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On the James Valentine Afternoons show on Tuesday, a caller asked if it was true, as their kitchen reno installer company had said, that if you put your laundry equipment in the kitchen, you have to also install another tub, separate from the regular kitchen sink. Is this true, the caller asked. We had no idea and it sounded a bit like the kitchen company was trying to pump some air into the contract.
Then a listener who is also a Flatchatter wrote to us with this information from the National Construction Code and says this:
10.4.1 Required facilities
(1) A Class 1 building must be provided with—- a kitchen sink and facilities for the preparation and cooking of food; and
- a bath or shower; and
- clothes washing facilities, comprising at least one washtub and space in the same room for a washing machine; and
- a closet pan; and
- a washbasin.
(2) If any of the facilities in (1) are detached from the main building, they must be set aside for the exclusive use of the occupants of the building.
So now we know. Click here and whizz forward to 1h 35mins, or listen to the whole show. It’s fun and I do it every second Tuesday
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
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A laundry washtub is not the only way to dispose of waste water. My waste water hose goes into a pipe under the laundry basin.
I lived in Germany for a couple of years. It was very common to see a washing machine in the kitchen (front loader under the kitchen bench). The other popular location was the bathroom. There was no second laundry basin. The waste water hose is connected to wherever the waste water is supposed to go.
Dishwashers don’t feed their waste water into the kitchen sink.
So would the now fairly normal 2 bowl kitchen sink meet this requirement. Could you argue 1 bowl is for the kitchen and one for the laundry? Especially if there is a separate drain outlet provided for the washing machine in the kitchen.
That requirement is for class 1 buildings – ie detached houses, and does not apply to class 2 buildings, such as shared apartment complex Units.
I checked the BCA – Table F2.1, and a washtub is required or else there can be a shared laundry among 4 Units. But the current BCA is not applicable to existing buildings, unless there is a big renovation happening.
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