Editorial standards

The sourcing rule#

Every dimensional claim on Refined Space falls into one of four categories, and every page is required to make clear which one it is using.

1. Code. A requirement from a published building code, cited by document and section where possible (for example IRC R311.6 for hallway width). Codes are adopted and amended locally, so we always say "the model code requires", never "the law requires".
2. Planning guideline. A recommendation from a trade body such as the NKBA or the IES. These are best practice, not law, and we label them that way.
3. Ergonomic reference. A figure derived from published anthropometric data, such as Panero and Zelnik or Neufert.
4. Trade practice. A convention with no formal publication behind it, such as the 57 in art centre line. We say "trade practice" or "our recommendation" and never imply a standard exists where none does.

A number that fits none of these four categories does not get published.

Showing disagreement rather than averaging it#

Sources conflict, particularly between code minimums and planning guidelines. The wrong response is to split the difference and present a single confident figure, which is what most published advice does and which is why the same question returns four different answers across the first page of search results.

Our rule is to give both figures, name both sources and explain what the difference buys. The bathroom pages are the clearest example: the IRC allows a toilet centreline 15 in from a wall and the NKBA recommends 18 in. Both are correct statements. Only one of them tells you what the room will feel like.

Units#

Every measurement appears in both imperial and metric, because interior work routinely mixes them: a 60 cm appliance in a kitchen dimensioned in feet, a 2,040 mm door in a house with a US-sized bed. Conversions are rounded to a sensible precision for the context rather than to a false accuracy. A 36 in clearance is 91 cm, not 91.44 cm, because nobody sets out a room to a hundredth of a centimetre.

Dates and revisions#

Every page carries the date it was last updated. That date changes when the substance changes, not when a typographic fix is made, so an old date on this site means the content has been reviewed and left alone, rather than forgotten.

When a source is superseded (a new edition of a code, a revised planning guideline), the affected pages are revised and the change is noted where it materially alters a recommendation.

Corrections#

Errors are corrected on the page and logged on the corrections page when they are substantive: a wrong number, a misattributed source, a claim that does not hold. Typographic fixes are not logged. We do not silently change figures.

AI disclosure#

Pages on this site are researched, drafted and edited with the assistance of AI language models under human editorial direction. We disclose this on the about page and here because it is a material fact about how the content was made.

The obligations that follow from it are the ones already stated above and enforced by the same rules: attribution for every figure, no invented statistics, no invented studies, no fabricated expert quotes, no fabricated case studies, and no URL cited unless we are confident it exists. Where we could not verify a source, we name the publication without a link rather than guess at one.

What we do not publish#

• Invented statistics, surveys or "X% of homeowners" claims.
• Named human experts, credentials or testimonials that do not exist.
• Case studies presented as real projects when they are worked examples. Examples on this site are labelled as examples.
• Affiliate links, sponsored placements or paid inclusions of any kind.
• Content generated to fill a keyword rather than to answer a question. If a topic does not have enough substance to justify a page, we fold it into a larger one.

Reader corrections are welcome#

If you have a source that contradicts something here, particularly a current edition of a standard we have quoted from an older one, we want it. See contact.