Originally Posted by
Michael Thomas
Jerry,
is that 21" to a closed door, or any point in the swing?
To the closed door. It is assumed that the door will be closed when you are in the bathroom 'using the facilities'. Think of the door as 'a wall'.
Measure that 21" in front of at the same width required for it - 15" to each side of center, continued out to a point 21" in front of.
You will be surprised how many 'angled walls' you will find intruding into that require floor space. When designing them, the architects frequently cut the corner angle wall "exactly at" the corner of that required space, during construction, though, how often do walls layout "exactly as planned"? Not many. So the angled wall typically cuts right across that space, simply because everyone is looking at where the other side of that wall is, not where the bathroom side of that wall is. Many times, they cut a large portion of that space off.
Sometimes, though, it is the architects fault. I've seen plans where those angled walls were drawn, and a dimension was shown - 21" - from the front of the water closet to the wall - the wall right at the corner where the angle starts. There was no way to get the required 21" without moving that wall out far enough to move the point of contact 'from the center line' to 'the 15" from center line' - that's a lot of wall movement. Sometimes it would require moving both walls to allow that angled wall to clear the required floor space.