Public bathrooms must be accessible for everyone.
Public accommodations, such as restrooms, are ultimately subject to the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. This holds true even though state and local governments may set their own rules. Such laws, however, according to the Bradley Corporation website, must meet or exceed the federal standards governing accessibility for the handicapped, as well as for everyone else. Indeed, the federal rules are specific, and they impose specific measurements on showers, toilets, and controls.
Doors
According to the Bradley Corporation, which installs public washrooms, you must make a door so that it opens with a maximum of five pounds of force. Also, you must construct any opening devices on a door--be they handles, pulls, locks or latches--so that they have a shape that is easily operable with one hand. A person using the stall should not have to tightly grasp or twist the door, resulting in overuse of the wrist.
Toilets
According to the Bradley Corporation's website, you must construct and install a toilet so that it is 17 to 19 inches above the finished floor. You must build it on the back wall of the bathroom, and its center line must be 18 inches from the nearest sidewall or partition. This standard ensures privacy for the patrons, provided there is also a stall whose door closes.
Grab Bars
Grab bars are a requirement for handicapped accessible bathrooms, according to the Americans with Disabilities Act. This is so that patrons in wheelchairs will have a bar to hold on to when entering and using a stall, bathroom, shower or tub. According to the ADA Bathroom website, on toilets, the side wall grab bar must be at least 42 inches long. At the most, it must be one foot from the rear wall, extending at least 4.5 feet from the back wall.
The rear wall grab bar must be at least three feet in length, extending from the centerline of the latrine, at least one foot on one side and two feet on the other side.
On showers and bathtubs, you must also install similar rails. For a shower stall, the grab bars must be, at the most, six inches from all adjacent walls. The laws governing tubs are also clear and specific. You must install the grab bars between eight and 10 inches above the rim of the tub. The bars must be 15 inches maximum from the head of the wall, and 12 inches maximum from the control end.
Controls
According to the ADA Bathroom website, in building a public bathroom with a tub, you must place the controls on the end wall, between the bathtub and the grab bar. You must install these knobs between the tub's open side and the center line of the width of the tub.
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