Quick Answer
Refinishing costs $500–$1,200 and buys you three to seven years on a tub whose only problem is the surface. Replacement runs $12,000–$20,000 and gives you a new tub built for Seattle's moisture. Converting to a walk-in shower costs $14,000–$22,000 and is the right call if you haven't taken a bath in years. The decision comes down to why the tub bothers you.
Start here: what's actually wrong with your tub?
| What you're seeing | What it usually means | Best fix |
|---|---|---|
| Dull, stained, or scratched surface — but the tub is solid | Cosmetic wear on the finish | Refinishing |
| Chips or a small crack in a fiberglass tub | Surface failure, may be spreading | Replacement (refinishing over a crack doesn't hold) |
| Rust stains around the drain or overflow | Water is getting behind the surface | Replacement |
| Soft or flexing floor around the tub | Subfloor moisture damage | Replacement, plus framing repair |
| Peeling caulk and mildew at the wall joint | The tub-to-wall seal has failed | Replacement of the tub and surround together |
| Nothing — you just never use it | It's occupying space you'd rather have as a shower | Tub-to-shower conversion |
| You're nervous stepping over the wall | The step height, not the tub | Conversion or a walk-in tub |
That last pair is the interesting one, because it's not a repair question at all. Plenty of Seattle bathtubs are in perfectly good condition and still the wrong fixture for the person using the room.
Option 1: Refinishing (reglazing)
A refinisher strips, preps, and sprays a new coating over your existing tub. In two conditions it's genuinely the smart choice: the tub is structurally sound, and you need a short-term improvement — you're selling in a year, or you're not ready to invest in the room yet.
Cost
$500 – $1,200
Time
1 day + 24–48h cure
Lasts
3 – 7 years
The honest limits. A refinished surface is a coating, not the tub. It's more delicate than the original — no abrasive cleaners, no bath mats with suction cups, and chips are permanent. It cannot fix a crack, rust, or anything happening behind the tub. And in Seattle's humidity, coatings on a tub that stays damp tend to reach the low end of that lifespan rather than the high end.
Choose it if: the tub is sound, the finish is the only problem, and you want to spend under a thousand dollars.
Skip it if: there's a crack, rust, movement, or a failing seal at the wall. Refinishing over any of those seals the problem in rather than solving it.
Option 2: Replacement
The old tub comes out, the wall and framing behind it get inspected and repaired, and a new tub and surround go in together.
Cost
$12,000 – $20,000
Time
1 – 2 days
Lasts
Decades
The value here isn't only the new tub — it's the inspection. In a Seattle home built before 1980, pulling a tub is often the first time anyone has looked at that wall cavity. It's where we find rotted bottom plates, missing vapor barriers, and supply lines that shouldn't be reconnected. Those conditions are already there whether or not you look at them.
Choose it if: you use the bath, the tub is failing, or your home needs to keep at least one bathtub for resale.
A note on the surround: replacing the tub without replacing the walls around it is a false economy. The joint between a new tub and old walls is exactly where the next leak starts, and matching an old surround to a new tub rarely looks right. Do them together. See our bathtub replacement service.
Option 3: Convert it to a walk-in shower
If the honest answer to "when did you last take a bath?" is "I don't remember," you're maintaining a fixture that's costing you floor space and daily convenience.
Cost
$14,000 – $22,000
Time
1 – 3 days
Requires
Plumbing permit
Seattle code requires a 2" shower drain versus a tub's 1.5", which is what makes the permit necessary. Removing a 60-inch tub from a compact Seattle bathroom and replacing it with a glass-enclosed shower changes how the whole room feels. In the sub-50-square-foot bathrooms common in Ballard bungalows and Capitol Hill buildings, it's the most effective thing you can do short of moving a wall. Full conversion guide with costs.
Option 4: A walk-in tub
If you want to keep bathing — actually soaking, not just showering — but the step over the tub wall has become the problem, a walk-in tub solves the entry without giving up the bath.
Cost: $12,000–$25,000. Time: 1–2 days.
The trade-off to understand before you buy: you sit inside while it fills and again while it drains, because the door seals against water pressure. In a well-heated bathroom with a quick-drain system and enough hot water capacity, that's fine. We compare walk-in tubs and showers directly here.
Should you keep a bathtub at all?
A practical rule for Seattle homes:
One bathroom in the house?
Keep a tub. Families with young children filter for it, and in neighborhoods like Ravenna, Wallingford, Greenwood, and West Seattle that's a meaningful share of buyers.
Two or more bathrooms?
Convert the primary to a walk-in shower and keep a tub in the secondary. This is the configuration that serves you daily and protects resale simultaneously. It's what we recommend most often.
Selling within two years?
Don't remove the only tub. Do fix a tub that looks terrible — a $700 refinish or a fresh surround photographs dramatically better than a stained one.
What Seattle homes specifically run into
Second-floor tubs in older houses
A filled tub is heavy. In pre-1950 homes we check the floor framing before committing, particularly for a walk-in tub, which holds more water than a standard one.
40-gallon water heaters
Common in older Seattle houses and marginal for a deep soaking tub or a walk-in tub. Worth checking before you order the fixture, not after.
Cast iron
Original cast iron tubs in Seattle craftsman homes are heavy, durable, and often worth keeping and refinishing if the surface is the only issue. Removing one is a genuine project — they frequently have to be cut apart to get out of the room.
The wall joint
In this climate, the seal between tub and wall is the highest-failure detail in the bathroom. If yours has been re-caulked more than once, water is already getting past it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not sure which one your tub needs?
Book a free in-home consultation or call (425) 345-5194. We'll look at the tub, the wall joint, and the floor around it, and tell you honestly whether you need a $700 fix or a real replacement.