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Bathroom Vanities: What the Standard Actually Tests · USA Cabinet Store Remodeling Podcast

• 0:04
  Welcome back to the USA Cabinet Store Remodeling
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  Podcast. I am Chris, and today we are doing bathroom
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  vanities, which sounds like the most boring episode
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  we have ever recorded, and is actually one of
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  the most useful. Jessica, our team just spent
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  a week reading the certification standard that
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  every vanity in America is sold against. What
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  did we find? Three things. And I will give you
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  all three right now because they are the whole
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  episode. One. The standard tests a door. Every
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  moisture test in the certification standard your
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  vanity carries is run on a door, a door edge,
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  or a finished surface. Nothing tests the sides,
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  the back, the deck, or the toe kick, which are
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  the parts that actually get wet. Two. The plumbing
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  code fixes exactly two numbers. 21 inches of
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  clear floor in front of the sink and the toilet,
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  and 15 inches from either centerline to a sidewall
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  or a vanity. Those two decide your layout, and
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  almost nothing else does. And three, water does
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  not get in through the surface. It gets in at
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  the cut edges, every single time. Okay, let us
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  take those one at a time, because the first one
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  genuinely surprised me. The standard tests a
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  door? The American cabinet standard is called
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  ANSI KCMA 161 .1, and its full title is Performance
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  and Construction Standard for Kitchen and Vanity
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  Cabinets. So, vanities are explicitly in scope.
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  One standard, both rooms. Now look at what it
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  actually tests for moisture. Clause 9 .2 .2 is
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  a hot box, 120 degrees Fahrenheit at 70 % humidity
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  for 24 hours, and it is performed on a door.
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  Clause 9 .5 is a detergent soak for 24 hours,
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  and the clause itself says its purpose is to
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  test the door edge. Clause 9 .4 .1 is chemical
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  resistance on a finished surface. That is the
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  complete list. There is no test at all of the
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  sides, the back, the deck, or the toe kick. So
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  the parts sitting under a leaking shutoff valve
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  are exactly the parts nobody tests. And the standard
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  is honest about why. Clause 9 .1 says, the tests
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  recreate, quote, the cumulative effects of years
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  of normal kitchen conditions. Kitchen, not bathroom.
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  But the thing that made me put my coffee down
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  is Clause 2 .1. It says all base cabinets shall
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  be fully enclosed with backs, bottoms, and sides,
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  and then it lists the exceptions. The first exception
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  is, quote, backs are not required on vanity units,
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  all types. The certification standard for vanity
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  cabinets explicitly permits a vanity to have
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  no back at all. In the wettest room in the house,
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  against the one wall the plumbing comes through.
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  That is wild. So what about all the certifications
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  people look for? Every product page has some
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  badge on it. This is the part I would tattoo
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  on people. There is no waterproof vanity certification.
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  Nobody publishes one. And the badges you do see
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  are all answering different questions. The KCMA
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  A161 .1 seal is the closest thing there is, and
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  it is worth having. But it is a construction
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  and finish standard, not a moisture -proofing
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  one. TSCA Title VI and CARB Phase II are formaldehyde
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  emission limits. That is an air quality rule.
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  FSC and PEFC are about where the timber came
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  from. EN 14749 is a European furniture safety
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  standard and is not a U .S. requirement anyway.
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  And IP ratings, the ones like IP 44, are for
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  electrical equipment. If you see one on a cabinet
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  listing, it belongs to a light fitting. So if
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  the label cannot do the work, what do you actually
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  ask? Five things. And any decent showroom can
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  answer them on the spot. What is the box made
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  of, and I mean the sides, back and deck? Not
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  the door. Is every cut edge sealed or banded,
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  including the sink cutout and the bottom? Is
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  the A161 .1 seal on this specific line, or does
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  the company just belong to KCMA? Because those
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  are different claims. What does the warranty
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  say about swelling and delamination? And read
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  the exclusions, not the headline. And if somebody
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  tells you it is water resistant, ask what test.
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  A claim with no name test and no warranty behind
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  it is advertising. Alright, number two on your
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  list. Where does the water actually get in? At
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  the edges, and there are three places. The top
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  rail under the countertop, which is a raw edge
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  with a basin sitting above it. The deck from
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  a shut -off valve weeping a few drops a day into
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  a cabinet full of cleaning supplies where nobody
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  sees it. And the seams between laminate strips.
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  One homeowner described that exactly. The water
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  seeps between the laminated strips and then the
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  board swells up. And I want to be straight about
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  something. Two of the three accounts we found
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  describe a kitchen sink base rather than a bathroom
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  vanity and we say so in the article They are
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  in there because it is the same cabinet built
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  the same way failing the same way The bathroom
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  is just where it happens sooner Let us do the
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  code because this is the part that actually costs
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  people money when they get it wrong two numbers
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  21 inches of clear floor in front of the lavatory
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  or the toilet and 15 inches from the centerline
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  of either fixture to any sidewall partition,
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  or vanity. That second one has the word vanity
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  written into the code text, and that is what
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  stops you sliding a vanity up against a toilet.
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  Now here is what it means in a real bathroom.
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  Put a toilet at one end of a 60 -inch wall. It
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  needs 15 inches from the side wall to its center
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  line, and another 15 from that center line across
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  to the vanity. So before your vanity even starts,
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  the toilet has taken 30 inches of that wall.
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  On a 60 -inch wall, 30 inches is the widest vanity
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  that clears. And people measure from the edge
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  of the toilet, not the middle. Constantly. And
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  in our showrooms, that is the most common reason
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  a vanity has to go back. So here is the sum.
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  Maximum vanity width equals the distance from
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  the far wall to the toilet center line, minus
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  15 inches. If your center line measures 48 inches
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  from the opposite wall, Then 48 minus 15 gives
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  you a 33 -inch vanity. To find the center line,
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  measure between the two bolts at the base of
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  the toilet and mark the midpoint. Then take a
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  couple of inches off, because vanity tops usually
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  overhang the cabinet. And the overhang is what
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  counts as the obstruction. What about depth?
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  Everybody says 21 inches. Why 21? Convention,
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  not code. Nobody publishes a vanity depth at
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  all. KCMA gives a usual depth for a kitchen base
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  cabinet and gives none for any vanity type and
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  NKBA gives a height band and no depth. You will
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  find a hundred websites confidently explaining
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  the rule and the rule does not exist. What does
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  constrain you is that depth gets spent twice.
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  The cabinet itself and then the 21 inches of
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  clear floor in front of it. So a 21 inch vanity
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  needs about 42 inches of room depth And a 24
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  -inch vanity needs 45. In a small bathroom that
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  is usually the wrong place to spend three inches.
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  Height. This is the one I get asked about constantly.
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  And the true answer surprises everyone. Nobody
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  standardized vanity height either. Not KCMA,
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  not ANC, not NKBA. NKBA recommends a band 32
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  to 43 inches, quote, to fit the user. In practice,
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  almost everyone now builds a 34 and a half inch
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  box. Fabuwood, Wolf, CNC, all 34 and a half,
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  which is the same box height as a kitchen -based
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  cabinet. And honestly, that is the whole story
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  of this episode in one number. Comfort height,
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  by the way, is a marketing term. It means 36
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  inches, which is kitchen counter height, and
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  it appears in none of the 10 specification books
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  we pulled. What about accessible vanities? People
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  assume you just buy a shorter one. This is the
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  number people get backwards. The ADA sets 34
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  inches as a maximum to the rim. A maximum, not
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  a minimum, and not a target. And an ordinary
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  vanity does not get there. A standard 34 and
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  a half inch cabinet plus a countertop finishes
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  somewhere around 35 and a quarter to 36 inches.
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  It has failed on height before anyone even looks
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  underneath it. A genuine accessible vanity is
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  a purpose -built product at around 32 and a half
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  inches with removable doors, floor and toe kick.
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  You cannot get there by cutting down a normal
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  vanity. Drawers. Everybody wants drawers. And
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  the drain has an opinion. On a sink base, the
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  full width top drawer disappears completely.
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  Fabuwood publishes a drawer stack of six and
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  three quarters, 11 and a quarter, and 11 and
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  a quarter inches on a drawer base. On the sink
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  base version, that six and three quarter inch
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  band is simply gone, because that is where the
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  bowl and the trap live. Getting a true drawer
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  bank often means relocating the drain, and one
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  commenter who has priced that job puts it at
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  $1 ,200 to $2 ,000 in two or three extra days.
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  The compromise is a U -shaped pullout that wraps
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  around the trap. It is a real catalog item, not
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  a workaround. Okay, the question I always ask
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  you, where does your own brand stop short? Fair,
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  and we put this in the article deliberately.
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  Fabua does use moisture -resistant material,
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  and it is worth knowing exactly where. It goes
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  into the door center panel on the Echo and Luna
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  styles, and into the 8 -foot toe kick molding,
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  which is the applied trim you buy by the length.
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  It does not go into the structural toe kick behind
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  that, which on allure is published as 3 quarter
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  inch by 4 and a half inch unfinished plywood.
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  And it does not go into the sides, the back,
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  or the deck. We pulled 10 manufacturer specification
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  books, and none of the 10 makes a moisture resistance
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  claim about the cabinet box. Ten is not the whole
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  market, so I will only say what we checked. We
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  looked at ten and found none. So if somebody
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  is standing in a showroom this weekend, what
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  are the takeaways? Put the plywood in the sink
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  base and stop worrying about the rest, because
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  that is the only cabinet in the room with a permanent
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  water supply inside it. Check that every cut
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  edge is sealed, especially the sink cutout in
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  the bottom. Pick the height for the shortest
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  adult who uses it daily, not for resale. and
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  go and stand at one before you commit. Do the
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  15 -inch sum before you fall in love with a width.
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  And buy an under -sink mat and look at your shutoff
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  valves once a year, because every slow -leak
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  story we found was invisible until it was expensive.
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  That is the episode. The full guide is on iustcabinets
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  .com with the standard quoted clause by clause,
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  the code sections linked, and scale diagrams
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  for the clearances and the heights. If you want
• 10:58
  us to check your room before you buy, Send us
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  the dimensions and where the toilet sits, and
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  we will tell you what actually fits. Jessica,
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  thank you. Thanks, Chris. Measure from the middle
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  of the toilet, not the edge. That one is free.