Plumbing

  • Fit pedestal-type hand basins and baths that can cope with the rate of water flow from the taps fitted.
  • Overflows on hand basins and baths must be able to cope with the rate of water flow from the taps fitted.
  • Every tap should be capable of isolation by use of ball-o-fix valves.
  • Pipe runs should be boxed-in or ring-clipped at 12-inch intervals.
  • Provide rodding eyes at each turn in drain runs.
  • Move WC pans forward to allow for fitting of a rodding eye immediately behind the pan.
  • Box-in WC cistern or fit cisterns with lockable lids.
  • Provide a pumped return system on the domestic hot water to avoid both taps initially providing cold water.
  • Fit captive plugs to hand basins and baths or uprate standard plug and chain fittings.
  • Install floor drains in bathrooms.
  • Provide one rapid entry bath in communal bathroom.
  • Replace or avoid plastic baths.
  • Provide easy access to plumbing in bath panels.
  • Provide space for an automatic washing machine and dirty laundry area in a separate room from the kitchen and dishwasher.
  • Provide grease trap to kitchen waste drains.
  • Provide separate hand wash basin in kitchens.
  • Provide lockable thermostats on each radiator.
  • Provide large capacity domestic hot water storage or fit an automatic mixer with the cold water supply to provide a pre-set water temperature.

Electrical

  • Fit circuit breakers.
  • Use anodised aluminium for all brass light switches and power socket face plates. Avoid use of domestic plastic fittings in all rooms.
  • Fit a minimum of two double sockets in each bedroom.
  • Fit a discreet key switch isolator to power sockets in each bedroom.
  • Fit a minimum of four double sockets in lounges.
  • Fit single power sockets in corridors for cleaning equipment, sufficient to avoid long lengths of trailing lead, and positioned to avoid trailing leads through fire doors.
  • Fit bathroom and WC light switches adjacent to the door on the outside of the room. Avoid ceiling-mounted pull switches.
  • Provide a TV aerial socket in each bedroom and lounge.
  • Provide emergency lighting in all bathrooms and WCs, as well as areas required to meet fire safety requirements. Ensure emergency lighting is fitted above the main switchboard.
  • Fit discreet emergency lights to external corners of the building.
  • Install light- and motion-activated floodlighting outside main entrances.
  • Fit main switchboard with a lockable cupboard.
  • Provide sufficient power sockets in kitchens to avoid trailing long leads to kettles, toasters, mixers, etc.
  • Fit a key switch to power sockets for refrigerator, freezer, washing machine, dishwasher and any electric cooker.
  • Provide power to 'swing free' door-closers on all doors designated as 'fire stop doors' by a fire officer. It would be desirable to link the door-closers to the fire panel.
  • Provide power to automatic release locks on external fire escape doors and link them to fire panel.
  • Install a staff 'call system' linked to the staff duty room and to a repeater on the ground floor.

Glazing and windows

  •  Fit shatterproof laminated or toughened safety glass to all windows and glazed doors.
  • Avoid large areas of glass without sub-division by strong glazing bars. This will ensure the visibility of each glass area, reduce the maintenance costs of replacing large areas of glass and support the window against impact.
  • Limit opening of all windows above ground floor level.
  • Provide lockable windows on the ground floor.

Carpentry

  • Avoid use of chipboard in kitchen units and in other high-use or water-related fittings.
  • Fit piano-type hinges to kitchen unit and small cupboard doors.
  • Fit a minimum of three hinges to each room and entrance door.
  • Use a minimum 'half-hour' fire door specification for all hollow panel doors.
  • Reinforce door frame fixings to above the domestic standard.
  • At minimum, use shuttering ply under plasterboard and skim for any room division. Fix partition walls to floor and ceiling joists
  • Provide doorsteps and skirtings behind all doors that open against a wall.

Flooring and floor covering

  • Where a building does not have concrete flooring to the first floor, the floor joists in a minimum of one bedroom should be strengthened to permit occupancy by an individual who remains hyperactive, despite having reached adult body weight. Where possible, the ceiling cavity below the floor should be filled with a suitable material to minimise the transmission of sound.
  • Some residents may suffer periodic incontinence. Where bedroom and recreation room floors are of timber construction they must be even enough to permit covering with Flotex carpet or should be sheathed with hardboard prior to laying the carpet.
  • Bathroom and kitchen floors should be covered in a non-slip, heavy-duty vinolay. Where bathrooms are above ground floor level, or where they have timber floors, the vinolay should be turned up the walls and sealed to a curb and to all joints to prevent water penetrating the floor.
  • Floor covering in WCs should be vinolay, turned up the walls and sealed at all joints to prevent penetration of urine and water.
  • Where possible, bathroom floors should be formed to a slope sufficient to direct water away from the door and towards a drain set in the floor and linked to the waste outlet.
  • Where possible, floors should be covered in single widths of carpet to avoid some residents occasional tendency to 'pick' at the join. In corridors, carpet joins should coincide with the threshold of sub-dividing doors. Where a join cannot be avoided, it should be away from doorways and to the side of the room.
  • Well-fixed floor plates and protective strips should be fitted to cover and protect joins in floor coverings in each doorway.
  • Where patterns are selected for floor coverings, it is preferable to choose random or fluid pattern designs. Geometric and repeating patterns can reinforce obsessions related to the exact positioning of furniture and personal movement around the rooms.
  • Mat walls should be created at each exit door to the building, to accept and retain in place a suitable mat for cleaning footwear. This is most important on the garden side of the house.
  • Floor covering in dining areas should be in well-sealed Woodblock. Flotex carpet or a good quality domestic vinolay are less satisfactory solutions for floors that will experience continual cleaning and wear from chair legs.