Posted By James Bridgland
This is something which is usually governed by Building Regulations. You need to speak to the Building Control Officer at your local Council offices. Remember that, if you raise the matter with them and they say that changes need to be made, then they may require you to do the work within a certain timescale.

Posted By Dhearne
thanks for the help... so this means it is o.k. how it currently is???

Posted By Dhearne
ah i see, the flat was originally converted in the early eighites, there is a weird partition that looks like it may have housed a small secondary door which is now gone, so this may have been to comply with the regs for then

so the only thing i need to take into consideration is if when i come to sell, or decide to rent it out in the future, the regulations may have changed? but it is o.k. as off now...

thanks

dean

Posted By Tony Brunskill
Dean,

Hi, first a bit of background. The Building Regulations required an Intervening Ventilated Space (IVS) as a result of miasmic theory, the idea being that disease was spread in aerosols generated during flushing of the WC etc. These have since been disproved. Depending on the age of your premises planning consent may have been in place, unnecessary or ignored. Advice is speak to an architect or local planner for your area.

Regard

tony

Posted By Stuart Nagle
Dhearne

1) the Building Regulations are not retrospective, so if it was not a requirement previously it would not be required later, even if regulations changed, or we would always be altering our home to comply.

2) So far as I am aware there are no current requirements that require two doors and a ventilated space between a kitchen and a bathroom in a domestic premises.

3) as your bathroom has windows, it may not have ever been affected in the first place. There were and still are specific requirements for the ventilation of bathrooms without windows which require a ventilation system to be installed. Ventilation systems also have to be installed in all new kitchens.

Posted By Adrian Watson
Tony,

Miasmic theory was that diseases were spread by dad smells. There is evidence that aerosols can be generated by flushing the chain and that these aerosols may contain bacteria and therebye contaminate surfaces.

Regards Adrian