Comment by quickthrowman
2 days ago
My state does not require a door on a guest bathroom in a hotel. A bathroom serving employees and the public in a hotel is required to have a self-closing door, but the law does not say anything about doors on guest only bathrooms.
I couldn’t find anything in the International Building Code about bathroom doors aside from minimum opening width, but I don’t have access to the full code. I’d have to ask an architect or GC to verify.
> 4625.1200 TOILET REQUIREMENTS.
> Every hotel, motel, and lodging house shall be equipped with adequate and conveniently located water closets for the accommodation of its employees and guests. Water closets, lavatories, and bathtubs or showers shall be available on each floor when not provided in each individual room. Toilet, lavatory, and bath facilities shall be provided in the ratio of one toilet and one lavatory for every ten occupants, or fraction thereof, and one bathtub or shower for every 20 occupants, or fraction thereof. Toilet rooms shall be well ventilated by natural or mechanical methods. The doors of all toilet rooms serving the public and employees shall be self-closing. Toilets and bathrooms shall be kept clean and in good repair and shall be well lighted and ventilated. Hand-washing signs shall be posted in each toilet room used by employees. Every resort shall be equipped with adequate and convenient toilet facilities for its employees and guests. If privies are provided they shall be separate buildings and shall be constructed, equipped, and maintained in conformity with the standards of the commissioner and shall be kept clean.
A water closet is just water shelving without a door.
You are technically incorrect (for the US, I’m not familiar with UK architectural terminology), the colloquial usage does not match industry standard terminology. The ASME definition for ‘water closet’ is specifically the fixture itself, a flush toilet. Building codes define water closets the same way. Some people incorrectly refer to a separate toilet room inside of a bathroom as a water closet, but that is not what professionals (plumbers, mechanical engineers, and architects) call it. If you reread the MN statute, you’ll note it refers to water closets and toilet rooms separately, because one is the fixture and the other is the room containing the fixture.
The term ‘lavatory’ is also frequently used incorrectly, a lavatory is just a sink, not the entire room.
Similarly, a ‘light bulb’ should actually be called a ‘lamp’. That’s what lighting companies, electricians, and people that manage electricians call them. A luminaire is a complete light fixture, a lamp screws into a luminaire (some luminaire have integral light sources) and a ‘light bulb’ is technically an A19 E26 lamp, A19 is the bulbous shape, E26 is the ‘standard’ screw base size. The Wikipedia article is titled LED lamp: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED_lamp
I don’t correct people in real life when they misuse these terms, but I’ll write up several paragraphs to defend my position online ;) I work in commercial construction management so I’m exposed to these terms frequently, I don’t expect non-industry folks to know them.