Interviewer instructions
5. The enumeration of the characteristics of the dwellings and buildings will be conducted by the enumerators based on the owners, principal tenants or others members of the household statement. The surface of the floor space of the rooms and other dependencies of the dwellings will be enumerated by the enumerator based on the enumeration in LM questionnaire after checking these data made during November-December 15, 1976, by representatives of city halls. If this questionnaire did not exist due to the fact that the dwelling was built after December 15 or by omission, the enumerator shall record in the census questionnaire the number of rooms and surface of the floor space of rooms and other areas of the dwellings, according to the legal papers held by the owner or main tenant. If these papers do not exist, the recording will be made from direct measurement.
39. Living rooms (item 16)
This item will be recorded for the permanent living rooms, for seasonal/secondary as well as for the spaces situated in the marginal housing units.
If the dwelling has more than 9 rooms, on the last row (code 70) from the table, in the free box from column "number of rooms", it will be written the number of rooms exceeding 9 rooms and in the neighboring box -- their surface (for example, for a dwelling with 12 rooms, on this row will be written the number 3 for "number of rooms" and the number 28 for "surface in sq.m., without decimals", being the total surface of those rooms).
The living room is defined as a living space in a dwelling having a surface of at least 4 square meters (of a size large enough to hold a bed for an adult), having at least 180 meters high over the majority of the surface, receiving the day light either directly through the windows and/or the outside doors, or indirectly from verandahs, through the windows and/or the doors from the other rooms using the glass partition.
The purpose of the living rooms is established in relation with the intended designation by construction of these buildings, taking, any way, into consideration the main use given to the respective room, by the members of the household, at the census moment.
The living rooms are considered: bedrooms (dormitories), dining rooms, (living rooms), guest rooms (visitors), studies (libraries), the servant's rooms - for housekeeping staff, as well as the lobbies, so long as they are fulfilling the criteria concerning the floor space, height and light necessary for a room for living.
Also considered are living rooms, the spaces of the dwellings designated by construction to be housing units for habitation, but which, at the census moment were used for professional purposes by the households, as well as the habitable rooms offered to the national tourism units, on the contract bases signed by the holder of the dwelling.
[p. 28]
The space with double use (as a kitchen and living room) in a dwelling formed by multiple spaces is considered either a habitable room, or kitchen according to the intended designation, not as it is actually used.
The space designated for living, provided with a niche used for cooking is considered a habitable room. The space used both as a bedroom, as well as to prepare the meal, in a single room dwelling, is considered a habitable room.
It must emphasize that those rooms from some dwellings occupied by owner or tenant, which are used by state institutions or co-operative ones (police station, co-operative bureau etc.) are not considered rooms and will not be recorded in LP form.
Will be not considered as living rooms the accessories and facilities of the dwelling, as defined at paragraph 40 (kitchens, bathrooms, toilets, verandahs, vestibules, the passageways, glass porches, parlors, tindas, non-habitable lobbies, the corridors, passages, offices, food storage larders, lumber box-rooms, lodges, boxes, etc.) even if these are inhabited.
The living floor space is filled by the enumerator, after checking, based on the records existing on the Lm form -- "Data regarding the dwelling"- that was made according to the existing papers (rent contracts, sketches, plans etc.) or through direct measurements, by following the provisions from paragraph 5 in the present handbook. In the process of establishing the living floor space through direct measurements, as well as at the checking of the surfaces extracted from Lm forms or from other documents, the following will be taken into consideration:
a) the living floor space is calculated based on the interior dimensions of the room, measured at ground level,
b) the living floor space is calculated in square meters, using one decimal, but in the form it will be recorded by applying rounding rules, without decimals (if the first decimal is smaller than 5, it will be neglected and if is 5 or more, it will be round with one unit in plus).
In order to ease the calculus, for establishing and verifying rooms' surfaces that are square or rectangular, it will be used a helping table from the training material, in which the living floor space calculated with one decimal is written in the census form, by rounding rules.
On the "total" row, the number will be written and total surface of living rooms from the dwelling. For marginal housing units (the codes 3, 4 or 5 at item 7, Chapter II), the data regarding the number and surface of rooms used for sleep will be written only on this row ("total").
