Ceiling in a bathroom must be at least 6'8" inches over bathroom fixtures as well as at the center of the clearance area in front of the fixtures, which ranges from 21” to 24” depending on the fixture type.
In a shower or tub area with a shower-head, there are minimum space requirements, which include a 30 inch x 30 inch area at the shower-head and a ceiling height of no less than 6'8"
My California code book (based on IRC of course) says it has to to be 6'8" in the clearance area, and something like "high enough for the fixture to work properly" in the area over the fixture itself (allowing the area over a toilet for example to be somewhat lower). I could be wrong about that, so I'll check later when I'm back in the office.
Hi Bob, can you tell me what code section talks about the slope rules that you think I might be violating? 305.1 #1 I definitely meet the rule that 50% of floor area has height above 7 feet, only the small area above the tub opposite the showerhead will have an HVAC duct. Is the "head banging corner" something that is in the code somewhere too, or is that something at the discretion of the inspector?
Knowing the details from you, you're probably OK. I was just pointing out that 305.1 doesn't simply allow up to 50% of the ceiling to be lower, or simply allow the other part of the shower to be lower. It makes an exception for ceiling height specifically for sloped ceilings, allowing heights down to 5'. Then it requires heights for specific areas, for example under the shower head and in front of fixtures. In my talk with an inspector about this, the explanation to me was that those 6'8" heights were to be understood in in the context of the rest of the section (sloped ceilings), and that you couldn't for example arbitrarily lower the ceiling over the other end of the bathtub - in the case we were discussing we couldn't just shove the end of the bathtub into a considerably lower alcove.
Again, given the heights you mention, you're probably OK - I'd be surprised if an inspector had any issue with it.
- Bob
Edit: I'm sorry to be so convoluted about my response. Sometimes the answer to the specific situation is simple: "Yes, you can do that," but because we're here on the world wide interweb, and C.T. shows up pretty high when homeowners search for specific answers, it seems important not to be too fuzzy about the code. I'm definitely going to double check my comments this evening.