Heat in bathrooms

[Richard Moore]

New townhouse. Master bathroom on top floor with vaulted ceilings, access through the master closet to the bathroom door. Tile floor but no source of heat. I checked everywhere for a floorstat thinking it might be radiant, but none found...and the water heater was just a normal model with no extra take-offs or circ pumps. While it was warm enough today, with the door left open, I can see this large bathroom getting very cold in the winter if the clients close the door. Common sense tells me there should be a heater of some sort. The clients agree and are going to ask for a heater but it would be nice to throw some "code" at the builder. But...I can't find anything.

Am I missing something.

[Bill Kibbel]

Sir Richard,

I don't think there's a requirement for a heat source in every room. That being said, any "habitable" room must be able to maintain a minimum temperature of 68° F at 3' above the floor and 2' from any exterior walls.

If an unheated bathroom is on any exterior wall, I usually make a big stink about not having a heat source. No one has ever called me on it. The wives will not tolerate a cold bathroom.

[Richard Moore]

Thanks Bill,

The trouble is that the IRC, in its definitions, says that bathrooms are not considered "habitable" spaces, so I can't use that. I'm going to go with "unusual", "not typical" or maybe "cheapskate" and let the client battle it out.

The whole heating system was a little out of the ordinary for around here. Most new townhouses either have a gas furnace or a combo water heater/boiler serving hydronic heat (under-floor or wall convectors). The MLS had this listed as natural gas for the heating but there was nothing but unitary electric wall heaters (and one gas fireplace with no blower). You have to wonder if the builder felt the market collapsing during construction and started cutting corners.

BTW Bill, I see your evil penguin is up to new tricks, same victim. See http://www.maniacworld.com/Evil-Penguin-The-Trip.html .

[Brandon Whitmore]

Good luck Richard,

I am aware of nothing that will help you, besides what was discussed.......

I have a space heater turned up to 72 deg. in my bathroom right now, and not by my choice[:-slaphap

[randynavarro]

I'm a bit late on this one, but thought I'd offer what I found.

http://www2.iccsafe.org/states/Seattle2 ... ameset.htm

It's in Chapter 11, Page 49.

It's City of Seattle website with relevant code. (I'm assuming the bathroom in question was in City of Seattle?)

[Richard Moore]

Hi Randy,

I'm not getting any page numbers when I look at your link. At the top of the chapter it states that "Chapter 11 is not adopted by the city of Seattle, etc."

In any case, I can't find anything in Chapter 11 (your link or my hard copy) that would pertain. What code number are you are pointing me at?

[randynavarro]

My bad.

It's in Chapter 3, page 49, specifically R303.8

[Richard Moore]

Ahhh...

Click to Enlarge

28.68 KB

Cool! Looks like us Seattlites don't like cold bathrooms and changed that section. Thank you very much Randy. I'll pass that on to the clients.

[Richard Moore]

Update...

First, I got brownie points from the client for following up on this. Thanks again Randy.

Buyers agent calls me today. Naturally, despite the clear code requiring "heating facilities", the builder is giving the clients a hard time. The excuses so far are...

1: It's a "green" building with good insulation.

2: The "open" design will allow heat to rise up the stairwells. (Evidently, he didn't explain how that heat was going to get past two doors that might be closed and into the bathroom.)

3: My favorite. He's built 30 units just like this and no one has mentioned it before.

The agent was also wondering how he got a CO. I think we all know the answer to that one.