ᐅ Planning a Guest Bathroom in a New Build – What Is the Minimum Size? (Building Standards?)
Created on: 11 Dec 2022 12:59
T
T-i-m-m
Hello house building forum,
we are currently planning a semi-detached house. The building plot is very small, and the footprint is accordingly limited. To achieve a reasonably usable living area, we want to keep non-living spaces small and allocate the saved space to the living rooms.
On the ground floor, we are planning a guest toilet without a shower—that is, only a toilet and a washbasin. Recently, I have been carrying a laser measuring device when visiting friends and have measured several guest toilets. Conclusion: 1 meter (3.3 feet) in width and 2 meters (6.6 feet) in length are more than sufficient. In our case, the door would be on the short wall, the toilet opposite the door, and the washbasin on the long wall.
We are currently looking for a builder and have roughly presented our plans. One potential builder mentioned that according to the DIN standard, a guest toilet must be at least 1.24 meters (4 feet) wide.
My online research so far hasn’t been enough to find the relevant regulation or DIN. The DIN 18022 on bathroom planning appears to have been withdrawn without replacement.
Is anyone familiar with this requirement? Is it not allowed to plan a 1 meter (3.3 feet) wide guest toilet in a new build?
we are currently planning a semi-detached house. The building plot is very small, and the footprint is accordingly limited. To achieve a reasonably usable living area, we want to keep non-living spaces small and allocate the saved space to the living rooms.
On the ground floor, we are planning a guest toilet without a shower—that is, only a toilet and a washbasin. Recently, I have been carrying a laser measuring device when visiting friends and have measured several guest toilets. Conclusion: 1 meter (3.3 feet) in width and 2 meters (6.6 feet) in length are more than sufficient. In our case, the door would be on the short wall, the toilet opposite the door, and the washbasin on the long wall.
We are currently looking for a builder and have roughly presented our plans. One potential builder mentioned that according to the DIN standard, a guest toilet must be at least 1.24 meters (4 feet) wide.
My online research so far hasn’t been enough to find the relevant regulation or DIN. The DIN 18022 on bathroom planning appears to have been withdrawn without replacement.
Is anyone familiar with this requirement? Is it not allowed to plan a 1 meter (3.3 feet) wide guest toilet in a new build?
A basement is not financially feasible for us. We are building in Hamburg. Combined with the expensive land, we can only afford a small semi-detached house. The "only" is relative because we are very happy to be able to fulfill our dream of owning a house in Hamburg at all. We don’t have any unusual expectations regarding space; it will be more than what we’ve had in our previous rental apartments. Of course, a larger house would be preferable, but it is what it is.
Our very small plot size and the situation with the driveway to the rear development, distances to neighbors that prevent taller buildings, and what we consider very strict requirements from our building authority caseworker (under Section 34 of the German Building Code) determine certain aspects of the floor plan. Here, we have to be very pragmatic, avoid overly ambitious ideas, and make the best use of the living/dining area/kitchen, the bedroom, and the children’s room.
I’ll see if we get a design in the next few days that can be put forward for discussion.
Our very small plot size and the situation with the driveway to the rear development, distances to neighbors that prevent taller buildings, and what we consider very strict requirements from our building authority caseworker (under Section 34 of the German Building Code) determine certain aspects of the floor plan. Here, we have to be very pragmatic, avoid overly ambitious ideas, and make the best use of the living/dining area/kitchen, the bedroom, and the children’s room.
I’ll see if we get a design in the next few days that can be put forward for discussion.
T-i-m-m schrieb:
A general contractor has basically been found. We expect to decide between two bids next week.
We are planning the semi-detached house together with our neighbors. However, they plan a shower bathroom on the ground floor and therefore need more space. We will forgo the shower and settle for the smallest guest toilet imaginable.
The plans are not professionally drawn yet, and I wanted to spare everyone here my amateur RoomSketcher draft. Just to give an idea, here is the draft for the hallway corner + guest toilet. RoomSketcher only provides measurements for a fee. [...]
The basics: The conditions on the plot are complicated. The house will be small (105-110m² (1130-1184 sq ft)). My main concern is whether a bathroom must have a minimum width. T-i-m-m schrieb:
The semi-detached house will have a footprint of 8.50 x 7.70m (28 x 25 ft). Two full stories, one attic. While searching for inspiration in the floor plan forum, I didn’t find much. It seems hardly anyone plans under 140m² (1507 sq ft). I’m reconsidering whether to share the first professionally drawn drafts on the forum.
The info about no existing DIN standard for room widths is helpful, thank you.
A few remarks:
- On the upper floor, there is a kind of storage closet planned with the same dimensions as the guest toilet. [...]
- The extra space gained by a narrower guest toilet would be fully added to the living/dining area (every centimeter really counts there).
- There are hardly any other options to save space. I strongly advise you to share significantly more details about your building project. Firstly, you will need much more assistance than just a single piece of information like "an 85 cm (33 inches) wide guest toilet was comfortable enough for me for decades of occasional use." Secondly, your strategy of budgeting every centimeter is at best a shot in the dark, never a successful approach—I can guarantee this from four decades of planning experience. Tiny little rooms won’t get you anywhere in your nearly tiny semi-detached house. From my perspective, you cannot fit an exclusive guest toilet as a single-function room here; I see your guests having to accept sharing space with a stacked washer-dryer unit. Also, using the tiny WC’s counterpart on the other floor as a storage closet won’t fix such space wastage. Moreover, you will receive much better help if you show a whole floor plan instead of a snippet from RoomSketcher (especially start with the upper floor*, which is usually the most complex to plan!)—feel free to just provide a rough hand sketch; that is better than the “professionally drawn” nonsense (which you can expect from draftsmen). This brings me to another urgent piece of advice: do not waste money trying to “save” on a real architect (no quotation marks) because you will bitterly need one, even if your plot is perfectly flat. From your joint planning, you should at least hire the same general contractor for the entire semi-detached house, at least through the shell construction phase (after that, you can choose different tradesmen than your neighbors). Actually, what you have told us so far already sounds like a case for involving @Escroda, who unfortunately is no longer active here. At least I am tagging @Winniefred and @RomeoZwo, both experienced with small semi-detached houses; also @goalkeeper (with a somewhat larger comparable house) and @MadameP (with a duplex).
*) Google (with the quotation marks) "The upper floor has priority"
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
11ant schrieb:
*) google (including the quotation marks) "The upper floor takes priority"The domain of the building plot is for sale, unfortunately the content is gone as a result. :-/@Topic: I completely agree with 11ant: An extra guest toilet is hardly feasible, and an additional broom closet even less so. Walls also take up space, so they should be minimized.
A guest toilet in the utility room and a broom closet (with walls only about 18mm (0.7 inches) thick!) in the bedroom are helpful in this regard.
Best regards
Winniefred11 Dec 2022 19:15Thank you @11ant.
Since we have an older building, I don’t have much to contribute. On the ground floor, we have a very small guest toilet with a sink (18cm deep and 36cm wide (7 inches deep and 14 inches wide), a friend said it’s similar to what you find at the dentist :cool 🙂, and an outward-opening door that is 60cm (24 inches) wide. The room is 86cm (34 inches) wide and about 101/127cm (40/50 inches) deep (with and without the pre-wall installation). The toilet is standard size, the sink is very small, there is a small window at the top, and in the wall recess above the toilet there is a wall cabinet for cleaning supplies and towels, as well as a small radiator. Definitely functional. It is much better than having to go upstairs all the time. Guests like to use it because it’s the closest toilet to the garden and we also use it occasionally. The 1921 building plans label it as “Abort,” which probably reflects the size quite well. So, I can only say: don’t be afraid to have a small toilet. People only use it to go to the bathroom. No one spends time there. For that, I would always want to sacrifice as little space as possible. A bit wider than ours would certainly be better. But small is definitely sufficient.
Since we have an older building, I don’t have much to contribute. On the ground floor, we have a very small guest toilet with a sink (18cm deep and 36cm wide (7 inches deep and 14 inches wide), a friend said it’s similar to what you find at the dentist :cool 🙂, and an outward-opening door that is 60cm (24 inches) wide. The room is 86cm (34 inches) wide and about 101/127cm (40/50 inches) deep (with and without the pre-wall installation). The toilet is standard size, the sink is very small, there is a small window at the top, and in the wall recess above the toilet there is a wall cabinet for cleaning supplies and towels, as well as a small radiator. Definitely functional. It is much better than having to go upstairs all the time. Guests like to use it because it’s the closest toilet to the garden and we also use it occasionally. The 1921 building plans label it as “Abort,” which probably reflects the size quite well. So, I can only say: don’t be afraid to have a small toilet. People only use it to go to the bathroom. No one spends time there. For that, I would always want to sacrifice as little space as possible. A bit wider than ours would certainly be better. But small is definitely sufficient.
S
Sunshine38711 Dec 2022 19:17I would also recommend posting the floor plan here (even if it’s just a hand-drawn sketch). And I would definitely keep the guest toilet. It can be cleverly fitted into a small space, for example under the stairs. Regarding the building authority, I wouldn’t rely solely on one case officer but actively check yourself whether they might be misleading you. Without a zoning plan, building is often simpler, especially if the neighbors have already allowed plenty of open space.
Radomiro schrieb:
The domain is for sale, unfortunately the content is gone along with it. :-/ Oops, the search engines missed a name change. The "Baulotse Hoffmann" is now called "Bauen jetzt."
Winniefred schrieb:
Since we have an older building, I can contribute very little. I mentioned you deliberately: even a hundred years ago, there were reasons to build houses in economical dimensions.
Sunshine387 schrieb:
And I wouldn’t rely solely on one planning officer at the building authority but actively check yourself whether they might be misleading you. Because without a zoning plan, simpler types of construction are often possible if the neighbors have already left a lot of open space. I wouldn’t put it exactly like that, but I agree with you in principle: “de facto building windows” are often interpreted overly restrictively—especially by planning officers. Here, my advice to the original poster can only be to lay all the facts generously on the table (politely, without links, of course). But I already recommended going to an architect without quotation marks, as they will spot these issues early on in project phase 1.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Similar topics