ADA Bathroom
w/ Pocket Doors, Industrial Plumbing, Brilliant
Note please for your further reference:
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For anyone whose living depends on getting the whole story straight, albeit painfully long and involved, see this website for point-by-point guidance http://www.access-board.gov/adaag/html/adaag.htm#4.24.3 before you see anyone else.
Now the AG bets that situations identical to this one do not abound in the matter of ADA bathroom layouts, and there is no reason on the planet that you should believe that the geez is about to do you right. But the obstacle he faced was mighty, and her solution brilliant. So it makes a good story even though it may not apply to you.
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Before The Architect was in the middle phases of home drawing up all the interiors build out plans for an 8,ooo square foot manufacturing and commercial sales facility within a steel structure to be built by others. We were home designing and home drawing for interior framing, ceiling, walls, floors, doors and trim, home light, receptacles, and plumbing in both plan view and (for plumbing in) isometric. All these home drawings eventually would go to the general residential contractor for project scope, subcontractors for bids, and the bank for money.
In the course of home designing and home drawing, our client the owner checked with local authorities as to the need for an ADA-qualified bathroom in this home build out, considering that no public were allowed on the premises, and the hired staff in residence would number a small handful at any one moment. They agreed, of the five bathrooms in the build out, one of them must qualify.
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But which one?
Simply stated, the interiors we drew were divided into three bays —
---first, one bay for staging materials in and commercial sales space with three bathrooms – 1/2-baths, really – already drawn in (one for the owner, private; one for office staff and anyone on break; one for in-coming materials handlers and office workers) ;
---second, one bay for manufacturing wherein no bathrooms had been indicated; and
---third, one bay for staging finished goods out with two bathroom, his and hers for plant and shipping personnel).
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In industrial applications more than almost any other designed space, surface area is awesomely precious and double that for manufacturing, or shop floor, area. Hyperbolically, shop floor area comes first, and there is no second in line. In other words, bathrooms were low on the list of space gobblers. Yet, everyone knows that ADA bathrooms gobble space.
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What to do?
Practical considerations narrowed the list quickly. The far-side his and hers were, well, too far to one side of the plant. Not a chance anyone could get to them, except by traveling through roughly 150' of manufacturing plant — straightest route from an at-grade entrance, unless the bathroom-needy, ADA-qualifying individual arrived in a truck freighter at a loading dock. The boss's bog demanded a winding excursion, as did the break room's, and both were nested deep in interdependent, abutting areas of walls, rooms, functions, passages, etc. Five less four equals one, the one shared by plant and office staff.
This bull's eye bathroom had been floor planned as follows. It sat between the office space and receiving floor storage. It had redeeming values — direct, unobstructed access; flat flooring. But it had an unredeeming problem. Yep. Space.
More space was hard come-by. The proximate area for sales had been dimensioned down to fractional inches — twice. The plant side was packed to safe limits and no more. Typical of many plant moves, there's no room to spare even on startup.
In fact, this bathroom space happened to be there more than it was planned to be there.
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To one side, the production utility sink and counter/cabinet area was dependent on proximate heavy machinery for its size, configuration, and location. Move it, move the machinery. Not likely. |
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To one side, the operations-necessary pathway was there precedent to the bathroom, it was a natural route at the perimeter of storage parking areas. |
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To one side, the water heater had absolutely nowhere else to go. Not even up. |
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To one side, the sales office was, as referenced, fractionally inched to the max. |
We were out of confining sides.
This was more or less the layout drawn before the decision to go ADA.
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So what's the problem after the decision to go ADA?
Space. Once you sort and sift the ADA bathroom regs, push them around a while and get pushed backed, a theme emerges. The 5' circle. Whatever else you've got to do in an ADA bathroom, you have to have a 5' diameter circle free of anything, ever. No drawers opening into that space. No nothing sticking out. No entry or cabinet doors ever intruding on that circular area.
It turned out that we had the space for the circle. Just.
Everything fitted or could be made to fit within the ADA regs. Except the doors.
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How come those doors are like that anyway? Both opening in? Conflicting? Aesthetics played a small, bit part in this one; safety was the deal bigtime. It was universally understood that in this fast-paced, intense work environment, no one could be always and every time expected to look out for an open or, worse, opening door from that bathroom. Not busy sales staff. Not workers hauling paletted jacks. So both doors swung in. Had to be.
Got it? Good.
If you didn't perchance get it, you could ask some more questions like the AG did, and sooner or later, you'd get it. Everybody got it: those doors don't swing out. OK?
Good.
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Now what to do?
This is when the Senior Designer of Home gets to stay a Senior Designer of Homes. She asked, "How about pocket doors? Wouldn't that do all that need done and do it well?"
In all the regs and home drawing and such, not once had we ever seen or read mention of pocket doors in ADA bathrooms. But why not? With that stroke of genius, all worked well for connecting, direct accessibility, turning span, door swing, etc., leaving plenty of room for appropriate fixtures while displacing nothing abutting.
Take a look for yourself
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