The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) was a major piece of civil rights legislation in the United States. This law and the Amendments Act of 2008 broadly protect the rights of Americans who experience physical or mental disabilities that substantially limit one or more major life activities.
For a restroom company like Romtec, ADA restroom design is a crucial procedure for configuring every pre-engineered building. There are many guidelines for designing an ADA bathroom, and meeting these criteria represents not only a legal requirement but an important civic responsibility to create a product that will satisfy the needs of all people.
Understanding the Customers’ Accessibility Needs
When beginning the design for an ADA restroom, it is important to begin with an accurate understanding of the customer’s needs for the restroom facility. These needs represent a myriad of options from toilet seat covers to baby changing tables to soap dispensers. Each added feature will have its own requirements for height and spacing, so knowing which features need to be in the restroom facility is an important first step.
At Romtec we have worked on designing restroom buildings to ADA standards with the various components for many years and understand the criteria to meet the standards. We understand the importance of making a restroom building ADA compliant while taking into consideration the needs of the owner or developer. Making the space accessible and convenient for everyone is always the end goal of our designs.
Meeting Each Location’s Specific Code Requirements
After our engineers know what is going into the building, the next step is to understand the location of the building itself. Each state and purchasing entity (federal, county, or private) has different standards to which its restroom facilities must adhere. There are ANSI, ABA, ADAAG, and other protocols for design that will be dictated by the state and jurisdiction in which the ADA restroom will be ultimately built.
Our experienced design and engineering team has met the standards of restroom buildings in every state, county and city across the country; dealing with every type of code requirement. Our designs meet the local codes while also meeting the ADA requirements. Sometimes certain codes are in place due to weather, so those considerations are taken into account when engineering, meeting local code requirements, and getting through the building department.
Anticipating Restroom Foot Traffic
The final step before the design process begins is to understand the usage expectations for the ADA restroom. The ADA restroom requirements assume that a specific percentage of users will experience a disability as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act. The restroom design must offer ADA fixtures that are in keeping with the anticipated usage percentage. This is important so that even at the busiest usage there will be equal accessibility to all restroom users.
We apply these ADA restroom requirements into the design of our restrooms to ensure access for all users. Some parks or campgrounds have started creating restroom buildings or shower buildings with all units completely ADA compliant with single user restrooms or single user showers or with a mix of both ADA compliant with standard units. This trend with ADA compliant single user restrooms available for everyone is making sure everyone has access at all times.
For example, the Tijuana River Valley Regional Park in San Diego, California added a campground recently. Romtec provided a custom restroom and shower building that has four ADA unisex restrooms along with four ADA showers connected to those restroom units. It also has four non-ADA unisex single user restrooms and four separate single user shower units.
Another example is the Memorial Park project in Wilsonville, Oregon where we provided a new restroom building with our turnkey services. The Romtec 2048 Sierra II restroom features two ADA family restrooms along with four other single-user restrooms and a mechanical room.
Seeing a mix of both ADA single user restroom units along with other single user units is becoming more prominent in park buildings across the country.
Designing the Perfect ADA Restroom
The design process begins in earnest once Romtec engineers have the information necessary to ensure a functional and compliant ADA restroom facility is created. Without this leg work, designing plans that will be stamped and sealed becomes more difficult. With this information, our engineers can configure a restroom facility that will be comfortable for all users and completely permissible to be stamped and sealed for each state and jurisdiction.
Knowing what you need in your restroom is the first step in creating a design. Then, meeting the local code requirements and understanding the anticipated restroom foot traffic are some of the other critical pieces of information needed to begin the design process. Once we have these pieces of information then we consider the ADA design standards as we design a restroom according to your needs.
At Romtec, our goal is to create the ideal restroom facility for your needs and budget. We’ve been designing ADA restrooms since the act was passed and will be designing them for years to come. Understanding how to design ADA bathrooms quickly, precisely, and cost-effectively is an area where Romtec excels as a restroom company. For more information, visit the ADA website or contact Romtec with your project details.
Value Engineering
Our Value Engineering services can help accommodate changes to a project budget for a restroom building that meets ADA standards. Value engineering provides a cheaper option to meet a budget or downsize a building to accommodate a certain budget level while still maintaining ADA guidelines.
Sometimes budgets or certain designated money changes during the design and building process but our team is here to make your ADA-approved restroom building happen regardless of any budget challenges. We can work with you on the value engineering process to ensure the building meets all the codes and guidelines associated with an ADA restroom.
Romtec has decades of experience working with parks districts all over the country to make successful ADA restrooms a part of our country’s great outdoors. Contact us today to get started on your ADA restroom project.
