Mezzanine restroom requirements

[rhanson]

Hi all! I’m new here and am hoping those with more expertise can shed some light on this situation.

We are gearing up to build out a bar/limited service restaurant in Florida. The space is ground floor of an apartment building, with a mezzanine.

There are currently two single occupant restrooms—one downstairs and one on the mezzanine level. Neither are compliant.

I know from reading the ADA standards that the mezzanine does not need to be accessible, as it is less than 25% of our seating area and comparable seating areas are provided downstairs. But the restroom situation isn’t as clear cut to me.

Per Florida building code (I think, please correct me if I’m wrong!), since the restrooms are single occupant, they can be unisex. We are not sure the occupancy load yet, but we are certain we will need two restrooms.

We are going to make the downstairs restroom accessible, which will include moving a wall to widen the space, including relocating some plumbing and electrical, and relocating the sink. This will likely be at or over 20% of our total alteration cost. If there is money leftover from the 20%, we will use it to make the upstairs restroom accessible.

Our architect told us we might need a second accessible downstairs bathroom. But if we have one accessible unisex bathroom downstairs, which has cost 20% of our renovation budget to make accessible, what do you guys think?

We will of course do so if required, but it would easily be 100% or more of our current buildout cost to do so. I’m also confused because this seems to be more than just an ADA concern, but also plumbing code. I am planning to call the city this week and see if they can give me an answer, but I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Thank you all!

 

[ICE]

Welcome to the forum on a Sunday morning. I am not able to address Florida ADA questions but there are many members that can. As to required plumbing fixtures, provide the occupant loads....then give it a few days.

 

[rhanson]

Thank you! The total square footage is 1731, with about 900 sf usable space for customers downstairs and 175 sf usable upstairs.

We are not sure of the total occupancy till the architect finishes drawing the plans, but we’re thinking about 50 inside.

 

[Mr. Inspector]

Is this an existing building? Change of occupancy and/or alterations? Is the amount of occupants being changed? Is work being done in the mezzanine? The building code goes by the size of the mezzanine not the amount of people that will be using it to know if it needs to be accessible.

 

[rhanson]

Thanks for responding!

It is an existing building and we are doing alterations to the ground floor. No alterations to the mezzanine level, just cosmetic stuff like tiling the bathroom wall and adding wallpaper. There will be a change of occupancy since the use will be different and some of the current space will not be usable downstairs due to adding a walk-in cooler.

 

[Paul Sweet]

You would generally be able to leave the upstairs one for now if you use up your 20% on the downstairs one, unless Florida has an amendment that would require it..

 

[Mr. Inspector]

Should be OK as long as long as you comply with:

2015 IEBC
705.1.5 Dining areas. An accessible route to raised or
sunken dining areas or to outdoor seating areas is not
required provided that the same services and decor are
provided in an accessible space usable by any occupant
and not restricted to use by people with a disability.

 

[Tim Mailloux]

Thank you! The total square footage is 1731, with about 900 sf usable space for customers downstairs and 175 sf usable upstairs.

We are not sure of the total occupancy till the architect finishes drawing the plans, but we’re thinking about 50 inside.

are all the patron areas table & chairs or will there also be some standing room only areas? based on the 900sf & 175sd customer areas and using the occupant load calculation of 1 person per 15sf you would have a minimum occupant load of 72 people. If you have some standing areas those are calculated at 1 person per 5sf which could dramatically increase your occupant load.

Based on the 72 occupants and the model IPC you would need two single user toilet rooms. Per the code only 50% of the toilet facilities in a cluster need to be accessible Cluster meaning co-located. I would leave the existing ground floor toilet as is, build a new handicap toilet right next to it and leave the one on the mezzanine alone.

 

[mtlogcabin]

Fixed seating can lower you occupant load

 

[ICE]

In choosing which accessible elements to provide, priority should be given to those elements that will provide the greatest access in the following order:

1. An accessible entrance;
2. An accessible route to the altered area;
3. At least one accessible restroom for each sex or one accessible unisex (single-user or family) restroom;
4. Accessible telephones;
5. Accessible drinking fountains; and
6. When possible, additional accessible elements such as parking, signs, storage and alarms.

 

[brokenkeys]

You'll need two restrooms downstairs. FBC-P 403.2: "Where plumbing fixtures are required, separate facilities shall be provided for each sex." You could be exempted if you had 15 or less occupants, but you are way over that.

Without being familiar with the details of the project; my guess is you can leave the existing RR upstairs but the downstairs needs to be upgraded (so you have an accessible male and an accessible female RR). Maybe could go down the path of disproportionate cost (the list ICE mentioned above) but that's a tough sell if you're adding a RR anyway.

Also, in one of your posts you mention wallpapering the walls. The backside of wallpaper has a habit of turning into a science experiment if it has low permeance (aka doesn't breathe) and/or humidity is high. Even though it is possible to control humidity and select proper wallpapers, my default position is to strongly recommend against it, until convinced otherwise (aka until my client says thanks for the advice but this pattern is too cool to not put up).

 

[ADAguy]

Are you serving liquor? If so licensing may require both a urinal and a WC.
Though the mezz is not required to be accessible, its RR must still have accessible features per ADA
Beware in Florida, it is as ADA sue happy as CA.

 

[Mr. Inspector]

In choosing which accessible elements to provide, priority should be given to those elements that will provide the greatest access in the following order:

1. An accessible entrance;
2. An accessible route to the altered area;
3. At least one accessible restroom for each sex or one accessible unisex (single-user or family) restroom;
4. Accessible telephones;
5. Accessible drinking fountains; and
6. When possible, additional accessible elements such as parking, signs, storage and alarms.

What code is that from. I always let it up to the architect decide to what to spend the 20% on. I don't think I can dictate that, I would need a section number to enforce this.

 

[mtlogcabin]

2010 ADA Standards
(iv) Duty to provide accessible features in the event of disproportionality. (A) When the cost of alterations necessary to make the path of travel to the altered area fully accessible is disproportionate to the cost of the overall alteration, the path of travel shall be made accessible to the extent that it can be made accessible without incurring disproportionate costs. Department of Justice 2010 Standards: Title II - 9 Section 35.151 of 28 CFR Part 35 (B) In choosing which accessible elements to provide, priority should be given to those elements that will provide the greatest access, in the following order— (1) An accessible entrance; (2) An accessible route to the altered area; (3) At least one accessible restroom for each sex or a single unisex restroom; (4) Accessible telephones; (5) Accessible drinking fountains; and (6) When possible, additional accessible elements such as parking, storage, and alarms

Section 35.151 of 28 CFR Part 35 (B) In choosing which accessible elements to provide, priority should be given to those elements that will provide the greatest access, in the following order— (1) An accessible entrance; (2) An accessible route to the altered area; (3) At least one accessible restroom for each sex or a single unisex restroom; (4) Accessible telephones; (5) Accessible drinking fountains; and (6) When possible, additional accessible elements such as parking, storage, and alarms.

 

[bill1952]

I find the "accessible telephones" a little odd today. Most buildings do not provide public telephones. Is this requiring accessible telephones if none would be otherwise provided?

 

[mtlogcabin]

Is this requiring accessible telephones if none would be otherwise provided?

No not requiring pay phones but if provided