How much space you need around a toilet, a shower and a vanity

Two numbers for everything, and they are not the same kind of number

Search for any bathroom clearance and two figures come back. One is larger and one is smaller, neither is labeled, and the page that returned them presents whichever one it found first as the answer. They are not competing opinions. They are two different kinds of document, and knowing which is which is most of what this page is for.

A published planning guideline is a recommendation from an industry body. Nobody inspects it and no building department enforces it. It is the size at which a fixture stops being a compromise, and it is the figure a designer works to.

A model code figure is text from a code that many US jurisdictions have adopted. It is a floor, not a target, and it is deliberately small. A bathroom built entirely to the smaller figures is one in which every dimension is the least anybody was willing to write down.

Published planning guideline. Every figure printed below in the guideline column comes from one published set of planning guidelines. It is a recommendation, not a requirement, and nobody inspects it.

Model code figure, verify locally. Every figure printed below in the second column is quoted from a model code text, and it is required in many US jurisdictions. What applies where you live is decided by your building department, through your contractor, and this page does not decide it for you.

Read the two columns as a range you are choosing inside. Sitting at the guideline costs floor area you may not have. Sitting at the code figure costs comfort every day for twenty years. Either is a decision. Averaging them without knowing which is which is not.

The toilet: the two numbers that fix its position

A toilet is positioned by a center line, not by an edge, and everything else about it is measured from that line. Two figures fix it: how far the center line sits from whatever is beside it, and how much clear floor there is in front.

The center line figure decides whether a toilet squeezed beside a vanity is usable. Three inches is the whole difference between the two published numbers, and three inches at the shoulder is the difference between sitting down normally and sitting down at an angle.

Manufacturer document. The rough-in, the distance from the finished wall to the waste, is a manufacturer figure and not a guideline. One published two piece toilet gives its rough-in as 12 inches (305 mm). That is that model, from that document. The toilet you are buying has its own figure, and if it does not match where the waste already sits, ask who is moving the waste before the order goes in.

If the toilet goes in a compartment of its own

A separate toilet compartment is the one place in a bathroom where the two sets of figures diverge into two genuinely different rooms.

• The published planning guideline recommends 36 by 66 inches (914 by 1676 mm), with a door that swings out or slides into the wall.
• The model code text quoted by the guidelines puts the minimum at 30 by 60 inches (762 by 1524 mm), required in many US jurisdictions, verify locally.
• That same code text asks for 21 inches (533 mm) in front of the toilet to any wall, fixture or door, required in many US jurisdictions, verify locally.

The door swing is the part people get wrong. A door that swings in swings into the only clear floor there is, which is the floor a person standing up needs. Out, or a pocket door, and the argument goes away.

If the layout has to work from a wheelchair, an accessibility standard quoted by the planning guidelines asks for a clearance of at least 56 inches (1422 mm) measured out from the rear wall and 60 inches (1524 mm) measured out from the side wall. That standard was written for certain public and commercial buildings, it does not normally apply to a private home, and following it does not make a room accessible. It is a bigger footprint than most bathrooms have spare, which is why it belongs at plan stage. If this is a live question in your household, the people to ask are an occupational therapist or a designer who works in this area.

The shower: interior size, the entry, and the space in front

The shower is where the gap between the guideline and the minimum shows up fastest in use, because you stand in the whole of it at once and bend down in it every day.

Note what the code figure says: 900 square inches with a 30 inch (762 mm) minimum dimension. That is an area test as well as a width test, so a long narrow shower can satisfy one and fail the other. Ask for both to be dimensioned on the drawing.

The 6 inches (152 mm) between 30 and 36 is the most valuable 6 inches in a small bathroom. It is the difference between turning around freely and turning around against the glass, and it is free while the plan is a file.

What is settled about the shower before the tile goes on

Several shower figures are not clearances at all. They are heights and specifications fixed weeks before anyone sees tile, and each is somebody else to ask.

• The controls. The published planning guideline puts them between 38 and 48 inches (965 and 1219 mm) above the finished floor. The valve for the trim you actually bought has its own published sheet and its own figure, and that sheet is the one your plumber works to.
• The temperature limit. The model code text quoted by the guidelines sets a ceiling of 120 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 49 Celsius, required in many US jurisdictions, verify locally. Which valve meets it is a question for your plumber.
• The waterproofing height. The code text calls for at least 72 inches (1829 mm) above the finished floor, required in many US jurisdictions, verify locally, and the planning guideline adds at least 3 inches (76 mm) above the shower head rough-in. The first figure does not move; the second follows a shower head you place, so they can give different answers on the same wall.
• The glass. The same code text calls for tempered glazing or an approved equal where the bottom edge sits less than 60 inches (1524 mm) above a standing surface, required in many US jurisdictions, verify locally.
• A seat, if the plan has one. The published planning guideline puts it 17 to 19 inches (432 to 483 mm) above the shower floor and 15 inches (381 mm) deep, and the framing for it goes in while the studs are visible.

If a low threshold matters to anyone who will use the room, an accessibility standard asks for no more than half an inch (13 mm) at the shower entry. That standard was written for certain public and commercial buildings, it does not normally apply to a private home, and following it does not make a room accessible. Getting there means the floor build-up and the drain are designed for it before the joists or the slab are touched, which is why it is a plan stage conversation and not a tiling one.

The tub: the floor in front, and the opening it goes into

The clearance is the easy half. The half that stops a bathroom for a week is the opening, because the framing is built to the rough opening the maker publishes, which is not the same number as the tub nominal length. It is measured stud to stud, before backer board and tile, and it is not adjustable afterwards.

Manufacturer document. One manufacturer lists an alcove bath of its own at 60 by 32 inches (1524 by 813 mm), with a rim 19 inches (483 mm) above the floor, the drain center 16 inches (406 mm) from the back edge, and a stated minimum floor load of 45 pounds per square foot (220 kg per square meter). Those are that model, from that document. Your tub has all the same kinds of number on its own sheet, including which side the drain is on, and every one of them has to reach the person framing the wall.

Order the opposite hand to your plumbing and the fix is a plumber, a floor, or a returned tub.

Whether the floor under the new tub carries the load the maker states is a question for your contractor, and where they say so, for a structural engineer. Nothing on this page answers it and nothing on this page is an instruction to carry out any of that work.

The lavatory, and what makes a double vanity actually double

A double vanity that two people cannot use at the same time is a single vanity with two holes in it. The figure that decides which one you bought is the distance between the two center lines.

Typical range, verify with your professional. The height of the top is published as a range, 32 to 43 inches (813 to 1092 mm), rather than a single figure, because it is chosen to fit the people using it. Decide it with the people who will stand at it, write it on the drawing, and do not let it be inherited from whatever the old vanity happened to be.

One question about the cabinet under it, almost never asked: if the drawing shows drawers under the basin, which drawer is notched around the trap and which one is a false front. The basin, its trap and a full depth drawer all want the same volume, and which one gives way is decided by the cabinet order rather than on site.

The outlet beside it is a code question. The code text quoted by the guidelines asks for at least one receptacle with ground fault protection within 36 inches (914 mm) of the outside edge of the basin, and extends that protection to every receptacle within 72 inches (1829 mm) of the outside edge of a tub or shower, required in many US jurisdictions, verify locally. That is your electrician to carry out and your building department to decide, and it is here only so you ask where the outlets go before the walls close.

Heights, accessories, and the blocking behind them

A grab bar nobody planned for is not a fitting, it is a tiling job. That is the whole argument for settling this list while the studs are visible, even if nobody in the household needs a bar yet.

Two of the rows above, the clear space over a grab bar and the height given for the bottom of a mirror, come only from an accessibility standard. That standard was written for certain public and commercial buildings, it does not normally apply to a private home, and following it does not make a room accessible.

The planning guidelines ask for tub and shower walls to be reinforced when they are built so that a grab bar can carry a static load of 250 pounds (113 kg). Neither document says how big the framing lumber is or where it goes. That is a conversation to have with your contractor while the studs are visible, and it is their work, not yours.

No planning guideline publishes a height or a size for a shower niche, and this page will not invent one. Stand in the old shower with the bottles you actually use, mark the wall, and ask your contractor which stud bay can take it and who waterproofs it.

The check to run with the plan in front of you

1. The toilet center line is at least 18 inches (457 mm) from anything beside it, or 15 inches (381 mm) if that is what applies where you live.
2. There is at least 30 inches (762 mm) of clear floor in front of every fixture, or 21 inches (533 mm) if that is what applies where you live.
3. The shower interior is at least 36 by 36 inches (914 by 914 mm), or you have decided to accept less and you know what less feels like.
4. The two lavatory center lines are at least 36 inches (914 mm) apart, or you know that they are not.
5. If a separate toilet compartment is drawn, it is at least 36 by 66 inches (914 by 1676 mm), and the door does not swing into it.
6. The door, opened, does not stand in the clear floor space in front of any fixture.
7. The new toilet rough-in matches where the waste already is, or somebody owns moving it.
8. The tub on the order has been checked against the rough opening that will be framed, including which side the drain is on.

Every one is a yes or no question, and a no is not a failure. It is something raised while it is still a change on paper rather than a change to a wall.