Key Building Regulations for Kitchens and Bathrooms

When planning renovations for your kitchen or bathroom, you must be aware of certain building regulations. These rules are in place to guarantee both safety and proper function of these essential spaces.

Accessible Ground Floor Toilets

If your home was constructed after 1999, it's a requirement that you have a ground floor toilet designed specifically for visitors who use wheelchairs.

When you undertake any refurbishment, you cannot remove this toilet or lessen its accessibility. Doing so would prevent future wheelchair users from properly utilising it.

Because of these important considerations, if you intend to alter an existing ground floor toilet, you will likely need to submit a building regulations application.

Can Your Floor Handle the Load?

If you decide to change what a room is used for, you might drastically increase the amount of weight, or 'load,' the floor has to bear. In these situations, reinforcing your floor could become essential.

For instance, putting a new bathroom suite into a room that has a timber joist and board floor system poses a considerable danger of exceeding its weight capacity, particularly when a bathtub is filled with water and occupied. Consequently, you might need to reinforce a floor like this.

To find out if your floor needs strengthening, you should consult a structural engineer or a surveyor. They can evaluate your floor and, if required, supply the necessary paperwork for the building control body before you begin your project.

Essential Ventilation for Your Rooms

For health reasons, every new room you add to your home needs to have sufficient ventilation. The exact ventilation requirements will depend on what kind of room it is.

If you construct a new internal wall, be careful not to negatively impact current conditions, such as the existing ventilation. Moreover, if you create a new room, you must also make sure that the original room continues to be properly ventilated.

Generally, ventilating a room involves two main types: 'purge' ventilation and 'whole building' ventilation. Additionally, certain rooms often require 'extract' ventilation.

Purge Ventilation: Fresh Air Through Windows

You get purge ventilation simply by opening a window. However, the window opening needs to be a certain size to qualify:

• If your window opens between 15 to 30 degrees, the clear opening area needs to be at least one-tenth (1/10th) of your room's total floor area.

• Should your window open greater than 30 degrees, then the clear opening area must be at least one-twentieth (1/20th) of your room's total floor area.

Remember, hinged or pivot windows that open less than 15 degrees do not count towards purge ventilation requirements.

Whole Building Ventilation: Constant Airflow (Trickle Vents)

Often referred to as 'trickle ventilation,' this type of airflow can be built right into the top of your window frame or provided through different systems. The minimum required ventilation area changes depending on the kind of room you have:

Typically, you will need both purge and whole building ventilation. Nevertheless, you might use different ventilation methods if you get approval from the building control body.

Extract Ventilation: Dealing with Moisture and Odours

You are legally obliged to install extract ventilation in any new kitchen, bathroom (including shower rooms), utility room, or toilet. This is crucial for cutting down condensation and getting rid of unpleasant smells.

However, for toilets exclusively, you can use 'purge ventilation' instead. This means having an opening window or a door that leads to an external wall, as long as it meets the specific criteria and doesn't create any security concerns.

When renovating an existing kitchen or bathroom, you must either keep or replace any extract ventilation system that is already there. If no such system currently exists, you don't have to install one, although you certainly have the option to do so.