Toilet rooms: fixture and transfer clearances

Chapter 6: Plumbing Elements and Facilities Toilet Rooms Is a vertical grab bar required by the Standards? No. The ADA Standards do not require a vertical grab bar at water closets. However, the ICC A117.1 standard, which is referenced by the International Building Code, requires an 18” minimum vertical grab bar on the side wall above the horizontal grab bar for people who are ambulatory. This grab bar can be located within the 12” minimum clearance required above the horizontal grab bar. Can grab bars have infill plates to prevent suicide or security risks in detention and correctional facilities? In detention and correctional facilities, grab bars must fully comply at water closets serving accessible cells. Infill plates and other anti-ligature measures may be provided in detention and correctional facilities and other facilities so long as they do not impede gripping surfaces. Grab bars are not required in those cells that are specially designed without protrusions for suicide prevention (§604.5, Ex. 3). Toilet Compartments What distinguishes “toilet compartments” from single-user “toilet rooms”? In some cases, it may be unclear whether water closets enclosed by full height partitions are to be treated as toilet compartments or single-user toilet rooms under the Standards. Toilet compartments can have full-height partitions. The determination typically is based on whether the toilet compartment is located within a restroom/ bathing facility or if it is entered directly from a common use corridor or exterior route. Those located within a room (such as a men’s room, women’s room, or gender neutral multi-user restroom, locker room, shower room) can be scoped as toilet compartments under the Standards: at least one wheelchair accessible and, if six or more water closets/urinals are provided, at least one ambulatory accessible compartment (§213.3.1). Those that directly connect to, or are separated by, a hallway, corridor, or exterior route, are scoped as single-user toilet rooms: all must comply except that where clustered, 50% of each use must comply (§213.2). If a toilet compartment contains more than one plumbing fixture (e.g., a lavatory), it must comply as a toilet room (§604.8). Can compartment door openings be located more than 4” from the side partition when the compartment width exceeds the 60” minimum? The Standards require the door opening to be located 4” maximum from the side partition further from the water closet (or, if located in the side partition, 4” maximum from the front partition). An increase above the 4” maximum where compartments exceed the 60” minimum width may not impact usability if the extra width of the compartment equals or exceeds the increase above the 4” maximum (as permitted by the ICC A117.1 Standard), but such a departure must be based on the provision of equivalent facilitation (§103). 38