DIY Balcony Repair

A cozy and attractive balcony is a wonderful addition to any housing, in small apartments it often performs the functions of another small room. If you do not want to turn it into a workshop or warehouse, but plan to give the appearance of the premises a certain gloss by turning it into a winter garden or a place to relax, it is worth paying special attention to the repair of the balcony with your own hands. The balcony is an outer room, so carry out a qualitatively and thoroughly decoration and insulation.

Table of contents:

1. The concept of a balcony and loggia
2. Balcony functions in the apartment
3. Preparation for repair
4. The choice of material
5. Glazing the balcony
   • Cold glazing
   • Bezramic glazing
   • Warm glazing
6. Floor insulation
7. Wall insulation
8. Ceiling insulation
9. External finish

The concept of a balcony and loggia

People often confuse the concepts of loggia and the balcony, so before the repair work it is worth determining what these designs are. The balcony is called the protruding site of small sizes, which is attached using special beams that protrude from the wall.

The loggia is a built -in design, which has a large platform and side walls. In addition, if your plans have to obtain an additional premises in the apartment, then for this purpose it is worth using a loggia than a balcony.

Balcony functions in the apartment

For residents of large cities, the balcony plays an important role in our time. It allows you to increase the useful area of \u200b\u200ba city apartment. For a long time, the times sunk when unnecessary things were only stored on the loggias and dried linen. This small room in our modern time can be finished in such a way that it will not yield to housing rooms in its style.

The loggia for inhabitants living in small apartments is especially valuable, and usually they set a goal - to glaze the room, to repair the balcony with their own hands in the apartment and make good thermal insulation. Depending on which room the loggia is located near the room, additional space can be used in different ways.

When the bedroom serves as a body as a neighbor, then after uniting the owners receive a wonderful boudoir or a comfortable place for spending time with their soulmate. You can arrange alcoves for the sleeping place on the former loggia if you supplement the space with comfortable shelves for small things and personal items.

And if you take a few area from the adjacent room, you can arrange a dressing room next to the bedroom, dividing the two rooms with sliding doors. Look at the balcony repair photo and arrange an office in the new territory, fenced off with curtains or sliding panels from the main room. If desired, you can equip a dressing room.

If the balcony is located next door to the kitchen, then it is advisable to create a kind of recreation area or a dining group with the presence of a bar, where you will admire the sunsets and relax with friends at the beautifully cleaned window.

A music room or winter garden is just the beginning of the list, which can be recreated in a small vacant space. Such annexes do not have minuses, except for some inconvenience - this basically concerns the difference in floor level to the portal. But all this can be skillfully beaten with imagination.

Preparation for repair

Before making repairs on the balcony, you should get rid of fragile partitions and old coatings. In the course of work, check the cement surfaces for the presence of baking elements and voids, as well as clear them. If necessary, additionally spark the loggia around the perimeter, strengthening it with a channel frame or metal corners.

Often the owners change the outer panels that perform a purely decorative function. You can build a brick parapet. It must be remembered that the design of the loggia is not provided for withstanding a large weight. If you need to build a capital wall, it is worthwhile to use light and durable materials in this case at the same time, for example, foam blocks.

You can watch a video about the repair of the balcony and choose the finished solution - to glaze the loggia with complete glazing or install a sandwich panel instead of a parapet. But if for some reason this decision is not suitable, maybe it is expensive, or the design does not provide ceiling fasteners for blinds, curtains and linen drying, or for hinged floors you need a blank wall - you can do high -quality repairs of the balcony yourself, grunting exclusively open part.

If it is planned to sheathe MDF or lining, you should first close all the cracks. The holes located inside, blow out with mounting foam, and the external cracks - be sure to additionally isolate. After drying, cut the excess foam and close the sections with a cement solution, because the foam under the influence of temperature and moisture begins to collapse and rot. Silicone sealant can be shut up small cracks. Lay large holes with brick.

The choice of material

The building materials market in our time offers a fairly wide range of various finishing materials, which can be used for various options for repairing the balcony: decorative panels, ceramic tiles, plastic panels, decorative plaster, lining, paint and wallpaper. The choice is really large, so it is difficult to make it at times.

It is necessary to take into account one factor that affects the choice of material. The balcony is the outside of the house, which is almost nothing protected from the wind and atmospheric precipitation. Therefore, it is important to create comfortable conditions inside the balcony during the repair work to thermal insulation.

There are a large number of insulation, but it is precisely for insulation and repair of the balcony that mineral wool is most often used, which is distinguished by excellent performance and excellent physical and technical. In addition, Minvat is one of the most inexpensive thermal insulation materials.

To lay mineral wool, you need a certain space that you can create only using the finishing material installed on the frame. So, plastic panels, lining, MDF panels will become those materials that are best for the interior decoration of the loggia.

Glazing the balcony

First of all, remember that it is necessary to be glazed, because otherwise there can be no question of any effectiveness of insulation, and as a result, the price of repairing the balcony will not be subjected. In this way, the balcony turns into a loggia. As an option, you can consider high -quality glazing of balconies using new technology.

It is usually customary to install metal -plastic structures, although more and more people have recently preferred wooden window frames, which are no worse than PVC products.

But at this stage of the owner, the first pitfall awaits. Developers want to finish the insulation of the structure quickly and switch with a calm conscience to other tasks. As a result, after a quick installation, they hastily close the gaps, put a heating radiator or install a warm floor system and think that you can relax.

However, such negligent builders in the winter will find an unpleasant opening like the balcony insulated, and it is not possible to maintain the optimum temperature on it. The problem is that incorrectly conducted insulation does not allow to significantly reduce heat loss. Remember that it is impossible to heat the loggias using central heating, because it is prohibited by construction standards.

Cold glazing

Such glazing is an aluminum frame with single glasses inserted into it. This is cold glazing because it does not give any practical effect on insulation and therefore the temperature does not exceed the street by more than 5-8 degrees Celsius on the loggia in the winter.

Bezramic glazing

Bezramic glazing is one of the types of cold glazing. The main external difference lies in the absence of vertical partitions and frames. As a result, the impression of lightness and space is created, although in fact the design is a very strong structure. In this design, the glass is hardened, it is installed on rollers in the aluminum profile, which moves along the top and bottom.

Outside between the profile and glass, rubber seals are laid that protect the room from moisture. The loggia with non -ramous glazing opens in several ways: the glass moves to the side, folding in the form of a book, or turns to the wall. Thanks to this type of design, it will be possible to glaze a balcony of any configuration. Excessive openness is compensated by tinted glasses.

Warm glazing

Glazed balconies most often have just such a type of glazing. To this end, it is customary to use sealed double -glazed windows, profiles with thermal machines and air chambers. In addition to improved thermal insulation, the design affects noise insulation in the most positive way if you live next to the market, station, loaded with a highway or in the center in the city, then give preference to this type of glazing.

The design in such glazing is not more complicated than in a cold species an aluminum or plastic frame is attached to the parapet with massive bolts with a large number of fastening points. The designs can be ordered from suppliers with folding, rotary or swinging, it all depends on your preference.

Floor insulation

During the overhaul of the balcony, insulate primarily the floor. This will be done using extruded polystyrene foam. Such plates are light and dense, by the way, they are even used under the road surface. The material is able to withstand the loads well, it does not pass heat.

Foam polystyrene plates are laid on a flat surface and glued with a special adhesive composition, fixing with plastic dowels. Fix the mounting mesh on top of the glue and fill the floors with a special self -leveling mixture after drying. If the depth of the floor allows, it can be insulated with expanded clay, a cement mortar. A similar floor on the balcony can be lined with flooring, for example, ceramic tiles.

As an option, the owners of the city apartment can make a wooden lattice, filling the voids using insulating material - foam or fiberglass. On top it is necessary to fill a ten -one -one -one -mile plywood. It is appropriate to lay a linolium or waterproof laminate on this wooden floor.

Wall insulation

Most often, developers choose a lining for the balcony, because this material has good characteristics and indicators. The lining is natural material, practical, economical, environmentally friendly and durable. In addition, the woods are characterized by unique natural beauty.

Different varieties of wood are used for the manufacture of the lining: coniferous and deciduous rocks. The most popular look is a pine lining. According to the profile and type, the lining is divided into EuroGaging and ordinary lining, which are made from high -quality raw materials according to the most new modern technologies.

Installation of the lining is customary to be carried out on a frame made of a metal profile or wooden rails. It is usually customary to choose the last option. As with the cladding of any walls, you need to correctly approach the work. It is important to set the frame on all planes so that the material looks like a whole, without organizing differences and distortions.

If you decide to use the lining for the entire loggia, then start working from the ceiling. After the manufacture of the frame, it is necessary to carry out work related to laying the insulation and waterproofing material. You have already decided on the insulation, but the waterproofing should be carried out by roofing material. This material has been known to developers for a long time, it is easy to install. In addition, the cost of repairing the balcony using this material will pleasantly please you! The aforementioned materials are attached directly to the frame.

After that, you can start laying the lining. There is nothing complicated in this process, the most important thing when working is accuracy. Fastening is carried out using special Klyammers or in the edge of the lining with nails. The most difficult stage is the decoration of angles. But do not be discouraged if the angle comes out plain. It can be closed with an angular baseboard, and the problem will be solved.

Ceiling insulation

The ceiling of the loggia is the lower side of the reinforced concrete slab, which forms the floor of the balcony located on the top floor. If your neighbors insulated the floor on top, then you are not at all necessary to do insulation of the ceiling. But it is better to do your part of the work to make and insulate the ceiling for your part.

In the photo repair photo of the balcony with your own hands, it is clear that the simplest way is to place the boards down on the ceiling of the boards. The width of the boards should be 100 millimeters. It is recommended to use mineral wool as insulation. Mineral wool slabs are laid in the intervals between the stuffed boards, then they are sheathed with a waterproofing film and fixed with rails that are stuffed across the boards. Such rails can withstand waterproofing and thermal insulation, as well as provide ventilation of space. As a sheathing, you can take a boar board or plastic.

External finish

As an architectural element of the building, the balcony should have a wonderful appearance, especially the loggias, which are glazed and attached to the total area of \u200b\u200bthe city apartment on the rights of the room. Therefore, external decoration should be carried out in accordance with certain requirements and norms. Today, profiled and corrugated metal sheets, siding, hardened plastic panels or lining are used for cladding outside the loggia.

Most often, developers choose siding, because it is known for its unsurpassed characteristics: it is reliable and durable, is not corroded, since it is the basis of polyvinyl chloride, molds, painful microorganisms and fungi never occur under siding.

Siding, which was installed once, does not require much attention to itself: it does not need to be updated, cleaned and painted. Under the influence of various changes in humidity and temperatures, as well as under the influence of the rays of the sun, siding does not change its properties. The loggia trimmed with Siding will always look presentable.

But to make the exterior decoration of the loggia with your own hands using siding is quite difficult. In this case, you should watch a video about the repair of the balcony with your own hands. Knowledge, skills and experience are also needed, and special tools and equipment will be needed.

And finally. Do not carry out external work yourself if your apartment is located not on the second or not on the ground floor. It is better to entrust the outer cladding of the balcony to professionals. Remember that the glazing of the loggia is customary only after the work of its external cladding.

If you want to make repairs not only in the apartment, but also in the office, then the company Int-Act will help you. An acceptable price, high quality work, highly qualified specialists.