Toilet in a laundry room

Putting a basement laundry room back together after it was torn apart for structural reinforcement. There was a toilet in a little cubicle in the corner, very cramped. The inspector informs me that I must enclose a new toilet in another cubicle as I put things back together, you cannot have a space used as both a powder room and a laundry room. His rationale is people spraying hairspray while the gas dryer is running.

Thinking about it afterwards, I did not rough for a hand basin in (what will be) that cramped little space. Rather there is rough-in for a laundry sink right outside that space, where people can wash their hands. Putting the laundry sink in the space with the toilet would make it very hard to navigate the laundry room. I can avoid tempting people to use hairspray by not putting a mirror above the laundry sink. But is enclosing the toilet in a cubicle without a hand basin according to code? Didn't think of this while the inspector was around. What constitutes a powder room here? Appreciate any comments.

If this is your home, you can probably make decisions such as no sink, no mirror.

If this is a public restroom, you will probably not get away with not having a sink, and you will also not get away with not having a mirror, unless for some reason this restroom will be exempt from accessibility requirements. Also, the mirror can not be flat on the wall, it must be tilted outward at the top.

Thanks, this is in my own home.

In restaurants the hand sink is often outside the rest room so it is apparent that it is being used. My doctor has a toilet in a room with NO sink, probably so specimens cannot be diluted. Many homes have the toilet in an enclosed room with the sink and tub outside, so why would your toilet in the laundry room be any different. And if hair spray is really a factor, assuming you have a gas dryer, using it at the laundry sink would be just a dangerous as if the rest room were not enclosed. His reasoning seem specious. Now, if it is a gas dryer, he could possibly use the reasoning that gas appliances, such as water heaters cannot be installed in bathrooms or bedrooms, but even that would be a "reach" since the dryer is not an "automatic continuously operating" device.

I agree that the reasoning appears specious, but I don't fault the inspector, he was just quoting code and trying to rationalize. If hairspray is the issue, they should outlaw mirrors in laundry rooms. I suspect there's some other explanation.

Since every gas station and airport on earth has seperate toilet cubicles, and many new houses, it looks fine to me.

In Europe, most bathrooms include a laundry, so your inspector must have a fetish for hairspray.

Bathrooms include a laundry? Never seen that.

In Europe we don't have laundries. We have washer/dryers (one machine) that fits in the kitchen underneath the countertop in a bay the size of a dishwasher.

We can do fun stuff like that because we have 240 volts.

Ian Gills said:

Bathrooms include a laundry? Never seen that.

In Europe we don't have laundries. We have washer/dryers (one machine) that fits in the kitchen underneath the countertop in a bay the size of a dishwasher.

We can do fun stuff like that because we have 240 volts.

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Here in the US many of us have adopted the more sensible approach of locating the laundry upstairs on the second floor near the bedrooms where dirty clothes come off and clean clothes are stored. Seeing as we are not cramped for land to build on we can build homes larger and more comfortable with more conveniences built in. Fortunately we have 120 and 240 volts so we can have a separate washer and dryer allowing us to do more at once and not nave a life centered around dirty underwear in the kitchen...

Then why is my "American laundry" in the basement, requiring me to carry loads of washing up two flights of stairs?

European is best. You don't even have to vent those washer dryers. They "condense" the steam, turn it back to water and pump it down the drain.

Best of all, you just put the wash on and it dries the clothes automatically. No lifting the damp clothes to the dryer.

There's no shortage of space in America. Just a shortage of good ideas.

I think your Europe has a channel between the more eastern version I know well. "Go east from the island young man" Horace Greely I think.....

They are starting with seperate dryers now too in Europe.

That 240 volts will help vaporize the hairspray..... or try starting fluid instead...

And they DO do them in the kitchen too, but that is really absurd - until we design a combo washer-dryer-dishwasher unit.

Americans are now making the condensing units, and I would say you bought the wrong house!

Americans like to wash EVERYTHING after it gets rubbed against for a moment, and need that seperate unit to keep up with their idiocy.

Up until 5 years ago, a washer in a lot of Europe was a bathtub with a little orange basin in it. Dryer? rods pulled down from the ceiling.

We do try to keep it civil. After watching back to back Mike Holmes episodes last night, it does seem like there are some charlatans posing as plumbers and electricians up there. This in NO WAY implies we don't have the same problems down here.

As for the code, I do not find a prohibition of washer/dryer in the bathroom. In fact, as I look around at some condo complexes I am familiar with, it is not uncommon for the laundry to be in the bathroom, or just separated by a pocket door. I don't think there is an issue here. Hair spray does not concentrate its vapors at ground level like gasoline does, so I view that issue as a red herring.

I didn't realize you had been that East ballvalve.

I'm surprised they let you back in!

dlarrivee said:

Oh, you're one of those ignorant Americans who think we live in Igloos too?

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That was a compliment. The immigrants build the best houses. Everything east of the mississippi river was built by them too in the USA, and would stand forever if everyone didnt want 16 valleys in their 10 year roofs nowadays.

Just try and build one of those stone churches on every corner out east - no one with the skills remaining. Here, a big metal box with a plastic pipe cross on top is a church.

As for igloos, they are a study in perfection of housing in the most extreme conditions. Damn good skill to have, by the way [the building part, not the living in part]

Ian Gills said:

I didn't realize you had been that East ballvalve.

I'm surprised they let you back in!

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Rather surprised myself. Even managed to get the nymph with the hairspray to visit with the help of some small time Ukrainian wise guy. Slips them in as dancers in cultural exchanges. I'll try and find a nice Ukrainian bathroom pic to post here.

Nice countryside, but in the city you must take your windshield wipers inside with you at night. Not many streetlights, as all the wires were pulled out. Hook onto your bumper and DRIVE!