestanding tub and had the bathroom re-tiled. The only thing I had to do structurally was have the hole in the floor that was left by the sunken tub sealed up. There were no plumbing changes other than a little re-piping of copper lines by a couple of feet for the new tub. By the time I was done, it was $25K+.

What you need are several quotes from local contractors so you can get an idea of what local costs would be to do what you want. The last thing you need is to get halfway through a bathroom remodel and run out of money.

Start the piggy bank, and wait for a full re do of the bath. By pros. 10 k in a bath goes almost nowhere. Not even at Home Depot. Demo, new shower, tile , shower glass, . Chopping up a tub and hauling it to the curb is the least of it,

@JAN MOYER -- my husband wants to redo 2 of our bathrooms just to give them a higher end finish. I didn't have any idea that it would be that expensive. I'm not feeling comfortable with that at al!!

Good luck @wrmonroe -- I can't wait to see the finished product.

I did something similar (tore out bathtub and enlarged shower) and it wound up costing $25k for a very small bathroom. Used quality materials but nothing crazy expensive -- most of the cost was labor. I'm in a medium priced market. Shocking how much a tiny space can cost.

There rarely is an appropriate use of the word "just" in design. Unless you are talking about a day jiggling your furniture around , or hanging a few pictures : )

"Just to give them a higher end finish " would definitely be a place where "Just" ....just doesn't work.

Wrmonroe: I'm with you. I've lived in this house 19 years and have used the whirlpool tub in the master bath less than 15 times (except to water plants). Waste of money and space. I didn't choose it, it was installed as part of the remodel as I bought the house.

Removing an acrylic tub is not a problem; a Sawzall makes short work of that. The real work comes afterwards.

Thanks everyone for your advice. I think I'm going to have to save some more $ before I can tackle this project but at least I know I can get rid of the tub...someday.