Do room on external walls need Windows?

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cldlr76

289 posts

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#198728 20-Jul-2016 13:20

Hi,

We are looking at renovating our bathroom which isn't a big area. There is currently a window in the bathroom that we want to get rid of and put the shower along the external wall of the bathroom. We plan on having a skylight to provide natural light and obviously an extractor fan to remove moisture, but does anyone know if there is a legal requirement to have a window for every room on an external wall?

Thanks

trig42

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#1595613 20-Jul-2016 13:26

Don't think there is a requirement (and on a south facing wall, it makes sense not to have one).

There is a requirement for bathrooms to be well ventilated though.

I'd just check with your council.

antoniosk

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#1595614 20-Jul-2016 13:26

I can't answer for the country, but on our original plan our bathroom was to have an opening skylight only and wellington council approved it. The opening part was optional - extractor fan was not, you need to allow for moisture to vent out.

In the end we put a window in as well because the extra light it supplied was awesome.

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mdf

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#1595714 20-Jul-2016 16:28

As others have said, you probably need to check locally, but for what it's worth we removed a window in favour of a skylight in our old bathroom about 7 years ago and the Wellington City Council didn't have a problem with it. It was great - let in way more light in the morning than the former west-facing window. About our only regret was we didn't specify the bigger version.

chimera

506 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1595746 20-Jul-2016 17:03

I'm pretty sure the NZ building code doesn't stipulate that a window is a requirement in a bathroom (not all rooms have external walls), but I do know that if you don't have a window in a bathroom you need to have an exhaust (extractor) fan installed and there are limitations at how close those fans can be to wet areas

scuwp

3886 posts

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#1595808 20-Jul-2016 19:37

There is a minimum % for glazing but I am pretty sure that's over the whole house. Shouldn't be a problem but check with your council.

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cldlr76

289 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1595842 20-Jul-2016 20:03

Thanks everyone, We are are just in the early planning stage at the moment and considering different options but I'll definitely check with the council as we are looking at a tiled shower and that requires consent anyway.

froob

692 posts

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#1595848 20-Jul-2016 20:36

scuwp: There is a minimum % for glazing but I am pretty sure that's over the whole house. Shouldn't be a problem but check with your council.

You could have a look at the relevant building code requirements yourself, if you're technically minded for that sort of thing.

Clause G7 looks to be the relevant one: https://www.building.govt.nz/building-code-compliance/g-services-and-facilities/g7-natural-light/

Also mentioned above were the ventilation requirements for a bathroom: https://www.building.govt.nz/building-code-compliance/e-moisture/e3-internal-moisture/

FWIW, we have an exterior room (a walk-in wardrobe) that has no windows. There are also plenty of internal bathrooms with no windows in commercial / office buildings and the like.

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mentalinc

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#1595851 20-Jul-2016 20:41

You could consider having one of the longer and not so high windows up in high up if that was an option.

that way you get natural light, from outside via a window. maybe allow it to open if you can put it in a place where it's meaningful to do so.

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FineWine

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Nurse (R)

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#1595994 21-Jul-2016 08:40

You could put in a single or double row of glass bricks up high.

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.