When building a house you will come across this terminology regarding required specs for different rooms, such as regarding the height of a ceiling.
Habitable Room Definition
The Building Code of Australia (BCA) defines “a habitable room as a room used for normal domestic activities”. It means that these are these are the rooms of the house you spend a lot of time in and do activities in.
A list of habitable rooms would include bedrooms that have some furniture that are perfect for watching in bed, living room, lounge, family room, kitchen, dining room, music room, playroom, home theatre, study, sewing room and sunroom.
Non-Habitable Room Definition
“Non-Habitable Rooms” mean rooms that are more like a specialised utility room where you do not spend much time or a space that is connecting other rooms. Non-Habitable Rooms are unlikely to have central heating or cooling, for example. Or perhaps will not include curtains or blinds.
A list of non-habitable rooms would include corridors, hallways, pantry, laundry, clothes drying room, bathroom, garage, ensuite, toilets and walk-in wardrobe.
Is a Kitchen a Habitable Room?
Being such a specialised space, one might think the kitchen in a residential home would count as a non-habitable room. To define open plan house design, it means that the kitchen is usually connected to the dining room and possibly the lounge. Meaning that it would likely be sharing the same roof height and flooring as the rooms it connects to.
Why isn’t a Bathroom a Habitable Room?
The specs of a bathroom will be quite different to the habitable rooms of your house. It usually won’t include central heating or cooling, may have different types of windows. I know a lot of people may spend a lot of time on the toilet or in the shower, but bathrooms are not designed to be used for casual hanging out.
