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India's Wet-Area Waterproofing Rules: IS 3067, Not a Bathroom Code

India has no dedicated bathroom-waterproofing clause — NBC 2016 Part 8 points to IS 3067, a general damp-proofing code of practice for roofs, basements and walls that gets applied to wet areas rather than written for them.

IS 3067:1988 (reaffirmed 2020) Clause IN IS 3067

The requirement

India has no set number for bathroom waterproofing. The national code, NBC 2016 (Part 8, Building Services), points to IS 3067 instead. IS 3067 is a broad damp-proofing code for the whole building. It is not a bathroom rule. So there is no wall height or floor figure to quote here.

Other countries do print bathroom rules. The NCC and the IRC both carry clauses just for wet areas. India’s code does not work that way. It leans on one broad standard instead.

Here is the full name. IS 3067:1988 is the “Code of Practice for General Design Details and Preparatory Work for Damp-Proofing and Water-Proofing of Buildings”. BIS reaffirmed it in 2020. It covers roofs, basements, walls and other parts prone to water. It was not written for showers.

Some codes print hard numbers for showers. The NCC’s Part 10.2 does. Norway’s TEK17 §13-15 does too. They fix shower wall heights and floor membrane extents. IS 3067 sets out no figures like that.

So who sets the method on the ground? Mostly your state PWD spec. PWD means Public Works Department. Each state writes its own method sheets. Trade methods do the rest. Brickbat coba is one common way. That is a screed of broken tile and mortar. A membrane system goes over it. All of it builds on IS 3067’s broad rules, not one fixed clause.

The edition caveat — check which NBC you’re building to

One more thing before you lean on any NBC link. BIS has withdrawn NBC 2016 (SP 7:2016). The BIS standards portal lists it as Status: withdrawn. In its place sits SP 7:2026, the “National Building Construction Standards 2026”. It was gazette-notified in 2026, reported 30 April 2026. It is now BIS’s current national standard.

That change is to the national model document only. It does not change what your state or city bye-law asks for. Most bye-laws were written around NBC 2016. Maharashtra’s UDCPR is one. Delhi’s UBBL is another. They name the 2016 edition, not the new one. So check which edition your local bye-law points to. Do that before you treat the IS 3067 via NBC 2016 chain as the live rule on your job. SP 7:2026 may carry its own new waterproofing references. Those could replace the chain on this page.

On site — what this means for you

  1. Don’t expect a fixed height or extent figure from the national code. IS 3067 gives broad waterproofing rules only. There is no Indian match here for the NCC’s 1800 mm shower wall figure.
  2. Check your state PWD spec. Many PWD spec books carry their own bathroom waterproofing methods. On a real job, that sheet often counts for more than IS 3067 itself.
  3. Follow the membrane or screed system’s own instructions. Brickbat coba, a cementitious coating or a sheet membrane: the rules travel with the product. Coverage, coats and curing come from the product or the trade method. They do not come from a code figure.
  4. Confirm your NBC edition. NBC 2016 is withdrawn. SP 7:2026 is current. Check whether your state bye-law has caught up before you lean on the IS 3067 / NBC 2016 chain here.
  • Part of the Indian building-rules hub. The NBC is a model code, so states adopt it into their own bye-laws. The hub explains that, plus the 2016 → SP 7:2026 change. That change touches every page on this hub.
  • Building the room around it? See Indian minimum room-height rules. That page leans on the NBC too, so the same edition caveat applies.

Sources

  • IS 3067:1988 (Code of Practice for General Design Details and Preparatory Work for Damp-Proofing and Water-Proofing of Buildings), Bureau of Indian Standards, reaffirmed 2020 — general waterproofing principles, referenced by NBC 2016 Part 8 for building-services waterproofing practice; not bathroom-specific. Public-domain mirror at law.resource.org; current status at bis.gov.in.
  • National Building Code of India 2016 (NBC 2016 / SP 7:2016), Part 8 (Building Services) — the cross-reference to IS 3067. Full text is gated behind a paid BIS webstore login; check current status at bis.gov.in.

Read this first. These figures are from NBC 2016, which BIS has withdrawn and replaced with SP 7:2026 (“National Building Construction Standards 2026”), gazette-notified in 2026 (reported 30 April 2026) and now BIS’s current national standard. NBC is also a model code: it has no legal force until your state or municipality adopts it into its own bye-laws. Treat IS 3067 as the general waterproofing-principles reference it is, not a bathroom-specific membrane spec — confirm the actual waterproofing method against your state PWD specification and the current edition your local bye-law adopts before relying on it.

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