ADA Washroom Checklist

Don't forget ANY of these!

{ checklist }

• Divide Stalls/Urinals (60" x 60" min for ADA, door swing out; 60" x length of wall, door swing in; 36" x 48" standard, door swing out)
• Doors are 30-32" in standard, 36" in ADA stalls
• Draw in wall-hung toilets & Urinals
• Draw in grab bars to scale and dimension length from wall and length of bar (36" behind toilet mounted 6" from nearest wall, 42-48" beside mounted 12" from nearest wall)
• Dimension stalls (width and depth!!) 
• Dimension center lines of toilets to stalls/walls; 18" from each side
• Dimension center lines of urinals to privacy screen/walls; 18" from each side
• Draw in Lavatory(ies)
• Indicate which one has ADA open space below; the width of open space
• Draw in mirrors, soap dispensers (1) per sink, hand dryer, trash receptacle 
• Draw turning circles 60" in common area, at door, and in ADA stall (not overlapping door swing!)
• Draw 30 X 48 clear floor space to scale (dotted rectangle) at sink and ADA urinal (NOT at toilet) and LABEL it as such.
• Tag all fixtures (!!!)

If you practice this (perfectly) often, you'll be able to do it in 10 minutes! I am not kidding! 

And that means... more time to spend on the less-predictable Millwork exercise!

Almost there,
Carlyn

Sim Day Results: Millwork

I did not like this exercise!  But despite my personal aversion, I passed. I guess I need to explain why on that first statement... not that it will help you or me pass. This exercise was more of a test in furniture design, rather than millwork. It's not unlike millwork, but this seems to be another part of the test to have evolved since 2010. 

Need inspiration? This is a great piece of student work by a student in Florida (link here), which shows a wide range of detail and ADA compliance. It is NOT an NCIDQ test. Click image for larger view.

Something I didn't know: You can draw more than one elevation if it helps convey your design intent/ADA compliance. However, I've never needed to do this on the newer exams.

{ Room for Improvement }

• I don't know if this is incorrect, but I indicated the 30X48 clearance at the accessible portion of the counter as "side approach". The toe kick and counter height were compliant, but I saw the other solutions literally left room under the surface for knee/foot room - a.k.a. totally open. 
• I missed a few "depth" dimensions in my section (counter and transaction counter). 
• Again, not sure if this is wrong, but I only provided one elevation and it was of the front of the piece (approach/welcome side). It conveyed accessibility, relationship between height of transaction counter and ADA height surface, toe-kick height, counter thickness, materials, and front design (which seemed to be emphasized in the program). I showed the section of this, which as a section should, went into more detail on ADA vs. standard components and construct-ability.

I think this 2010 PDP continues to confuse me more than help me... Sadly. 

Keep Going,

Carolyn

Space Planning Exercise: How I did!

FAIL

Funny, I passed this in the Spring 2012 Practicum. Here's how it went down:

I took the test yesterday during late afternoon 3:45-6:45 after a day of working from home. Working from home is, as you can imagine, delightful - the silence, the alone-time, productivity is amazing and my two 45-minute drives were eliminated. I didn't really take a lunch break, which - maybe I should have because I was low on fuel when I started my test. 

I started with confidence and an open mind. What the worst that could happen? I make mistakes and learn? Alas, I froze during the transition from bubble-diagram to hard-lining walls. This ate up the entire first 2 hours, leaving me just one hour to add FFE, electric, and notes. I also took a backwards approach to bubble-diagramming which I'll explain below. I finished everything in time, but my brain was whirling.

Despite, I felt really good about it. Until about 2:36 am when I woke up and started thinking of where I made mistakes. 

After making a *spoiler alert* organization device this morning (will post in detail later on), which took some anxiety off my shoulders, I intended to sit down and check my exercise. Instead, I took a(nother) 30-minute therapy session with my oh-so-patient husband. This, despite feeling like wasted time, really helped. 

This transitioned into him sitting with me to check my test together. Holy mistake-town (the test, not team-checking). Despite my  initial letdown, frustration, and embarrassment, I was able to reason the following and pep-talk myself into sharing my horrible solution with all of interested internet-land. 

• This is a practice test. This is where I'm supposed to make these mistakes so that I don't make them on test day. I now know exactly what I need to work on. In my experience, mistakes make us better, stronger. I will never forget that the infamous Daisy and Gatsby were drinking mint juleps in the garden with friends on a summer afternoon. Why such a strange detail? Because I got it wrong on a pop quiz in high school. I also now know that the 42" grab bar goes beside the toilet and the 36" goes behind. 
• How can I incorporate my lessons learned in the future to relieve anxiety rather than feed it?
• I'm not dumb. I'm not a bad designer. I don't get to do this as often as I want to. I just need to practice to be better, just as anyone must do in any field of work. 

A nice little note from Andrew ;)

{ Grading Breakdown }

• The practice test required a Janitor closet with a sink and shelf unit. I drew the sink right at the door and the incorrectly sized shelving to the right of it. Totally not accessible with the sink in the way. Sink location, wrong shelf: -2
• Re: Janitor closet, the door opens way into the corridor -1
• In two spaces I did not have the correct linear footage of upper and lower cabinetry once I accounted for my ADA clearance. For both spaces: -2
• My ADA restroom did not meet the minimum SF requirements -1
• My ADA restroom turning radius overlapped with my door swing -1
• My ADA restroom grab bars were reversed (42"L behind toilet, 36" beside toilet - should be flipped) -1
• My ADA restroom was missing the 30 X 48 designation at the sink -1
• The toilet was not directly on the plumbing trench -1
• A wall-mounted fixture (sorry, can't give specifics) protrudes more than 4" into a corridor -1
• I placed a piece of equipment within the required 18" on the pull-side of a non-accessible server room (not sure if this code applies to non-accessible spaces... anyone know?) -1
• I did not provide an outlet for the refrigerator -1
• I did provide one for the dishwasher, but I could have sworn I did! did not make it dedicated -1
• Didn't label the SF in a storage closet, but dimensioned it (and it met the minimum) -1 (I only saw the candidate get docked for omitting SF on the plan when they did it in a lot of spaces.. still, gotta label!)
• Missed a duplex in the Reception area by the guest seating, though I did provide it at the reception desk -1
• All of the adjacency requirements (as outlined in the test booklet) were met. However, I did not place two pairs of spaces close to each other. I guess I should have known better? But it didn't say to do so, so I did not. This is where general knowledge and reasoning comes in. I'm docking myself -2 for this mistake. 

Total discrepancies: 18

(The borderline pass sample had 17 errors)

{ A note on Bubble-Diagrams }

I only did one. Because for some reason, at the beginning of my 3 hours I was in some sort of crazy hurry. Then, like some sort of weirdo-brain, I went from bubble diagram to drawing in a conference table with chairs to determine my conference room layout. Uh? I had not one single wall drawn in. 

COOL. YOUR. JETS. 

Once I realized this was looney-tunes, I reverted to my bubble-diagram. Which kind of sucked since I only did one. Andrew told me to do at least 5 until I got the adjacency req's right, the plumbing limits in line, and the room sizes approximate. Which is so funny because his advice is how I always approach that first phase of space planning in "real life." So why not on my test? 

I swear I will do at least 5 on test day (I mean, unless my first one is bubbly perfection). 

{ What I'm taking away from this }

• Minimize the amount of corridors (SF) - what would a Realtor, Broker, or potential tenant think of your maximizing their usable square footage? 
• Minimize doors to enhance usable space (not all spaces require a door!) 
• TIP: Keywords like "Private" and "Secure" require a door.
• Pay more attention to the plumbing trench and how you can stretch it. 
• TIP: Not every plumbing fixture needs to be right ON the trench (with the exception of toilets and floor drains). Some fixtures can merely be located on a wall that touches the trench; a wall which overlaps or runs perpendicular to the trench while overlapping. They give you limits to which you can extend a line from the trench. Use this if needed and be sure to dimension your extension. 
• Remember you can share plumbing walls!
• Don't try to smush everything on one wall millwork-wise when you have an opportunity to wrap within a corner. 
• ADA Restroom... I actually rock the individual "ADA Washroom" exercise, but within these bigger scopes, I focus on it less. Bad call. 
• TIP: Symbols Pay attention to the symbols provided and what equipment requires what symbol. Here's a guide:
• Telephone: Telephone & data (the split triangle)
• Printer: Power*, Data (darkened triangle)
• Postage machine: Power*, Data
• Computer: Dedicated Power, Data
• Fax: Telephone & Data 
• Networked copier: Dedicated Power, Data
• Undercounter fridge, standard fridge: Dedicated power
• Dishwasher: Dedicated power
• Microwave, Coffee maker, small appliance: Power*, but provide (1) per appliance
• *Power translates to duplex in most cases, but consider the load. An office with a telephone, computer, and desktop printer requires (2) duplexes, telephone+data, and data.

Not sure why I feel the need to make this next part big, but heck - here goes!

If anything above could be interpreted differently, please feel free to comment below. Also, if you're taking this test for the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th time - OR THE FIRST TIME - and you're struggling or have questions, please reach out. It's very easy to feel alone in this test prep. And remember, you can if you believe you can (and if you practice!).  ;)

Plan some spaces, 

Carolyn

A little re-cap (from memory)...

I'm springing a little pop-quiz on myself tonight. 

If you'd like to do this, read through my blog posts to date, let it all gel overnight and tomorrow. Tomorrow night, number a paper (or Word Document) from 1-10. Then write down the (10) tips from my posts that will help you (from memory!!). OR better yet, re-cap from your own test prep!

Directions:

List 10 tips, strategies, and facts that you've identified and retained over the past month. 

1. Lighting: Calculate wattage allowed before going all symbol-crazy on your plan (watts per SF X total SF) and keep track of watts as you add fixtures. 
2. Egress: To determine the travel distance to each stair, remember to add your farthest path traveled within the existing suite to to the common path of travel to each stair. 
3. ADA Restroom: 36H rim std lav, 34H rim ada lav, 15H t.o. seat std toilet, 17H t.o. seat ada toilet, 24H to rim std urinal, 17H to rim ada urinal, 34H t.o. grab bar, 40H to b.o. mirror, 40-44H to operating parts of wall-mounted accessories. Oh, and 30X48 access in front of sink/urinal. 
4. Systems Integration: Pay attention to ceiling height changes with regards to ductwork!
5. Millwork: draw blocking in the wall and OVER-label everything!
6. Egress: use the "grid-block" space planning method to divide your floor into designated spaces (find SF of a grid block and divide each required SF to determine roughly how many grid-blocks). 
7. Life Safety: 1-hour rated walls belong suite-suite, suite-public corridor/lobby, and assembly-suite corridor, should have acoustical properties, and extend to the underside of the deck. 
8. Lighting: Assign DLV (dimmer low voltage) to low-wattage fixtures when laying out switching plan. 
9. Life Safety: You need a Fire Extinguisher both in the shared lobby/corridor AND in the tenant space (usually they'll have a space with enough SF requiring TWO and they should be located no more than 75' from the further occupant. 
10. Space Planning: Pay attention to plumbing trenches, don't forget to locate required electrical outlets/data as required, and highlight the program as you go!

There are more, but these are my faves!

Happy re-capping! 

Carolyn

Millwork Exercise: How I Did!

PASS!

MILLWORK EXERCISE

(1) Hour is Recommended for this Portion

I used my entire hour for this exercise and was feeling great until I realized I only had 14 minutes to create my section. Eeep! I did pretty well despite. Before taking this, I reviewed last year's practice test and pooled some problems I remembered from my actual test day so I was more careful and knowledgeable going in.

The Right Stuff:

• Divided the counter as shown (standard and ADA), dimensioned the depth on the plan, provided adequate knee-space per the program for each user.
• Met all ADA codes for clearance below the worksurface, proper height, met 44" maximum reach height for wall-mounted receptacles and shelves.
• Met all program requirements for the components and sizes. 
• Drew Elevation marker in plan.
• Drew Section marker in elevation.
• Correctly dimensioned/labeled the standard height counter and the ADA height.

Oops, missed these:

• Did not dimension mobile peds (one test-taker was marked down for this, another was not) in plan.
• I drew a dashed rectangle indicating clear space for accessible pull-up but I drew it too large at 42x48 instead of 30x48. Even though I know this, I shouldn't have made it bigger than the minimum.
• I did not place a "2" and a "3" in my elevation & section titles (below the plans). Um, how easy is that!?
• I didn't include the wall and blocking within the wall in my *hurried* section.
• I didn't include the depths of the shelves and the counter in my *hurried* section.

This is a shot of my "practice sketch"

{ TIPS }

• I took some time to draw a "perfect" section and I've been studying it. I did it carefully and thoroughly and it didn't take much time. I'm sure if I did it again and again, the practice would make me speedier. I plan to draw this a few more times until I'm fast.
• Think like a contractor - what information would you need to build this? right down to the blocking in the wall. When we hang heavy pictures, mount a toilet tissue holder, or install brackets for shelves, we make sure to hit a stud rather than half-inch GWB.
• Give way more information than you think is necessary. Chances are its still not enough!
• I know it's not required, but poche-ing and hatching my section really helped me to show the different materials and "cut line". It also looks like a true section that way! 

Yours in detail,

Carolyn

Millwork: Tips & Tricks

Requirements & Codes:

These are provided, but can't hurt to know 'em. We learned this in design school and in our careers thus far.

• 36" standing height counter
• 30-34" ADA height counter
• 27" clear height from floor to underside of counter
• 30" wide clear space below counter
• 30"x48" clear floor space at accessible counter
• Locate a required sink by hot/cold water & plumbing lines
• Label exposed pipes to be wrapped/insulated
• 4" high/deep toe kick standard 
• 9" high and 6" deep toe kick ADA
• Accessible = Barrier-Free
• Accessible wall-mounted controls (light switches, outlets, etc) @ 15" - 44" AFF
• Outlets WITHIN 36" of a water source must be GFI
• Upper open shelves above a counter must not exceed 44"

I drew a little study card for myself. 

TIPS:

• Simplify your elevation; capture the most information - ideally half of your elevation is standard and half is ADA
• Call out / label everything (upper cabinets, base cabinets, toe-kick, counter, apron, etc.)
• Include a dimension showing the intended depth of the counter (24") even though it's drawn for you to scale. 
• Don't forget to label at least (2) finish materials in detail
• Leave space for important dimensions
• Label all mounting heights with: @ # " AFF
• Meet the criteria rather than your most beautiful design intent
• Place elevation tags on plan
• Place section tag in elevation
• Make your section as detailed as possible, right down to the joinery
• Read the directions thoroughly and check off each requirement as you accomplish it
• Refer to Section 5.0 and 7.0 of the BUILDING CODE REQUIREMENTS

Happy Detailing,
Carolyn

Not my finest moment...

I took my Millwork Exercise of my practice test from last year. It was easy to do so with a blank vellum page as apparently I did not complete the Millwork exercise last year. I didn't even recognize the problem page. #alreadyofftoabetterstart

It turns out the best way to prepare for this portion of the test is not to study clearances and heights ahead of time - as everything you need to know is provided - but to just dive in and draw. Literally, anyone could take this test and pass. Everything - I mean everything is spelled out for you. It's actually a bit humorous. This leaves the challenge at: time. 

Here's a run-down of how my totally successful exercise went:

• Taped vellum to desk. 
• Start clock at 10:28. 
• Hands shaking whole time - not sure if it's 2 cups of coffee or anxiety?
• 25 minutes in - white out tape broke and I angrily threw it under the futon. Productive. Sane.
• 43 minutes later, break down crying and frozen. 
• 17 minutes of a therapy session with Andrew, who happen to come up right when I lost my cool and knew all of the perfect things to say.

I was so caught up in time that I psyched myself out and shut down. I also feel as though I've waste valuable time when I "fail" which just makes things worse. I need to realize that even failure is time well-spent. 

{  They're not asking you to do this....  }

Since I can't change either variable: the length of an hour nor the content of the exercise, I must practice until I'm "fast." Thing is, in real life, it would not take an hour to create a sound Laundry Room / Craft Room / Kitchen / Mail room plan, elevation, AND section. It would take about double or triple that. Or maybe half a day. Or maybe a whole day. 

Things I learned today (in no particular order):

• This is a "practice" test. 
• This is not the actual test. 
• The test is not next weekend. 
• The test is 7 weeks from today. 
• No coffee before practice test.
• Don't leave your scale at work in your pencil cup. You'll need one that's longer than 6 inches.
• You have all of the information you need.
• You are capable. 
• Remember swimming? You had to practice to get as fast as you were! (This line is epic and chock-full of relativity and perspective!)
• Slow down to speed up. 
• A bunch of ADA clearances (memorized - will help with speed!)
• What to dimension. 
• The plan is #1 on the sheet so your elevation will be #2 and section #3. 
• Design for the requirements not for beauty and perfection.
• Practice - whether it feels like it or not - will make perfect. 

Back to the drawing board .. with a wee bit more confidence.

Strength & Love, 

Carolyn