Gender Neutral Restroom vs Single User Restrooms

[ccollings]

I know there have been a number of discussions on this with mixed opinions.

For the high school project i'm working on, the school district would like to incorporate gender neutral restrooms for some of the restrooms, not all. The AHJ has flagged this and said that the state of ohio requires separate facilities for each sex. OBC 2902.2 (not sure what it is in IBC). Our solution is to keep the single user restrooms as designed but label each either men or women. Our interpretation is that this meets the plumbing code requirements of having separate facilities for each sex but also allows for occupants to use the restroom of the sex that they identify as. so instead of having two restrooms with 4 stalls in each, there would be 8 individual restrooms; 4 men & 4 women. 2 of the restrooms would be wheelchair accessible. we do not have the space to make them all wheelchair accessible.

I wanted to get some reaction here before proposing this to the code official.

 

[classicT]

If single occupant rooms, I do not see a problem.

If multiple compartments within a larger restroom, then I would agree with the AHJ.

 

[cda]

Sign it???! Legal???

 

[e hilton]

Wheelchair is a gender?

 

[steveray]

That is where ICC and most of us are heading.....

 

[cda]

Wheelchair is a gender?

Neutral

 

[TheCommish]

The darn office geeks strike again, have male, female, family and all bath rooms

 

[Tim Mailloux]

so instead of having two restrooms with 4 stalls in each, there would be 8 individual restrooms; 4 men & 4 women. 2 of the restrooms would be wheelchair accessible. we do not have the space to make them all wheelchair accessible.

In the model IBC when you have clustered single users toilet facilities at least 50% must be accessible. So if all 8 of these single user toilet rooms were clustered together in one location, (4) of them would need to be accessible. If they are not going to be clustered and they are distributed in pairs all over the school then they would all need to be accessible.

1109.2 exception #3
Where multiple single-user toilet rooms or bathing
rooms are clustered at a single location, at least 50
percent but not less than one room for each use at
each cluster shall be accessible.

 

[steveray]

And they are currently trying to figure out gender neutral as you will no longer have "each use".....

 

[ccollings]

In the model IBC when you have clustered single users toilet facilities at least 50% must be accessible. So if all 8 of these single user toilet rooms were clustered together in one location, (4) of them would need to be accessible. If they are not going to be clustered and they are distributed in pairs all over the school then they would all need to be accessible.

1109.2 exception #3
Where multiple single-user toilet rooms or bathing
rooms are clustered at a single location, at least 50
percent but not less than one room for each use at
each cluster shall be accessible.

in the education wing of the building there are 2 clusters of 6 toilet rooms, 1 cluster per floor. our original design was 4 unisex - non accessible, 1 unisex accessible and 1 accessible staff toilet. Based on the AHJ comments we have changed it to be 2 men - non accessible + 1 men accessible & 2 women - non accessible + 1 women accessible.
does this comply with 1109.2 where not less than 1 per sex is accessible?

 

[jar546]

In the model IBC when you have clustered single users toilet facilities at least 50% must be accessible. So if all 8 of these single user toilet rooms were clustered together in one location, (4) of them would need to be accessible. If they are not going to be clustered and they are distributed in pairs all over the school then they would all need to be accessible.

1109.2 exception #3
Where multiple single-user toilet rooms or bathing
rooms are clustered at a single location, at least 50
percent but not less than one room for each use at
each cluster shall be accessible.

Great point.

 

[Tim Mailloux]

in the education wing of the building there are 2 clusters of 6 toilet rooms, 1 cluster per floor. our original design was 4 unisex - non accessible, 1 unisex accessible and 1 accessible staff toilet. Based on the AHJ comments we have changed it to be 2 men - non accessible + 1 men accessible & 2 women - non accessible + 1 women accessible.
does this comply with 1109.2 where not less than 1 per sex is accessible?

It does not comply, atleast 50% of the clustered single hole toilets co-located need to be accessible. The 1 per sex comment refer to if you onlt have two co-located toiletsm one for a man and one for women, than both (1 for each sex) would have to be accessible.

 

[ccollings]

It does not comply, atleast 50% of the clustered single hole toilets co-located need to be accessible. The 1 per sex comment refer to if you onlt have two co-located toiletsm one for a man and one for women, than both (1 for each sex) would have to be accessible.

Unfortunately we do not have the room to make 4 out of 6 of the restrooms fully accessible. it seems counter-intuitive to place a higher burden for accessibility on single user restrooms than there is for multi-user toilet rooms.

 

[Tim Mailloux]

Unfortunately we do not have the room to make 4 out of 6 of the restrooms fully accessible. it seems counter-intuitive to place a higher burden for accessibility on single user restrooms than there is for multi-user toilet rooms.

It would save space if there were gang toilets, then you would only need one handicap stall in each gang toilet room.

 

[Mr. Inspector]

Show us a design of the restrooms. Did you try something like this?

 

[ADAguy]

Show us a design of the restrooms. Did you try something like this?

View attachment 7671

Even more efficient if door can swing out but appears to meet all minimums. use of a flushometer vs tank clears up more space too.

 

[mark handler]

A Gender neutral restroom is not either men or women (Boys/Girls)

 

[ADAguy]

Semantics, we are all plumbed to "eliminate" our waste; outhouses were gender neutral from day one and Roman ganged toilets didn't have privacy screens.

 

[Yikes]

In the model IBC when you have clustered single users toilet facilities at least 50% must be accessible. So if all 8 of these single user toilet rooms were clustered together in one location, (4) of them would need to be accessible. If they are not going to be clustered and they are distributed in pairs all over the school then they would all need to be accessible.

1109.2 exception #3
Where multiple single-user toilet rooms or bathing
rooms are clustered at a single location, at least 50
percent but not less than one room for each use at
each cluster shall be accessible.

And they are currently trying to figure out gender neutral as you will no longer have "each use".....

"Each Use" not only means male or female; it can also mean staff use vs. student use.

Rick, I've made single-accommodation restrooms even narrower (but deeper) than that. You can use the recessed fixture exception that allows for only a 24" grab bar on the rear wall to make it narrower, and you can swing the door out if needed. It will end up being about 5'-4" clear width total.

***

As a complete aside: I realize that single-user restrooms can help reduce anxiety for those suffering from social anxiety related to gender dysphoria, or even just from plain old restroom bullying. However - - at least in the schools that I went to - - the troublemakers and mischievous among us (not to mention the horny couples) would have made great use of a room where you could close and lock yourself away from school staff/security. They're gonna have to figure out how to manage access to a place like that.