February 2025: Private Bathrooms
Posted on - Monday, February 3rd, 2025There is a misconception that a private bathroom is exempted from having to comply with the 2010 ADA Guidelines and the 2012 TAS. In reality, even private bathrooms must comply, although there are some exceptions they can take. In order to take the exceptions, a bathroom is deemed “private” if the bathroom is accessed from a private office and not for public or common use. This newsletter will discuss what items are required to be provided at private bathrooms, and which one’s can be left out. There is a summary from TDLR on TM 2013-19 which we will discuss in detail.
Toilets
At a private bathroom that is accessed through a private office and not for common use, the toilets must comply with all the requirements except for:
- The height of the toilet does not have to be 17″-19″ a.f.f. It can be higher or lower than the minimum required heights.
- Grab bars are not required to be installed, but blocking must be provided within the wall for future installation
- In the Toilet and Bathing rooms the door can swing into the clear floor space of the fixtures in a private office
So a private toilet must still have the clearances required at the floor area distance from the side wall, flush control and toilet paper dispenser must comply with 604.
The photo above shows a toilet in a private bathroom. As you can see, no grab bars are provided. They are not required. Blocking for future grab bars should be provided.
But notice that it is located in a toilet compartment without a toe clearance and the width was not increased to accommodate the maneuvering to exit
The photo above shows the 60″ width inside the hard walls. ADA requires 6″ more when toe clearance is not provided….so 66″ min. would work.
Sinks
At a private bathroom accessed from a private office and not for public use must have a sink that complies with everything in section 606 except:
- The sink does not have to have a knee space complying with 306 for forward approach. A parallel approach is allowed to be provided.
- The height of the sink does not have to be a 34″ a.f.f. maximum. It can be higher or lower than what the Standards require.
The sink is required to have the proper faucet mechanism, the mirror at the correct height, and floor area for parallel approach.
Showers and Tubs
At a private bathroom accessed by a private office and not for public or common use, the showers and tubs have to comply with all the requirements of section 607 and 608 except for:
- Grab bars do not have to be installed, but blocking within the walls for future installation must be provided.
Otherwise, a shower must have the controls installed at the proper reach range, a hand held shower unit must be provided, the threshold at the entry must not be higher than 1/2″, the size of the shower must comply, and at a transfer shower a seat must also be provided.
The shower in the private office was not required to provide grab bars, but there should have blocking for future grab bars. The shape of the shower is not required to be rectangular, therefore this shower should comply. The door to enter would have complied, but there was no maneuvering clearance to open. If the hinge would have been located opposite of this one, that would have corrected the issue.
The shower in the private office had controls mounted higher than 48″ a.f.f. and did not have a hand held shower unit
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