# Clearance validation

Source: https://meptools.com/tools/plant-room-studio/docs/validation/

The validator runs **continuously** as you edit (shortly after each change) and lists every
issue it finds, so you can resolve problems before exporting. Issues are either **errors** (the
layout is invalid) or **warnings** (review recommended).

## Errors — fix these

Errors mean the layout is physically invalid:

| Rule          | Fires when                                                          |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Room boundary | Equipment extends outside the room boundary.                        |
| Collision     | Two equipment footprints overlap, or a footprint overlaps a column. |
| Wall overlap  | Floor- or wall-mounted equipment overlaps the wall body.            |

## Warnings — review these

Warnings flag reduced or violated clearances:

- **Clearance zone** violated between two items, or intersecting a **column** or a **wall**.
- **Maintenance clearance** violated between items, or intersecting a column or wall.

## How issues are shown

Each issue names the equipment or face involved and highlights the offending geometry on
the plan (for example the clearance band or the intruding footprint), so you can jump straight to
it. Overlapping rules are de-duplicated, so the same problem is reported once.

![The Validate panel listing an error and a warning](./_assets/validation-panel.png)

> Resolve **all errors** before exporting to CAD or BIM. Warnings won't block export, but each one
> represents a clearance or access rule worth confirming against your project requirements.

This validator runs on every layout, always. [AutoFit](/tools/plant-room-studio/docs/autofit) is
a separate, optional feature with its own **Result** tab and its own findings — running it (or
not) has no effect on the validator above, and vice versa.