Mounting Height of Urinals Above Floor

Origins

• Before the establishment of the International Code Council in 1994, a hodge-podge of regulations governed the installation of urinals throughout the United States. A plumber who learned how to install these fixtures to code in one part of the country might have had to learn a whole new set of requirements when doing the same thing somewhere else. The International Building Code, or IBC, standardized the sometimes conflicting rules to ensure that all urinals are equally useful and durable no matter where they are. Nearly all municipalities and states follow this code with only minor modifications.

Basics

• According to the IBC, urinals must be the stall or wall-hung type. No matter the size, it requires mounting with the rim at a maximum 17 inches above the floor. The International Plumbing Code, or IPC, which the International Code Council also handles, specifies waterproofing in the wall and floor space at least two feet in front of the urinal lip, four feet above the floor and at least two feet to either side of the urinal. The material used for this requirement must be smooth, nonabsorbent and easy to clean.

Partitions

• Not all jurisdictions require partitions that provide privacy between urinals. Those that do, however, generally follow the rules specified by the IBC. These walls must rise from 12 to 60 inches above the finished floor surface. They must extend at least 18 inches from the wall on each side of the urinal, or at least six inches beyond the outermost part of the front lip of the urinal, whichever is greater. This building code does not require partitions in single-occupant, family-use or assisted-use toilet rooms with lockable doors.

ADA

• The Americans with Disabilities Act ensures that disabled individuals, such as those dependent on wheelchairs, can use urinals independently. It bases its codes on those put out by the International Code Council, but often with modifications or additional specifications. The ADA specifies that stall or wall-hung types are allowed. They require mounting with the rim at a maximum 17 inches above the finished floor. (All these requirements are identical to the IBC.) But it further requires urinals to be at least 13.5 inches deep, measuring from the rim to the back of the fixture.