CONSTRUCTION OF HOUSES AND DRAINS REGULATIONS

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 10.11

CONSTRUCTION OF HOUSES AND DRAINS

REGULATIONS

21st March, 1934

GOVERNMENT NOTICE 110 of 1934, as amended by Government

Notices: 318 of 1935, 165 of 1936 and 579 of 1939.

The title of these Regulations is Construction of Houses

and Drains Regulations.

The layer of asphalt described in article 97 of the Code of

Police Laws is to have the minimum thickness of point nine five

centimetres and is to consist of hot pitch and coarse sand mixed to

the satisfaction of the Sanitary Authority; the upper surface of the

layer of asphalt, which must be at least ten point one six

centimetres above the level of the street in the case of walls

adjacent to a street, is to be reckoned from the level of the street as

fixed in each case by the Public Works Department.

The hydraulic cement-concrete mentioned in article 97 (c)

(iii) of the Code of Police Laws shall be made as follows: eight

parts of hard stone spalls, three of lime and three of Roman

pozzolana; or four parts of hard stone spalls, one of Portland

cement and two of sand. In either case, the layer must have a

minimum thickness of ten point one six centimetres.

Each room is to have at least two ventilators, to act as

inlets and outlets. Such ventilators are to have an aggregate

opening of not less than six point five square centimetres for every

six point one metres of cubic space, and shall be constructed in

such a manner and shall be placed in such a situation as the

Sanitary Authority may direct.

(1) Verandahs in front of windows or doors which serve for

the lighting of a room shall not be deeper than one point two

metres, except in special cases. Their outer side shall be at least one

point eight metres wide and shall be completely open and kept free

of any fixed glazed casings or other partitions, and if constructed in

the form of an arch, the apex of the arch shall be not more than

point three metres below the ceiling.

(2) Doors and windows giving into a verandah shall be at least

one point zero six meters wide and their height shall extend to a

level distant not more than point six metres below the ceiling.

(3) Verandahs shall not be allowed in front of windows or

doors which serve for the lighting of a room when they give into an

internal yard, except in special cases approved by the Medical

Board.

The place of the privy shall have one of its sides an

external wall with a window of not less than sixty centimetres by

thirty centimetres, exclusive of the frame, and shall be ventilated

by means of two ventilators having a sectional area corresponding

to not less than six point four five square centimetres for every six

point one metres of cubic space.

No water closet shall be in direct communication with any

room, but shall always be separated therefrom by a sufficiently

ventilated space.

The water closet is to have a trapped basin of nonabsorbent

material and wash-down pattern, the trap and basin being in one

piece.

Box seats shall in no case be used, but lifting seats or stone

seats thoroughly cemented shall be adopted.

Every cesspit shall be dug in the street at least point six

metres distant from the street wall; it shall be coated with cement

and lime mortar and conveniently covered with a dome.

In the construction of the said dome and in all cases in

which a cesspit has to be lined with masonry, these stones shall be

laid with mortar made of Roman pozzolana and lime, the whole to

be encased in a layer of good solid concrete at least fifteen

centimetres thick.

Every cesspit shall communicate with the open air by

means of an iron or glazed stoneware pipe at least seven point six

centimetres in internal diameter attached to the street wall and

raised to such a height and in such a manner as to prevent as far as

possible any escape of foul air from such pipe into any building in

the vicinity thereof.

Every cesspit shall be provided with an orifice twenty-two

point eight centimetres square in area, which shall be placed if

possible on the footpath and closed by means of a cover made of

iron or of other material approved by the Superintendent of Public

Health.

(1) In the construction of every drain, sound pipes formed

of glazed stoneware, or iron, shall be used.

(2) Glazed stoneware pipes used for the conveyance of sewage,

slop or other foul liquids shall conform to British standard

specification and shall bear the name or trade mark of the

manufacturer impressed upon them before firing.

All drains constructed or adapted for conveying sewage,

slop or other foul water shall have an internal diameter of not less

than ten point one centimetres, and shall be laid with a proper fall

and with water-tight socketed joints. Horizontal drains shall be laid

on a solid bed of good concrete.

All underground drains shall be laid in straight lines, at an

even gradient from point to point of not less than one to forty and,

if constructed otherwise than of iron pipes, shall be completely

embedded in and covered with good and solid concrete, at least

fifteen point two centimetres thick, all round. Adequate means of

access shall be provided in connection with such drains at suitable

points in the open air.

The soil pipe shall be of the same diameter as the

horizontal drain and it shall be fixed outside the building whenever

possible, and it shall be continued vertically upwards without bends

or angles except where unavoidable, and without diminution of its

diameter, to such a height and in such a manner as directed by the

Sanitary Authority.

All drains communicating with any sewer or cesspit shall

be provided with a suitable disconnection trap at a point as distant

as may be practicable from the building and as near as may be

practicable to the point at which such drains join the sewer or

cesspit. Proper means of access for the purpose of cleansing shall

be provided in connection with such trap.

Changes of direction in drains shall not be at an angle but

at a curve, and junctions shall be made obliquely in the direction of

the flow.

(1) All drains shall be provided with two untrapped

openings. One opening shall communicate with the drain by means

of a suitable pipe through an inspection chamber and shall be

situated as near as may be practicable to the trap fixed between the

drain and the sewer or cesspit, but always on the side of the trap

which is nearer to the building. The second opening shall be

obtained by carrying up a pipe from the other end of the drain

vertically to such a height and in such a manner as may be ordered

by the Sanitary Authority.

(2) The opening, which is situated near the intercepting trap,

shall be furnished with a grating or other suitable cover so

constructed and fitted as to secure the free passage of air through

such grating or cover by means of a sufficient number of apertures

of which the aggregate extent shall not be less than the sectional

area of the pipe or drain to which such grating or cover may be

fitted.

The cover of the inspection chambers shall be formed of

hard stone slabs or of other suitable material which the Sanitary

Authority may approve.

Every pipe which is used for the ventilation of drains shall

be of a sectional area not less than that of the drain with which such

pipe communicates. No bend or angle shall, except where

unavoidable, be formed in any pipe used for the ventilation of

drains.

When the distance between the water closet and the

intercepting drains is not sufficiently long to allow of the provision

of the two ventilators mentioned in regulation 20, a ventilating pipe

shall be raised from a point between the said water closet and the

intercepting trap, to such a height as the Sanitary Authority may

direct.

The waste pipe from every bath, sink or lavatory and every

pipe for carrying off waste water shall discharge on a gully trap in

the open air; and, when in the opinion of the Sanitary Authority the

length of the pipe renders it necessary, a syphon trap shall be

provided at the internal end of the pipe and such pipe shall be

ventilated.

(1)

The rain falling on the yard and the overflow of water

tanks shall, whenever possible, discharge on to the gutter of the

roadway by means of a ten point one centimetres glazed pipe, to

which the provisions of regulations 16 and 19 shall apply, or into

the road culverts when so ordered by the Sanitary Authority.

(2) The yard or yards of a house shall be paved with smooth

slabs of stone properly jointed or with other suitable material, and

given the slope necessary to carry any water that may fall on the

surface on to the outlet drain mentioned in sub-regulation (1) of

this regulation.

(3) Should the yard be allowed to be drained into the sewer or

into a cesspool, its surface shall be drained on to a gully trap

suitably situated and regularly connected with the drains.

(4) The Superintendent of Public Health may allow the yard or

yards of a house to be drained in any other manner which he may

consider suitable in any particular case.

(1) The construction or re-construction of houses, privies,

sinks and other sanitary fittings, of conduits, junctions, ventilators,

and other things contemplated in articles 97 and 98 of the Code of

Police Laws and in these Regulations, shall be carried out under the

direction and supervision of the Sanitary Authority who may apply

also such tests as may be necessary to ascertain that the provisions

of the said Code and of these Regulations have been satisfactorily

complied with.

(2) No part of a house, privy, sink or other sanitary fitting, or of

a conduit, junction, ventilator, or any other thing contemplated in

the said Code and in these Regulations shall be covered over before

the Sanitary Authority has inspected it and declared it to be

regularly constructed and laid.

(3) The Sanitary Authority shall also have power to apply any

necessary tests to any existing drain, conduit or sanitary fitting, if

there exists any reasonable doubt that the said drain, conduit or

sanitary fitting is defective.

(1) Any internal yard of a house shall be not less than five

point five square metres in area when the building consists of a

ground and a first floor, and no side of such yard may be less than

one point eight metres in length, and the open space in front of any

opening which serves for the lighting of a room over five point five

square metres in area shall be not less than three metres in width.

(2) For each additional floor above the first floor, the area of

such internal yard shall be increased in such a manner that

sufficient light and air shall reach all parts of the house giving into

the yard and so that the width of the open space in front of any

opening which serves for the lighting of a room over five point five

square metres in area shall be not less than three metres plus one

third of the height of any such additional floor or floors.

(3) The Superintendent of Public Health may in special cases

allow exceptions to the above rule.

Any yard of a house shall be not less than one point five

metres long at any side which is adjacent to a room.

If a room receives light through a doorway, there shall be

formed above such doorway a glazed fanlight constructed of such

size and in such a manner as the Sanitary Authority may direct.

Whenever possible in the opinion of the Superintendent of Public

Health, however, every room shall have a window in addition to the

door.

(1) The wall or any portion of a wall, of any part of a house

which is below the level of the street or of any adjoining open

space (excepting the wall of a cellar which is not to be used for

habitation or otherwise occupied by man) shall be constructed with

two faces, the outer face to be at least twenty-two point eight

centimetres wide and the intervening space to be at least ten point

one centimetres thick and formed of impervious material composed

of one part Portland cement, two parts clean sand and four parts

hard stone spells not larger than three point eight centimetres in

diameter and there shall be damp proof layers as described in

article 97 (1) (a) of the Code of Police Laws at the level of the

pavement of the room and above the level of the surface of the

street or of the adjoining open space.

(2) This regulation shall apply to walls in inclined streets

mentioned in article 97 (c) (ii) of the said Code.

The notice required by article 97 (o) (i) of the Code of

Police Laws shall be given on the form prescribed by the

Superintendent of Public Health and the drawing referred to in the

said article 97 (o) (i) shall be drawn to scale and submitted in the

original together with a true copy. If necessary, in the opinion of

the Superintendent of Public Health, the plan of any or each floor

of the proposed building as well as elevations and articles thereof

shall also be submitted.