Requirements for room to be considered a 'bedroom'.

[dan_89]

Hi All,

I am currently in the process of renovating my PPOR which is probably considered 2 bedroom + study.. My plans are to create a versatile room which can be closed off and considered a bedroom or opened up to create extra space/open feel.

At the moment I have squared off the opening (pic attached was soon after I purchased and still arched) and will be mounting a top track with 2 sliding doors which when open will close back behind the wall nib and only door egdes will be visible.

The room is quite small but still large enough for a bedroom. It does not have a BIR. In the above format with 2 x top hung sliding doors (mounted internally), could this room be considered a 'bedroom' for re-sale purposes? And will the use of this room effect future valuations considering the property is currently 2 bed (plus study), 2 bath, 2 car? Are there any definitive requirements for a room to be considered a 'bedroom'?

Thanks in advance.

 

[DaveM]

Habitable room so minimum ceiling height 2400 and window/ventilation equiv to 10% of floor area. Looks like it would be fine.

Put doors on inside of opening though.

 

[jerrybee]

I've always wondered, what if it's 2.4m but there's one of those big beams that makes part of the room like 2m high? Does this affect whether it's legal or not?

Also what if the ceiling is sloping - most of it is 2.4m, but the end of the slope is like 2m. Do you take an average? Or do you take the highest point? Or the lowest?

 

[DaveM]

Beams I am not sure of, raked ceiling is measured at midpoint.

 

[wylie]

Beams I am not sure of, raked ceiling is measured at midpoint.

I thought two thirds of the roof area had to be over a certain height? Maybe that is an old rule, or wrong, but it is something I have hidden up in the rats nest that serves as my brain

 

[DaveM]

50% of ceiling needs to be at minimum height, so midpoint would suffice.

Beams appear to be same, so long as they dont interfere with the proper functioning of the room

According to BCA Vol 2 part 3.8.2, ceiling heights must not be less than:

in a habitable room excluding a kitchen - 2.4 m and
in a kitchen - 2.1m and
in a corridor or passageway etc - 2.1m and
in a bathroom, shower room, laundry, sanitary compartment, pantry, storeroom, garage, car parking area etc - 2.1m and
in an attic, room with a sloping ceiling or projection below ceiling line or non-habitable room or similar - a height that does not unduly interfere with the proper functioning of the room or space. More than 50% of the ceiling space should be on average a minimum height.
in a stairway - 2.0m measured vertically above the nosing line.

 

[dabbler]

I dunno, but looked at a house recently that was advertised 3 bed, but cheeky buggers had just added a wall in middle of one room and added a door, the wall that finished in the middle of the one window but shared by both rooms was a giveaway

From the image it looks ok, but I would expect all rooms to have similar entrance setup/features and not seem obviously out of place.