References

Bathrooms

192 sources in the library on bathrooms. Each one says what the document covers and what it is good for. Name a source to see which document it is and where to read it. One at a time. Page 4 of 5.

1. very strong RN-HL3VRN

   Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

   The landing page for Part H of the Building Regulations in England, and the citation for which edition governed a drainage alteration. It hosts the 2015 edition, 1.23 MB, with the guidance first published to GOV.UK on 4 December 2010 and earlier editions held at the National Archives. The stated scope of the current edition is foul water drainage both above and below ground, pipe sizes, protection of pipes, and manholes and inspection chambers, which are the parts of Part H that bite whenever a bathroom or kitchen is moved rather than replaced in place. The full requirement set runs H1 foul water drainage, H2 wastewater treatment systems and cesspools, H3 rainwater drainage, H4 building over sewers, H5 separate systems of drainage and H6 solid waste storage, so a project that touches a shared or public sewer engages H4 and a build-over agreement as well as the pipe sizing in H1. The trap seal depths, minimum branch diameters, branch lengths and gradients themselves are inside the linked PDF.

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2. very strong RN-DJ961A

   Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

   The canonical landing page for Part G of the Building Regulations 2010 in England, hosting the 2015 edition, 56 pages, 677 KB, with amendments in force from 1 March 2016 and from 1 October 2024, the document itself first published 3 March 2010. Its stated scope is the standards required for cold water supply, water efficiency, hot water supply and systems, sanitary conveniences and washing facilities, bathrooms, and kitchens and food preparation areas, which map to requirements G1 to G6. The page carries the version history so a reader can see which edition applied on a given build date, and links the current PDF plus the superseded versions. Use it as the citation when the question is which edition of Part G governs a project rather than what a specific clause says; the clause detail, including the 125 litres per person per day water efficiency calculation and the G3 unvented hot water storage rules, is inside the linked PDF.

   Name this source
3. very strong RN-W3L96O

   Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

   An 87 page field study published 1 October 2019 measuring what installed ventilation actually delivers, and its numbers demolish the assumption that a new or upgraded system performs as designed. Of 25 homes visited with continuous mechanical extract, only one met Approved Document F guidance on both extract fan air flow rates and trickle ventilator provision, with whole dwelling extract flow rates in normal low-rate mode ranging from 85 per cent below to 8 per cent above the recommended rate. Only half the homes met the minimum trickle ventilator areas, ranging from 60 per cent below to 107 per cent above the recommended area. On two of three dMEV development sites trickle ventilators had been fitted in the same rooms as the extract fans, contrary to ADF guidance, which can stop fans drawing air through the whole house. On air quality: 11 per cent of the limited monitoring sample had a room where weekly average relative humidity exceeded the recommended monthly average, always the bedroom, and condensation or mould was reported in each such room; 30 per cent exceeded the derived carbon dioxide guideline in the bedroom; and 60 per cent of the detailed monitoring sample exceeded the ADF total volatile organic compound performance standard. Ventilation was found adequate for nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide but not for moisture, body odour and VOCs. Notes that Part F 2010 introduced a legal requirement to test and commission installed fans and for the installer to notify the building control body of commissioning and air flow rates.

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4. very strong RN-J667UM

   Scottish Government

   Scotland does not use the English 125 litres per person per day whole-dwelling calculation. Standard 3.27 instead fixes maximum performance on individual fittings: a dual flush WC cistern must have an average flush volume of not more than 4.5 litres, a single flush cistern a flush volume of not more than 4.5 litres, and wash hand basin and hand rinse basin taps a flow rate of not more than 6 litres per minute. The supporting text cites Scottish Water's estimate that average consumption of wholesome water is around 150 litres per person per day in Scotland, broken down as WC flushing 30 per cent, baths and taps 21 per cent, laundry 13 per cent, showers 12 per cent, drinking and other 9 per cent, washing up 8 per cent and external use 7 per cent. This is the page to cite when a reader in Scotland asks why their new bathroom specification differs from the English water calculator approach.

   Name this source
5. very strong RN-L4CB51

   Scottish Government

   Scotland's scalding rule, and it is stricter and differently drawn from England's Part G. Mandatory standard 4.9 requires every building to be designed and constructed so that people in and around it are protected from severe burns or scalds from the discharge of steam or hot water. The guidance sets the limit: the temperature of hot water at the point of delivery to a bath or bidet should not exceed 48 degrees C. Note that the Scottish limit catches bidets as well as baths, where England's G3 caps baths at 48 degrees C only. Control is normally by a thermostatic mixing valve complying with BS EN 1111:1999 or BS EN 1287:1999, fitted as close to the point of delivery as practicable, with a maximum setting of 48 degrees C in a form not easily altered by building users. The section also cites BS 6283-2:1991 for temperature relief valves and BS EN 1490:2000 for combined temperature and pressure relief valves on stored hot water.

   Name this source
6. very strong RN-L5ETV2

   Scottish Government (gov.scot)

   Scotland's sanitary provision and accessibility rules, which go further than England's Approved Document G and are the ones a Scottish bathroom project must meet. Clause 3.12.1 requires every dwelling to have at least 1 water closet or waterless closet, 1 wash hand basin per WC, 1 bath or shower and 1 sink, normally in the kitchen, and requires a wash hand basin close to every WC either within the toilet or in the adjacent space forming the sole means of access to it. Clause 3.12.3 requires a dwelling to have at least 1 accessible WC and wash hand basin and at least 1 accessible shower or bath, with unobstructed access at least 800 mm wide to each sanitary facility and unobstructed height of at least 1.8 m above each activity space and above any bath or shower. Where side transfer is allowed a small wall-hung wash hand basin may project up to 300 mm into the activity space in front of the WC, and a projecting basin rim may reduce a route to another facility to not less than 700 mm. A hand-rinse basin may only be installed in a toilet where a full-size wash hand basin exists elsewhere in the dwelling. Clause 3.12.5 applies the accessibility guidance to alterations and extensions: a first new facility of its type on the principal living level or entrance storey must meet clauses 3.12.3 and 3.12.4, alterations must follow 3.12.3 as far as reasonably practicable, existing compliant accommodation must at least maintain its level of compliance after alteration, and may only be removed or relocated where at least equivalent facilities remain.

   Name this source
7. very strong RN-CE1U3B

   The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk)

   SI 1999 No. 1148, in three Parts: Part I Preliminary (regulations 1 to 2), Part II Requirements (regulations 3 to 6), Part III Enforcement (regulations 7 to 14). Regulation 4 requires water fittings to meet the standards set out in Schedule 2; regulation 5 sets the notification procedure requiring the water undertaker's consent before certain installations. Schedule 1 establishes the five fluid risk categories used to size backflow protection. Schedule 2 carries the detailed requirements on materials, watertightness, resistance to internal pressure, backflow prevention, hot water services, WC flushing devices, taps and appliances, including paragraph 7 that no water fitting shall be embedded in any wall. Schedule 3 revokes the former water byelaws.

   Name this source
8. very strong RN-UT542M

   The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk)

   The regulation that decides whether a tap, cistern, shower or appliance may lawfully be installed. Regulation 4(1) requires every water fitting to be of an appropriate quality and standard and suitable for the circumstances in which it is used, and requires it to satisfy at least one route: an appropriate CE marking under the Directive, conformity with an appropriate harmonised standard or European technical approval, conformity with an appropriate British Standard or another EEA national specification giving an equivalent level of protection, or conformity with a specification approved by the regulator. Regulation 4(2) requires every water fitting to comply with the requirements of Schedule 2 so far as they apply to it. Regulation 4(3) requires the work to be carried out in a workmanlike manner, satisfied by following a relevant British Standard or European technical approval, a specification approved by the regulator, or a method approved by the water undertaker. This is the statutory hook behind WRAS approval and the WaterRegsUK directory of approved products.

   Name this source
9. very strong RN-E58072

   The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk)

   The statutory backflow duty that sits behind every check valve, tap gap and pipe interrupter in a house. Paragraph 15 requires that every water system shall contain an adequate device or devices for preventing backflow of fluid from any appliance, fitting or process. A device is adequate only if it conforms to a specification approved by the regulator for the purposes of the Schedule. The device fitted must be appropriate to the highest applicable fluid category to which the fitting is subject downstream before the next such device, which is the rule that forces a category 5 air gap on a bath or bidet with a flexible hose rather than a check valve. Backflow prevention is also required on supply or distributing pipes to prevent backflow between separately occupied premises, and wherever the water undertaker gives notice that it is necessary. The exemption is narrow: it does not apply to a water heater or vented storage vessel where the water temperature does not exceed 25 degrees C and expanded water can flow back into a supply pipe or cistern.

   Name this source
10. very strong RN-X0MMGL

    The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk)

    The water regulations half of the unvented hot water rules, the companion to Building Regulations requirement G3. Paragraph 17(1) requires that every unvented water heater, other than an instantaneous water heater with a capacity not greater than 15 litres, and every secondary coil contained in a primary system, must either be fitted with a vent pipe, a temperature control device, a temperature relief device and a combined temperature and pressure relief valve, or be capable of accommodating expansion within the secondary hot water system. That 15 litre threshold is the line that exempts a small under-sink or point-of-use heater from the full unvented package. Paragraph 17(2) requires an expansion valve to be fitted with provision ensuring that water is discharged in a correct manner should the expansion vessel or system malfunction, which is the statutory basis for the tundish and discharge pipe arrangement. Read it with Approved Document G3 in England, section 4.9 of the Scottish handbook and Technical Booklet P in Northern Ireland, all of which add installer competence and discharge routing requirements on top.

    Name this source
11. very strong RN-VKMU18

    The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk)

    The paragraph that makes a permanently connected heating filling loop unlawful without the right device, and the one plumbers are most often challenged on. It states that no supply pipe or secondary circuit shall be permanently connected to a closed circuit for filling a heating system unless it incorporates a backflow prevention device in accordance with a specification approved by the regulator for the purposes of the Schedule. Central heating water is a fluid category 3 risk at minimum, and category 4 where inhibitors or other additives are present, so the approved device is normally a double check valve for category 3 or an RPZ valve for category 4, and the common flexible braided filling loop is intended to be disconnected after use rather than left in place. Read it with paragraph 15, which sets the general backflow duty and requires the device to match the highest fluid category downstream.

    Name this source
12. very strong RN-MAUR12

    The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk)

    The legal source of the rule that the kitchen cold tap must be mains fed, and the exception people rely on when it is not. Paragraph 27 states that a drinking water tap shall be supplied with water from a supply pipe, a pump delivery pipe drawing water from a supply pipe, or a distributing pipe drawing water exclusively from a storage cistern supplying wholesome water. The third route is the important one: a tank-fed drinking tap is lawful only where the cistern itself supplies wholesome water, which in practice means a cistern meeting the lid, screen, material and maintenance requirements elsewhere in Schedule 2, and that is why a loft cistern of the traditional open type disqualifies the tap it feeds. Read it with paragraph 15 on backflow and with the WaterRegsUK guidance on drinking water taps, which recommends the tap be fed direct from the mains and not through any fitting that stores, treats or filters the water, and which is the reason a water softener installation leaves one tap unsoftened.

    Name this source
13. very strong RN-8GXOTV

    The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk), UK Statutory Instrument 1998/2451

    The legal bar on non room-sealed gas appliances in bathrooms and bedrooms, which is what decides whether a boiler can be moved into a bathroom or airing cupboard off one. Regulation 30(1) prohibits installing any gas appliance in a room used or intended to be used as a bathroom or shower room unless it is a room-sealed appliance. Regulation 30(2) prohibits a gas fire, other gas space heater or gas water heater of more than 14 kilowatt gross heat input in a room used or intended as sleeping accommodation unless it is room-sealed. Regulation 30(3) allows such an appliance of 14 kilowatt gross heat input or less, and an instantaneous water heater, in sleeping accommodation only where it is room-sealed or incorporates a safety control designed to shut the appliance down before a dangerous quantity of combustion products builds up in the room. Regulation 30(4) extends all three prohibitions to a cupboard or compartment within such a room, and to a cupboard, compartment or space adjacent to such a room if there is an air vent from it into the room.

    Name this source
14. very strong RN-4GP4LZ

    UK Government (legislation.gov.uk)

    The five fluid categories that decide what backflow protection a fitting needs. Category 1 is wholesome water supplied by a water undertaker meeting Water Industry Act 1991 requirements, no health hazard. Category 2 is water of impaired aesthetic quality through a change in temperature or a substance affecting taste, odour or appearance, for example water in a hot water distribution system. Category 3 is a slight health hazard from low toxicity substances, naming ethylene glycol, copper sulphate solution and sodium hypochlorite (common disinfectants). Category 4 is a significant health hazard from toxic substances including chemical, carcinogenic substances or pesticides, or environmental organisms of potential health significance. Category 5 is a serious health hazard from pathogenic organisms or highly toxic substances, naming faecal material or other human waste, butchery or other animal waste, and pathogens from any other source. This is the table to cite for why an outside tap, a bidet or a garden irrigation feed needs a double check valve or an air gap.

    Name this source
15. very strong RN-L7ESTP

    Welsh Government

    The Welsh route to funded adaptations, which differs from England in having a second scheme alongside the Disabled Facilities Grant. A Welsh applicant can apply for support from one or more of the ENABLE support for living independently scheme and the Disabled Facilities Grant, whereas an English applicant has the Disabled Facilities Grant alone. The listed adaptations are widening doors and installing ramps, improving access to rooms and facilities such as stair lifts or a downstairs bathroom, providing a heating system suitable for the applicant's needs, and adapting heating or lighting controls to make them easier to use. Part of the Welsh Government's Home safety, repairs and adaptation collection, with parallel guides for social housing tenants and for adapting a home before returning from hospital.

    Name this source
16. very strong RN-NTX280

    Welsh Government

    The Welsh edition of Part H, November 2023, and the source of the waste pipe sizes every bathroom and kitchen move depends on. Every point of discharge must have a trap that retains a minimum seal of 25 mm of water under working and test conditions. Table 1 sets minimum trap sizes and seal depths: washbasin and bidet 32 mm trap with 75 mm seal; bath, shower, food waste disposal unit, urinal bowl, sink, washing machine and dishwashing machine 40 mm trap with 50 mm seal, except the sink and appliance group listed at 75 mm seal; WC pan with outlet under 80 mm, 75 mm trap with 50 mm seal; WC pan with outlet over 80 mm, 100 mm trap with 50 mm seal. A basin seal may drop to 50 mm only with flush grated wastes without plugs on spray tap basins, and where an appliance discharges directly to a gully the seal may drop to not less than 38 mm. Other figures: a branch discharge pipe must not enter a stack lower than 450 mm above the invert at the foot of the stack; a branch serving one appliance should be the same diameter as its trap; branch pipes of 75 mm or more joining a stack of equal diameter need a 50 mm radius sweep, smaller ones 25 mm radius or 45 degrees; a boiler condensate connection needs a 75 mm condensate trap; a ventilating pipe should connect within 750 mm of the trap and be at least 32 mm where it has up to 5 bends.

    Name this source
17. very strong RN-HCKL9C

    Welsh Government

    The Welsh Part M, and the document that decides whether a downstairs WC may be removed in a renovation. Section 10 sets the objective as a WC in the entrance storey located so that no stair need be negotiated to reach it from the habitable rooms in that storey; where the entrance storey has no habitable rooms, a WC in either the entrance storey or the principal storey is reasonable. Paragraph 10.3 says requirement M4 is satisfied if a WC is provided on that basis, the door to the WC compartment opens outwards and is positioned to let a wheelchair user reach the WC with a clear opening width per Table 4, and the compartment gives clear space for wheelchair access with the washbasin positioned so it does not impede access, per Diagrams 31 and 32. It also states plainly that it will not always be practical for the wheelchair to be fully accommodated inside the compartment. Crucially, the guidance on material alterations gives the worked example: removing a WC in the entrance storey of a dwelling is a material alteration if it is the only WC in that storey and the storey contains habitable rooms, and it must not be removed or made less compliant unless another WC no less compliant is provided in that storey.

    Name this source
18. very strong RN-RKGF7G

    Welsh Government (gov.wales)

    The Welsh Approved Document G, which differs from the England version on the headline water figure and is therefore the source to cite for a Welsh reader. Regulation 36 requires the estimated consumption of wholesome water to be not more than 110 litres per person per day where a dwelling is erected, or 125 litres per person per day where a dwelling is formed by a material change of use, against England's 125 litres with 110 as an optional tighter standard. Regulation 37 requires the water efficiency calculation to be notified to the building control body, and the completed notice must state, for example, less than 110 litres per person per day using the fittings approach. G3(3) requires the hot water supply to a fixed bath to incorporate measures ensuring delivered temperature does not exceed 48 degrees C, by an in-line blending valve or other appropriate temperature control device that cannot be exceeded in operation. It cites BRE Information Paper IP14/03 Preventing hot water scalding in bathrooms: using TMVs. First published 5 April 2017, last updated 10 May 2023.

    Name this source
19. very strong RN-UQJZBJ

    Welsh Government (gov.wales)

    WALES. Published 3 April 2017 and not updated since, a 3 MB PDF to be read with the September 2013 amendment slip. This is the Welsh Part P, and it is not the same document as England's 2013 edition. Wales did not follow England in narrowing the definition of a special location, so the scope of notifiable domestic electrical work is wider in Wales. Cite this rather than the England Approved Document P for any Welsh rewire, kitchen or bathroom job.

    Name this source
20. very strong RN-MQY230

    Welsh Government (gov.wales)

    WALES, and this is a hard contradiction with England. The Welsh Approved Document P states that notifiable jobs include new circuits back to the consumer unit AND extensions to circuits in KITCHENS and special locations such as bathrooms, and that consumer unit replacements are notifiable. England's Approved Document P 2013 edition defines a special location at regulation 12(9) as only the zone around a bath tap or shower head, extending 2.25 metres vertically and 0.6 metres horizontally from a bath tub or shower tray, or 1.2 metres from a shower head where there is none, plus a room containing a swimming pool or sauna heater, so a kitchen is NOT a special location in England and extending a kitchen circuit there is not notifiable. In Wales it is. The Welsh document also confirms replacement, repair and maintenance work is generally not notifiable even in a kitchen or special location, that in large bathrooms the special location is bounded by the walls of the bathroom, and that conservatories, attached garages, detached garages and sheds are not special locations, so work there is notifiable only if it involves a new circuit.

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21. strong RN-04DH6J

    BBA (British Board of Agrement)

    The certification body whose Agrement Certificate is what a note usually means when it says a system is approved, and the page that lists which schemes it actually runs. The BBA's certification team issues certificates for the BBA Agrement, HAPAS (Highways Authority Product Approval Services), European Technical Assessment (ETA), and the Microgeneration Certification Scheme. Alongside product certification it runs certification of people, including the BBA Approved Installer Scheme, the BBA Competent Person Scheme, the BBA Gas Membrane Approved Installer Scheme, TrustMark registration and the BBA PAS 2030 Scheme, plus a Client Managed Inspection Service. Its testing services are also available standalone and include durability, mechanical, physical and structural, weather resistance and wind serviceability, conformance and fit-for-purpose, thermal performance, and onsite testing and trials. An Agrement Certificate is the route by which a product without a harmonised European product standard, such as a tanking membrane, a multifoil or a proprietary EWI system, gets an independently assessed statement of fitness for a stated use.

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22. strong RN-2RQT3P

    BSI

    BS 6465-1:2006+A1:2009, in effect from 31 March 2006 with Amendment 1 in 2009, prepared by Technical Committee B/503 Sanitary appliances, ISBN 978 0 580 67116 6, current. It is the code of practice for designing sanitary facilities and setting the scale of provision of sanitary and associated appliances, and it supersedes BS 6465-1:2006. It sits in a suite of four standards: Part 1 scales of provision, Part 2 space recommendations, Part 3 selection, installation and maintenance, Part 4 provision of public toilets. It traces back to CP 305-1 first published July 1952, with the third edition issued as BS 6465-1 in February 1984 and the fifth in March 2006. Use it to establish how many WCs and basins a dwelling should have.

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23. strong RN-VW6Y4Z

    BSI

    Part 4 completes the BS 6465 sanitary installations series that begins with Part 1 on scales of provision, Part 2 on space recommendations and Part 3 on selection, installation and maintenance. Published 30 November 2010, listed as current but under review. It gives recommendations and guidance for those responsible for surveying, assessing, planning, commissioning, designing, managing and using public toilets, covering the location, numbers, siting, design and management of them across the full range of users and locations, from towns and cities to rural areas, villages and transport routes and termini. It applies to new public toilet installations and to the upgrading of existing ones, while explicitly accepting that an existing facility might not be upgradable to every recommendation for physical or economic reasons, and stating that no public toilet should be closed merely for falling short of the standard. Cite it where a domestic project spills into semi-public provision, such as a converted outbuilding, holiday let or home business, where the domestic scales in Part 1 do not apply.

    Name this source
24. strong RN-SZF0CB

    BSI

    BS 8000-11:2011, published 31 January 2011, committee B/539, current. It gives recommendations on basic workmanship on building sites, both commercial and domestic, for the tasks frequently carried out in wall and floor tiling. It applies to fixing ceramic and agglomerated stone tiles, natural stone and terrazzo tiles and slabs, and mosaics to walls and floors using adhesive and mortar. It states plainly that its recommendations are not necessarily comprehensive and that a project specification might need to cover more. It signposts the rest of the family: design aspects of wall and floor tiling are in BS 5385, natural stone cladding and lining in BS 8298, and the harmonised product specifications are BS EN 12057 for natural stone tiles, BS EN 12058 for slabs, BS EN 14411 for ceramic tiles, BS EN 15285 for agglomerated stone and BS EN 12004 for adhesives, with BS EN 12440 for natural stone naming.

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25. strong RN-QZAW59

    BSI

    The product standard for the shower hose, published 30 April 2015 and current. It specifies the dimensional, leak tightness, mechanical and hydraulic characteristics with which shower hoses should comply, together with the procedures for testing them, including the test method for flow. It applies to shower hoses of any material used for ablutionary purposes and intended for equipping and supplementing sanitary tapware for baths and showers, and only to hoses connected downstream of the obturator, that is downstream of the valve that shuts the water off. This matters for backflow: a flexible shower hose that can reach into the bath or below the spillover level turns the outlet into a fluid category 5 risk unless the tap gap or an approved device is provided, which is why the water regulations, not this standard, decide the hose length and the device. Cite BS EN 1113 for the hose's own performance, leak tightness and burst behaviour, and the WaterRegsUK backflow guidance for where the hose may reach.

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26. strong RN-JBTUL5

    BSI

    The product standard for a domestic whirlpool bath, published 30 November 2018 as BS EN 12764:2015+A1:2018, current and under review. It specifies the characteristics of whirlpool baths with a rated voltage of not more than 250 V for single-phase appliances and 480 V for other appliances, intended for installation in indoor domestic situations and used per the manufacturer's instructions for personal hygiene. The defining assumption is the one that matters for health: such baths are tested and supplied as a complete independent unit designed to be drained down after every use, and the standard expressly excludes whirlpool baths for communal use where they are not drained down after every use, along with baths needing specific medical provisions and portable units. Electrical safety, other than use by young children and slow-moving, weak, elderly or disabled individuals, is covered by BS EN 60335-2-60 rather than here. The units may be delivered in separate parts for on-site assembly. Read it with the legionella guidance in HSG274 Part 2, because a whirlpool that is not fully drained becomes an aerosol-generating stored water system.

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27. strong RN-F2DFG9

    BSI

    BS EN 14055:2018, published 31 October 2018 by BSI Standards Limited, prepared by Technical Committee B/503 Sanitary appliances, under review. It supersedes BS EN 14055:2010+A1:2015, which is withdrawn. Clause 1 specifies design, performance characteristics and test methods for WC and urinal flushing cisterns complete with flushing mechanism, inlet valve and overflow, covering cisterns designed to be connected to drinking water installations inside buildings. It excludes automatic valveless siphon flushing cisterns for urinals, and cisterns for one-piece WCs and close-coupled suites, which are covered by EN 997. Clause 5 covers design and hydraulic and mechanical characteristics for type 1 products, and clause 6 covers the inlet valve, backflow prevention and cistern marking for type 2 products.

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28. strong RN-PPYI8S

    BSI

    BS EN 14516:2015+A1:2018, published 30 November 2018, the UK implementation of EN 14516:2015+A1:2018, prepared by Technical Committee B/503 Sanitary appliances; it supersedes BS EN 14516:2015, which is withdrawn, and is currently under review. Clause 1 specifies characteristics, test methods and procedures for evaluating conformity of baths used for domestic purposes and personal hygiene, so that a product installed and maintained to the maker's instructions meets requirements for cleanability and durability. It applies to all sizes and shapes of bath and excludes baths for use with medical provisions; domestic purposes here includes hotels, student accommodation and hospitals. Clause 5 covers cleanability and durability for type 1 products and Annex A lists the characteristics of the materials commonly used to make baths, which is the citation for acrylic versus steel versus cast iron claims.

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29. strong RN-U8W04Q

    BSI

    BS EN 14527:2016+A1:2018, published 30 November 2018, the UK implementation of EN 14527:2016+A1:2018, prepared by Technical Committee B/503 Sanitary appliances; it supersedes BS EN 14527:2016, which is withdrawn, and is under review. Clause 1 specifies characteristics, test methods and conformity evaluation procedures for shower trays used for domestic purposes, so a tray installed, used and maintained to the maker's instructions satisfies cleanability and durability when used for personal hygiene. It applies to all sizes and shapes of shower tray and excludes trays for use with medical provisions; domestic purposes includes hotels, student accommodation and hospitals. Clause 5 sets cleanability and durability characteristics for type 1 products and Annex A lists the characteristics of the materials commonly used to make shower trays, the citation for stone resin versus acrylic tray comparisons.

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30. strong RN-NJ7RJF

    BSI

    BS EN 997:2018, published 31 October 2018, under review. Clause 1 specifies constructional and performance characteristics and test methods for close-coupled suites, one-piece WC pans and independent WC pans with an integral trap, made from glazed ceramics or stainless steel, for personal hygiene. It does not apply to squatting toilets, WC pans without an integral trap, or flushing cisterns supplied as separate appliances, which fall under BS EN 14055. For close-coupled suites and one-piece WCs it additionally specifies the design, performance and test methods of the designated flushing cistern, its flushing mechanism, inlet valve and overflow. It notes that before installing WCs, EN 12056-2 and national requirements apply. This is the standard behind flush-volume, flush-performance and pan-material claims.

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31. strong RN-KQW44R

    BSI (British Standards Institution)

    Part 3 of the BS 6465 sanitary installations series, the part on choosing and fitting the appliances rather than counting them. Published 31 Oct 2006 and withdrawn 26 Mar 2020, so cite it as historic good practice alongside the current Parts 1 and 2. It gives recommendations on the selection, installation and maintenance of the most commonly used sanitary and associated appliances in new and refurbished buildings, including hygiene, cleaning and maintenance of all sanitary installation units including electrical items, plus portable toilets used as supplementary facilities. It expressly does not deal with the detailed provisions of water supply, sanitary pipework or drainage, which sit in BS EN 12056 and Approved Document H. Its scope runs from private dwellings and care homes to workplaces, shops, schools and public toilets. Together with BS 6465-1 it superseded BS 6465-1:1994.

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32. strong RN-43IQ1S

    BSI (British Standards Institution)

    STATUS: WITHDRAWN on 25 February 2022. BS 7976-2:2002+A1:2013 was published 20 August 2002 and set out the method of operation for the pendulum tester used to assess slip resistance of pedestrian surfaces, that is how the pendulum test value (PTV) that every tile and flooring note quotes is actually obtained; part 1 covers the instrument specification and part 3 calibration. It excluded road and airfield surfaces, which are covered by BS EN 13036-4, and pendulum testing called up inside other product specifications. Because it is withdrawn, a note that says a bathroom or patio surface should achieve a PTV of 36 or more to BS 7976 is citing a withdrawn standard: the PTV thresholds themselves come from HSE and UK Slip Resistance Group guidance rather than from this standard, which is the more useful thing for a note to cite. Catalogue page confirms number, title, publication date, withdrawal date and scope.

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33. strong RN-PNVHFZ

    BSI (British Standards Institution)

    The product standard for domestic thermostatic mixing valves, the anti-scald device Approved Document G relies on for its 48 degrees C bath limit. Published 31 Aug 2017 and withdrawn on 25 Mar 2026, so cite it as the standard a valve was made to rather than as a live requirement. It specifies general construction, performance and material requirements for PN 10 thermostatic mixing valves and the test methods for verifying mixed water temperature performance at the point of use below 45 degrees C. It applies to valves on sanitary appliances in kitchens, washrooms and bathrooms, and covers a valve serving a single outlet or a small number of outlets in a domestic application, for example one valve controlling a shower, bath, basin and bidet; valves designed for a large number of outlets in institutional use are excluded. The page notes a suitable bathing temperature is body temperature of about 38 degrees C, and that children scald at lower temperatures than adults. Tests are laboratory type tests, not production quality control tests.

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34. strong RN-XWFCEG

    BSI (British Standards Institution)

    STATUS: CURRENT, and it is a Designated Standard. BS EN 12380:2002 was published 17 December 2002, identical to EN 12380:2002, ISBN 0 580 40973 2, committee B/505, ICS 23.060.99 and 91.140.80. It specifies the requirements, test methods and evaluation of conformity for air admittance valves in drainage systems, the one way valves (often called by the trade name Durgo valve) that admit air to relieve negative pressure in a soil stack without letting foul air out, so a stack can be terminated internally rather than taken up through the roof. It is the standard to cite when a note explains that an AAV is acceptable for a new en suite or a relocated WC subject to Approved Document H, and that at least one stack on a drainage system must still be open to atmosphere. Catalogue page confirms number, title, date, status, ISBN, committee and scope; the tests are paywalled.

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35. strong RN-Y2B7CC

    BSI (British Standards Institution)

    STATUS: CURRENT. BS EN 13893:2002 was published 28 November 2002, is identical to EN 13893:2002, ISBN 0 580 40862 0, committee PRI/60, ICS 97.150. It specifies the method for measuring the dynamic coefficient of friction on DRY surfaces of resilient, laminate and textile floor coverings, and gives the DS classification that vinyl, laminate and carpet manufacturers declare. The key limitation for a note is in the title: it is a dry test, so a DS rating says nothing about wet slip performance in a bathroom or kitchen, where the relevant measure is the pendulum test value from the UK Slip Resistance Group method (formerly BS 7976-2, now withdrawn) or the ramp test classifications R9 to R13. Catalogue page confirms number, title, date, status, ISBN, committee and scope.

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36. strong RN-QPG4FD

    BSI (British Standards Institution)

    The product standard behind every domestic wash basin sold in the UK. Published 31 Oct 2018, current but under review; identical to EN 14688:2015+A1:2018, ICS 91.140.70 Sanitary installations, committee B/505 (listed as B/503 on the page), ISBN 978 0 580 97776 3. It specifies functional characteristics and test methods for washbasins for domestic purposes, covering construction, performance and safety plus factory production control, with named test regimes for thermal shock, abrasion, scratch hardness, chemical resistance, mechanical loading and overflow capacity. Its definition of domestic purposes expressly extends to hotels, student accommodation and hospitals except where special medical provisions are required, so a note can state that a basin badged to EN 14688 has been type-tested rather than merely CE or UKCA marked.

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37. strong RN-C18H5B

    BSI (British Standards Institution)

    The general specification for ordinary taps, as opposed to the thermostatic mixing valves covered by BS EN 1111. Published 31 Jan 2009 and withdrawn 4 Jan 2024, so cite it for what a tap was made to rather than as a live requirement. It specifies the field of application for pillar taps, bib taps, and single and multi-hole combination taps for use in specified types of water supply system, and sets the dimensional, leak tightness, pressure resistance, hydraulic performance, mechanical strength, endurance and acoustic characteristics of the various tap types, together with the test methods to verify each. The acoustic characteristic is the one buyers rarely know exists and is the basis for noise class claims on taps.

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38. strong RN-28LGZP

    BSI (British Standards Institution)

    The requirements part of the three-part European standard for waste fittings, which is what a bath, basin, bidet, shower tray or sink waste is actually made to. Published 4 Sep 2002 and still current, identical to EN 274-1:2002, ICS 91.140.70, committee B/505, ISBN 0 580 40336 X. Its scope covers wastes, overflows and traps for baths, wash basins, bidets, showers and sinks, so it is the citable authority for waste and overflow assemblies and for trap types. Parts 2 and 3 of the same series carry the test methods and the quality control requirements.

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39. strong RN-V6RE0V

    BSI (British Standards Institution)

    STATUS: CURRENT, and it is the renumbered successor to the BS EN 61558 series that the notes cite. BS EN IEC 61558-2-5:2025 was published 31 March 2025, is identical to EN IEC 61558-2-5:2023 and IEC 61558-2-5:2024, sits under ICS 29.180 and committee PEL/96. Its predecessor BS EN 61558-2-5:2010 (published 30 September 2010) is still shown as current on its own catalogue page and covers stationary, single phase, air cooled dry type shaver transformers with encapsulated or non encapsulated windings at internal frequencies up to 500 Hz, including those with electronic circuits and linear power supply units. Practical point for bathroom notes: a shaver socket in a bathroom must contain an isolating transformer to this standard, which is why it is the only socket outlet permitted in zone 2 under BS 7671; the numbering has moved from BS EN 61558 to BS EN IEC 61558, so a note citing plain BS EN 61558-2-5 should be updated. Catalogue pages confirm numbers, titles, dates, status and scope; requirements are paywalled.

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40. strong RN-05KG4M

    BSI Group

    What the Kitemark actually certifies, which matters because it is often confused with CE or UKCA marking and with BSI standards themselves. States that Kitemark certification confirms a product or service's claim has been independently and repeatedly tested by experts, so it is third-party certification of continued conformity rather than a manufacturer's own declaration. Records that the mark was originally known as the British Standard Mark and was first registered as a trademark in June 1903, giving it more than 120 years of use. Cites BSI's own consumer research that the Kitemark is recognised by 67 per cent of UK consumers, and that 70 per cent are more confident in products carrying it than in products that do not. Certification spans products, services and processes, including building information modelling and inclusive service certification, and BSI publishes a searchable Kitemark directory and a Verify a Certificate service for checking a specific certificate.

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