Building Utilities

Utilities are infrastructure services provided to consumers that are sometimes considered
to be ‘public’ services, that is, they are supplied to the public and are important for the normal
functioning of society. As a result, they normally come under some form of public control.
Utilities are generally considered to include: electricity, gas, water and sewage and
communications services.

Toilet Fixtures
According to the user sitting position, we can classify toilets into two types:
1. European or Western Waters closet also known as WC/EWC (Toilet designed to sit).
2. Squatting pan (Toilet is designed to squat).

Water Efficient Toilet:

This kind of toilets will help to save water everytime we flush it. the design of the toilet
bowl and the trap way help to flush the waste with less water. Nowadays we new design toilets
which use only 2 liters/0.58 US gallons. This kind of toilet will have a greater impact on the
future. This does not only save the future but imagine how much water you can save per day and
per year. how much energy you need to pump this much of water.

WC Health:
WC health is a unique design by guralvit, a turkey
sanitaryware manufacturing company. The WC is designed by
combining Water closet comfort and Squatting pan health benefit.
This design won red dot design award-2012. The weight of this
product is around 40 Kgs. The sitting height from ground is around
22CM to 25 CM. It is nearly half of the normal height from the
ground when compared to normal European water closet. Normal
EWC sitting height will be around 50 CM to 56 CM from the
ground. This product is coated with antibacterial glaze. This WC health is a type of water closet
but you have to squat in this toilet. And also this is a type of one piece toilet.

European or Western Water Closet:

This WC or EWC are designed to sit in a toilet. This kind of
toilets comes with seat & cover. When flushing the cover needs to
be closed. A Western Style toilet will be attached with a flush tank
for flushing after usage. Flush Tank may be plastic or ceramic one.
A small amount of water will be trapped inside the toilet itself by
water seal, normally this water seal height will be 50MM. Normal
water closet is open rim because the flushing tanks are high in
position so flushing will be effective. The height of European water
closets is around 500 to 550 MM. The weight of WC will vary from 12 KG to 20 KG according
to the design. All water closet must with stand a minimum of 400 Kgs without breaking.

Types of Water Closet Toilets:

The Standard Water closet can be classified according to the Trap design (Types of water closet):
1. S Trap types of Water Closet (EWC).
2. P Trap types of Water Closet (EWC).

Choosing between ‘S’ or ‘P’ trap water closet: Trap design is important when installing a
toilet. Normally S tarp will be used in ground floor installations as piping can be done below
ground level. Normally P trap will be installed in top floors because installation of pipe line
under the toilet will be difficult. This water closet can be classified according to the Mounting
system (Type of water closet):
1. Floor mounts types of toilets.
2. Wall Hung Types of toilets.

If the toilet can be installed on the floor then it is known as floor mount water closet. Floor
fixing hole is provided in this kind of floor mount toilets. Wall Hung
toilets will be fixed in the wall by fixing the hole in the toilet. Normally
floor mount toilet will come in both ‘P’ and ‘S’ Trap, but Wall mount
model Toilet will come with ‘P’ Trap. Seat Cover used in water closet
toilet can be classified into two types, one is hard to close and another
one is soft close.If the falling of seat cover is hard with sound then the
seat cover is known as a hard close seat cover.If the seat cover falls slow
with out any noise then it is known as soft close seat cover.

Another way to classify the water closet is the visibility of trap way:
1. Concealed trap way type of toilet.
2. Visible Trap way types of toilets.

In the concealed type of toilets the trap will not be visible it will be covered by the design
itself. The cost of concealed trap toilet will be higher cost than the visible Trapway toilet.
According to the bowl design toilets can be classified around 4 types:
1. Round bowl toilet.
2. Square bowl toilet.
3. Elongated Bowl toilet.
4. Rectangular bowl toilet.
Two piece Toilet:
Other types of toilets are two-piece toilets. Normal EWC toilet
is extended to fit a ceramic tank in toilet itself. The name came from
the design. Because a piece toilet bowl and a ceramic tank and it are
coupled using bolts, so it is called as two-piece toilet. Two-piece
toilets are also called as coupled closet because of design. A weight of
the two Piece toilet will be around 25Kgs to 45 Kgs and it depends
upon the design of the product. Coupled closet are designed in closed
rim method to pressurize the water during flushing. By this closed rim
method, the required flushing is achieved.
Same like the Normal water closet two piece WC also will be available in ‘S’ & ‘P’ trap
and also floor mount as well as a wall mount. The cost of a coupled closet or two-piece toilets is
in between cost of normal water closet and cost of one piece toilet.

One piece toilet:

This type of toilets does not need a separate flush tank. Flush tank is attached with the
body of EWC itself. The tank and body both are produced by ceramic material and fused
together. So the problem of leakage is minimized. This toilet also
called as single piece toilet as bowl and tank is one product.
One piece toilet normally comes with only floor mount
type model. AS the weight of toilet will be more so normally
single piece toilet will not be made in wall hung methods. The
weight of the one piece toilet will be around 38Kgs to 50Kgs.
One piece toilet will be available in ‘S’ and ‘P’ Trap model. One
piece toilet will be only designed as a closed rim only. The water
pressure required to flush out the waste will be created by the
closed rim model. Problem of leakage is very less in one piece
toilet. Cost of one piece toilet will be higher than the two piece
toilet.

Squatting Pan:
This is the classic type of toilet. Day by day this classic toilet is replaced by modern
water closet which gives more comfort and also gives more health complaint. It is proven that
squatting pan toilets are much healthier than European water closet. The squatting pan called in
many name as Indian pan, Orissa pan and also Asian pan toilet. These
squatting pans have several designs and varying design country to
country. Squatting pan normally used in Asian countries. Indian, Chinese
& Japanese squatting pan greatly difference in design. These types of
toilets are comparatively cheaper than the water closet type toilets.
 Squatting pan will not be directly connected to the drainage pipeline because the bad
order will come in toilets. So squatting pan will be connected to the drain pipe by using an ‘S’
trap or ‘P’ trap. This trap will avoid escape of bad order from drain line by a water seal. Water
seal of the squatting pan will be maintained by the trap. But in water closets the design itself will
maintain a water level to seal the bad order escape from the drain pipe line.

Types of squatting Pan Toilets:

1. Standard squatting pan.
2. Sleek model squatting Pan.
3. Squatting Pan without foot rest.
4. Squatting pan separate foot rest.

Anglo- Indian Type Toilet

Anglo – Indian Type toilet is a combination of squatting pan Indian and western water
closet style toilets. You can squat or sit in this toilet as you like. These
types of toilets are brought when people get confusion about the type
of toilet they want to go with the squatting or western one. This toilet
is also called as combination toilet and universal toilet. Anglo Indian
pans are available in ‘S’ and ’P’ trap as well. This type of toilet only
available in Floor mount model. This toilet also will come with an
plastic seat cover. You need to attach a plastic tank or a concealed
tank for this model of toilets for flushing.

Kid’s toilet:
Kids Toilet is specially designed toilet for kinds. The size of the
toilet is smaller so it can be used for especially under the age of 12. Now a
days seat covers are coming such a way that even children can sit on
normal Water closet.

Elderly toilet:
These types of toilets are designed such a way that elder people can easily sit and rise. the
pedestal height of the toilet is higher than the normal water closet. the height of the elderly toilet
is around 70CM.

Smart Toilet – An Intelligent type of toilet:

These Toilets are latest in this line. What is smart toilet?
A specially designed ceramic toilet is attached to the electronic
seat cover. All functionally of the smart toilet are depends upon
the seat cover.
 It comes with a remote to set functions and parameters. Some of the features of this smart
toilet are listed below,

 Plays pre-set lyrics automatically when someone approaches.

 Automatic seat cover opening by sensors which sense human approaches near to
the toilet. It can even disgust between men and women.
 It can also automatically open & close and UV cleaning facility.
 You can set temperature and pressure of the water and position of the water jet.
 User functionality can be saved.
 Inbuilt Warm air drier and temperature can be set as per user input.
 Dual flush option, eco flush or full flush.

Squatty-Potty Toilet:
In general it is not a type of toilet, merely a method of using
toilet. Health problem arises when using a European water closet so
a ceramic stand will be kept where the leg is placed in water closet.
So the angle of sitting will be nearly equal to squatting. So the health
problems are reduced.

Rim less Toilet:

Here comes the new model of toilet. This model allows to clean easily. Avoiding Corner
in the rim area of toilet. It has been introduced in the wall hung water closet which are on oval or
round shape. A small step will be given below the rim to make the flushing effectively. In future
we may expect this model in One piece toilet as well as other types of toilets. Many companies
trying to introduce this model now. We may expect this kind of model more in market soon.

Tornado Toilet
This is also a new model of a water closet. The design will allow the toilet to flush and
clean at the same time while flushing. The water will be circled in the water closet that allows to
flush and clean the toilet easily. this types of flushing only possible in round shape toilets.

Operational differences
There's a big reason why you don't see commercial toilets in homes: The toilet you see in a
typical business operates differently than a traditional model. A retail store or other commercial
building’s plumbing system is usually built specifically to provide for the capabilities of a
commercial grade toilet, while residential water supply lines and drains do not. Traditional
residential grade toilets use a siphon to suck water and waste from the bowl and into the drain.
However, water must come in fast enough to fill the siphon tube in order to create a successful
flush. Residential water supply lines simply don't have the necessary water volume to allow a
commercial toilet to flush with power. A residential toilet utilizes a water storage tank at the
back to provide enough water to create a strong flush that will rid the bowl of waste. Water from
the tank flows down into the bowl with enough force to activate the siphon and pull waste into
the and down to the sewer.

A commercial toilet, on the other hand, doesn't rely on a tank of water. Instead, it receives water
from a larger diameter commercial grade water supply line that delivers water at a high enough
pressure to carry waste right through the drainage system. While these models often use the same
amount of water as a residential toilet, commercial grade toilets must use water very suddenly
and violently. And as we noted earlier, residential water supply lines aren't equipped to deliver
that much volume all at once.
212 Kitchens, Kitchenettes, and Sinks
 212.1 General. Where provided, kitchens, kitchenettes, and sinks shall comply with 212.
 212.2 Kitchens and Kitchenettes. Kitchens and kitchenettes shall comply with 804.
 212.3 Sinks. Where sinks are provided, at least 5 percent, but no fewer than one, of each
type provided in each accessible room or space shall comply with 606.
EXCEPTION: Mop or service sinks shall not be required to comply with 212.3.

213 Toilet Facilities and Bathing Facilities

 213.1 General. Where toilet facilities and bathing facilities are provided, they shall
comply with 213.
Where toilet facilities and bathing facilities are provided in facilities permitted by 206.2.3
Exceptions 1 and 2 not to connect stories by an accessible route, toilet facilities and
bathing facilities shall be provided on a story connected by an accessible route to an
accessible entrance.
 213.2 Toilet Rooms and Bathing Rooms. Where toilet rooms are provided, each toilet
room shall comply with 603. Where bathing rooms are provided, each bathing room shall
comply with 603.
EXCEPTIONS:
1. In alterations where it is technically infeasible to comply with 603, altering
existing toilet or bathing rooms shall not be required where a single unisex toilet room or bathing
room complying with 213.2.1 is provided and located in the same area and on the same floor as
existing inaccessible toilet or bathing rooms.
2. Where exceptions for alterations to qualified historic buildings or facilities are
permitted by 202.5, no fewer than one toilet room for each sex complying with 603 or one unisex
toilet room complying
with 213.2.1 shall be provided.
3. Where multiple single user portable toilet or bathing units are clustered at a single
location, no more than 5 percent of the toilet units and bathing units at each cluster shall be
required to comply with 603. Portable toilet units and bathing units complying with 603 shall be
identified by the International Symbol of Accessibility complying with 703.7.2.1.
4. Where multiple single user toilet rooms are clustered at a single location, no more than
50 percent of the single user toilet rooms for each use at each cluster shall be required to comply
with 603.

Advisory 213.2 Toilet Rooms and Bathing Rooms. These requirements allow the use of
unisex (or single-user) toilet rooms in alterations when technical infeasibility can be
demonstrated. Unisex toilet rooms benefit people who use opposite sex personal care assistants.
For this reason, it is advantageous to install unisex toilet rooms in addition to accessible single-
sex toilet rooms in new facilities.
 Advisory 213.2 Toilet Rooms and Bathing Rooms Exceptions 3 and 4. A “cluster” is a
group of toilet rooms proximate to one another. Generally, toilet rooms in a cluster are within
sight of, or adjacent to, one another.

213.2.1 Unisex (Single-Use or Family) Toilet and Unisex Bathing Rooms. Unisex toilet
rooms shall contain not more than one lavatory, and two water closets without urinals or one
water closet and one urinal. Unisex bathing rooms shall contain one shower or one shower and
one bathtub, one lavatory, and one water closet. Doors to unisex toilet rooms and unisex bathing
rooms shall have privacy latches.

213.3 Plumbing Fixtures and Accessories. Plumbing fixtures and accessories provided in a toilet
room or bathing room required to comply with 213.2 shall comply with 213.3.
213.3.1 Toilet Compartments. Where toilet compartments are provided, at least one toilet
compartment shall comply with 604.8.1. In addition to the compartment required to comply with
604.8.1, at least one compartment shall comply with 604.8.2 where six or more toilet
compartments
are provided, or where the combination of urinals and water closets totals six or more fixtures.

Advisory 213.3.1 Toilet Compartments. A toilet compartment is a partitioned space that is

located within a toilet room, and that normally contains no more than one water closet. A toilet
compartment may also contain a lavatory. A lavatory is a sink provided for hand washing. Full-
height partitions and door assemblies can comprise toilet compartments where the minimum
required spaces are provided within the compartment.

213.3.2 Water Closets. Where water closets are provided, at least one shall comply with 604.
213.3.3 Urinals. Where more than one urinal is provided, at least one shall comply with 605.
213.3.4 Lavatories. Where lavatories are provided, at least one shall comply with 606 and shall
not be located in a toilet compartment.
213.3.5 Mirrors. Where mirrors are provided, at least one shall comply with 603.3.
213.3.6 Bathing Facilities. Where bathtubs or showers are provided, at least one bathtub
complying with 607 or at least one shower complying with 608 shall be provided.
213.3.7 Coat Hooks and Shelves. Where coat hooks or shelves are provided in toilet rooms
without toilet compartments, at least one of each type shall comply with 603.4. Where coat
hooks or shelves are provided in toilet compartments, at least one of each type complying with
604.8.3 shall be provided in toilet compartments required to comply with 213.3.1. Where coat
hooks or shelves are provided in bathing facilities, at least one of each type complying with
603.4 shall serve fixtures required to comply with 213.3.6.
 According to the 2010 update to ADAAG, the basic ADA guidelines for a single-user
restroom are:

 30-inch by 48-inch access to the sink (the door can’t swing into this rectangle). The
measurement starts from the point where a person has 9-inch vertical clearance for their
feet and 27-inch vertical clearance for their knees.
 The center line of the toilet must be between 16 and 18 inches from the side wall.
 A clear circle of at least 60 inches around the side wall and 56 inches from the rear wall
to allow a wheelchair to turn (the door cannot swing into the minimum required area for
wheelchair-accessible toilet compartments).
 A toilet seat height of 17-19 inches.

To meet ADA guidelines, sinks shouldn’t be

mounted higher than 34 inches from the floor, and they
should have a knee clearance of 27 inches high, 30
inches wide, and 11 to 25 inches deep. You also need a
clear floor space and insulated pipes under the sink.
Faucets should be lever-operated, push, touch, or
electronically controlled. They should be usable with
one hand without the need to tightly grasp, pinch, or
twist the wrist. Users shouldn’t have to exert more than
5 pounds of force to use the faucet to meet ADA
requirements.
REFERENCES
[1] Designing Buildings. (2019, January 10). Utilities. Retrieved from
https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Utilities_for_construction_and_operation
[2] Sanitaryware.Org. (2019). Retrieved from https://sanitaryware.org/types-of-toilets-
different-type-toilets
[3] (2015, September 15). 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design. Retrieved from
https://www.ada.gov/regs2010/2010ADAStandards/2010ADAStandards.pdf
[4] (2018). Building Smarter Facility Management. Retrieved from
https://www.buildings.com/article-details/articleid/9242/title/the-ada-compliant-restroom
[5] Retrieved from https://www.rotorooter.com/plumbing-basics/frequently-asked-
questions/bathroom-plumbing/can-i-install-a-commercial-toilet-in-my-home/