BATHROOM REMODELING IN DANA POINT, CA

Read the two bath handouts first, then list every change the remodel makes. A new toilet set on the same drain is a small, one-trade job. Turning a tub into a walk-in shower is several jobs at once: it usually means opening the walls, rebuilding the floor with a new shower pan and waterproofing, often a new valve, and sometimes moving the drain. Heated floors, new lights and fan circuits add electrical work on top.

• City of Dana Point: B020-Bath (Building and Safety handout, PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• City of Dana Point: B021-Bath Design Guide (Building and Safety handout, PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• City of Dana Point: Building Applications & Handouts (opens in a new tab)
• City of Dana Point: Online Building Services (opens in a new tab)

We have gone by the titles of these handouts, not their contents. Confirm with Building and Safety which permit your bathroom needs before demolition starts.

A bathroom is where California's water-conservation law shows up most directly. Civil Code Section 1101.4, added by SB 407 in 2009, says that for building alterations or improvements to a single-family home built on or before January 1, 1994, replacing noncompliant plumbing fixtures with water-conserving ones is a condition of final permit approval. Section 1101.3 defines what counts as noncompliant:

• A toilet that uses more than 1.6 gallons per flush.
• A showerhead with a flow capacity of more than 2.5 gallons per minute.
• An interior faucet that emits more than 2.2 gallons per minute.

Two other state codes apply as well. The 2025 Energy Code (Title 24, Part 6), in effect for permit applications from January 1, 2026, has residential lighting rules in Section 150.0(k): new installed lighting is to be high efficacy, and at least one installed luminaire in each bathroom is controlled by an occupancy or vacancy sensor that turns it off automatically. The 2025 California Electrical Code calls for ground-fault (GFCI) protection on bathroom receptacles, and bathroom receptacles are supplied by a 20-amp branch circuit.

An exhaust fan, a relocated shower valve or a new circuit can each bring their own permit and inspection. What applies to your bathroom is decided by the city at plan check and inspection, so confirm with the city.

For the fan, HCD's summary of the 2025 CALGreen code calls for bathroom exhaust fans that are ENERGY STAR compliant and ducted to terminate outside the building, with an adjustable humidity control unless the fan is part of a whole-house ventilation system. HCD's summary applies CALGreen to alterations that add conditioned area, volume or size, so whether a fan replaced inside an existing bathroom has to meet it is a question for the plan checker.

Local code can matter too. Chapter 8.03 of Dana Point's Municipal Code carries the city's amendments to the California Residential Code, and other chapters are headed California Plumbing Code (8.16), California Mechanical Code (8.20) and California Electrical Code (8.14). Ask Building and Safety whether any local amendment touches your shower, fan or circuits.

Ask which inspections your permit includes and when, so no tile goes up over a new valve or drain before it has been inspected.

• California Department of Housing and Community Development: 2025 CALGreen Residential Mandatory Measures, form HCD SHL 625, Rev. 11/25 (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• Dana Point Municipal Code Chapter 8.16, California Plumbing Code (opens in a new tab)
• Dana Point Municipal Code Chapter 8.20, California Mechanical Code (opens in a new tab)
• Dana Point Municipal Code Chapter 8.14, California Electrical Code (opens in a new tab)
• Dana Point Municipal Code Chapter 8.03, California Residential Code (opens in a new tab)
• City of Dana Point: Inspection Center (opens in a new tab)

We have gone by the titles of Chapters 8.14, 8.16 and 8.20 and the Inspection Center page, not their text. What applies to your fan and shower is decided at plan check and inspection, so confirm with the city.

Grab bars are simplest to add later when the walls already have solid backing behind them, and a shower without a curb is simplest to plan before the floor is opened. If easier access matters now or may later, put it in the first drawings: backing where grab bars may go, a bench or fold-down seat, a hand shower, and clear space beside the toilet and in front of the vanity.

A bathroom remodeled inside the existing house adds no floor area. Work that adds floor area, or any work on a bluff-top lot, is worth raising with the Planning Division early. The city's Planning FAQ says development projects in its Coastal Zone need a Coastal Development Permit unless specifically exempted, and that most improvements to properties on coastal bluff-tops require an application. The Municipal Code has a chapter headed Coastal Development Permit (9.69).

On the state side, Public Resources Code Section 30610 exempts improvements to existing single-family residences, with exceptions in Title 14, Section 13250, such as an improvement within 50 feet of the edge of a coastal bluff, or one that adds 10 percent or more to the internal floor area of a home between the sea and the first public road.

If your home is in a homeowners association that requires approval for physical changes, Civil Code Section 4765 sets the ground rules for that review: the association's decision is to be in writing, and a disapproval has to explain why and describe how to ask for reconsideration. HOA approval and a city permit are separate. One does not replace the other.

• City of Dana Point: Planning FAQs (opens in a new tab)
• Dana Point Municipal Code Chapter 9.69, Coastal Development Permit (opens in a new tab)
• California Legislature: Public Resources Code Section 30610, developments that need no permit (official text) (opens in a new tab)
• California Code of Regulations: Title 14, Section 13250, Improvements to Existing Single-Family Residences (Cornell LII copy) (opens in a new tab)

If your bathroom project adds floor area, changes the outside of the house or is on a bluff-top lot, ask the Planning Division about your address before the design is final.