How to insulate the balcony with your own hands? Professional advice of a specialist
As already mentioned, the insulation of the balcony is very important, because the temperature of the air in the whole apartment depends on what kind of insulation is installed on the balcony. It is also very important if you like reading on the balcony or just enjoying the beautiful view from the window. Many are afraid that the building materials and the work of the team are very expensive, of course, this is true. But why not conduct the insulation of the floor, walls and loggias yourself? You will save money and provide yourself a comfortable stay on the balcony, plus everything you can get rid of accumulated unnecessary things.
Contents of the article:
- How to glaze the balcony
- How to glaze the balcony
- How to insulate the balcony ceiling
- Thermal insulation of the balcony walls
- Exterior finish of the balcony
- The cost of the balcony insulation and the
balcony The steps of balcony insulation
As in other repairs,sketch plan, this is done to simplify the work and prevent unforeseen situations.
- First make the glazing of the balcony;
- The floor is then insulated, all holes are treated with foam, and then water-repellent material is applied at the bottom of the slabs and walls;
- Next, you need to level the floor, for this you will need cement-sand mixtures that smooth any surface;
- Plate is laid. Do not forget to use the vapor barrier tape to seal the distances between the walls and the insulation. This will protect the plates from fungus and mold, which will necessarily appear with time;
- Lay reinforced mesh and polymer concrete with a thickness of 3.5 to 4 centimeters;
- For the insulation of the ceiling and walls use a tile, but it must be applied to a drywall, resistant to water. If you have a wiring that illuminates the loggia, you can hide it behind a suspended ceiling;
- It is necessary to provide insulation from steam. Before the sealer layer, a special barrier is installed, but it is easier to install and install very thick insulation that provides protection against moisture. Thus, you will save a lot of space on the balcony, ensure the quality of conducting insulation work, and even create a thorough soundproofing from noise from the street. At each insulating glass manufacturer specifies soundproofing parameters, familiarize with them before purchase.
How to glaze the balcony
Before installing and buying windows, you need to seriously think about the installation procedure, for example, what windows will be installed on. Parapet windows can be made of a very solid and dense reinforced concrete structure, if it is really strong, you do not have to do additional work. If the parapet consists of metal rods, it will be necessary to create another parapet. There is nothing complicated in this, the parapet is a masonry made of light brick made of ceramics. You can use foam blocks having a width of about 10 centimeters. But the brick is preferable, it is very durable, looks great, and if you install bricks, you can easily think out what material it is better to trim the balcony from the outside. But quality metal parapets are not as common as they used to be, so it's safer to install foam blocks. They also have their own advantages: very small weight and low conductivity of heat. But there are also disadvantages: instability to changing weather conditions, destruction under the influence of water, the need for high-quality sheathing of the balcony due to the fragility of the material. If the plating is done with plastic siding or corrugated galvanized iron, the problem is quickly solved.
Conduct laying, and in another case, if the wall of the adjacent balcony is made of asbestos cement sheet. It will also be required if the fasteners are loose, and do not have high strength. During glazing, there may be controversial and unexpected situations, so it is better to talk with the company that will carry out the glazing in advance. In addition, you need to calculate the maximum load that a balcony and loggia can withstand. This can be done only by professionals in their field, so in any case it will be necessary to consult and deal with contentious issues.
Providing high strength can expensive windows with high thermal insulation, for example, PVC profiles that have double-glazed windows. They are equipped with standard swing doors. But in addition to windows and conventional components, you must take care of additional extensions, they are attached over the frame. In the same place, install one layer of insulation. Always take into account the spare distance, it may be needed in an unexpected situation if the design takes too much space. If you forget about it, then some of the glazing will be inaccessible. Of course, the size of each expansion profile is determined by the thickness of the insulation used, as well as the thickness of the interior trim of the balcony.
After glazing, it is necessary to close all the cracks in the area of walls, parapets and floors, through which cold air can flow. For sealing the slots, it is best to use mastics and sealants, for example - Emfimastika, Germaflex, Germabutil, Rabberflex and so on. But there are unpleasant cases when the sealant passes to the lower floor, so the formed seams are pre-filled with foam, sealant or foam polyethylene. When you install the waterproofing you need to use a mounting foam to cover the joint cavity.
Insulation of the floor on the balcony
If you conduct a thermal insulation on the balcony qualitatively - the heat in the apartment is guaranteed to you, so you need to consider that on any standard balcony there is a slope of the floor to the street. At the junction, there is a slot that ensures the drainage of accumulated water. If you hold the insulation, rain will not fall on the balcony, and the floor can be made even. Alignment and warming of the floor is very easy, you need to lay the foil against the slab, and to keep the heat, you need to create a layer of foamed penofol. Then use the level and lay flat wooden bars of standard size( 40x40 mm), the distance between the bars - 500 centimeters. Foam is installed in the formed cells, and the cracks are closed with a mounting foam. Then lay another layer of the beam, but strictly perpendicular to the first layer. This is done to create an "air cushion" that retains heat and strengthens the floor. To protect the top layer, waterproof plywood is laid, and then covered with linoleum.
Similarly, you need to insulate the ceiling and walls on the balcony. It is not necessary to think that if the insulation is installed initially, it does retain heat. If you feel that the apartment is cold, insure yourself, especially since it is not difficult to do this. But you can make mistakes, for example, trying to insulate the balcony with claydite, which does not keep heat well, besides it takes up a lot of space because of the very large thickness. Also, many people use mineral wool, but only a professional can do such warming, because steam protection is needed. Do not forget that it is best to insulate the balcony with a sheet of foam plastic having a thickness of 5 centimeters. It is suitable for insulation of the ceiling, walls and floor.
How to insulate the ceiling of the balcony
For insulation of the ceiling on the balcony, it is best to use plates made of polyurethane foam. They have many advantages, for example, installation takes a little time and effort. You cut out the slabs of the right size, and then install them on the ceiling using dowels made of plastic. To strengthen the slabs you can use glue, it is used to fix the final finishing materials. Do not think that the insulation of the ceiling is unnecessary, this leads to a decrease in the temperature in the apartment, because the heat goes to the neighbors. Of course, you can buy very high-quality double-glazed windows, but not all of them are able to keep the heat as qualitatively as after carrying out the insulation of the ceiling.
Very often the ceiling is finished using MDF panels. With their help, trim both the ceiling and the walls on the balcony. The panels are fastened with wooden blocks, the distance between them being 30 centimeters, is no longer permissible. If the distance exceeds the specified rate - the panels will collapse and sag. Fans of natural materials can use the wood to insulate the ceiling. It does not let cold air pass and keeps the heat perfectly. But it is undesirable to use wood for finishing the floor, it is better to use linoleum instead of lining, since it does not break down longer.
Hide the flaws of the ceiling can be using a special tile, under it you can hide any deformation. To visually increase the height of the ceiling you need to use white tiles. If you want to create a mini office on the balcony, it's best to install a hanging ceiling. Of course, the stretch ceiling with built-in lamps is more expensive, but it looks great and serves for a long time. Do not forget that in conjunction with the insulation you need to think over and design the ceiling, so that it is combined with other rooms, if you want to make the balcony a full part of the apartment.
Thermal insulation of balcony walls
By and large, there are no walls on the balcony, but there are double-glazed windows that provide thermal insulation. When glazing is necessary to comply with the main rule: to check the tightness, so that no infiltration and heat loss. In the lower part of the wall, you can make a frame lined with iron, or a concrete wall. Do not forget that if the walls of the balcony are made of concrete, you need to carry out the procedure for the insulation of the walls in the same way as the procedure for the insulation of the ceiling, with the exception of the rails used as fasteners. It is better to strengthen the insulation with dowels.
But there are situations where the lower part of the walls is completely missing. In this case, you will need a profile that was used to install the drywall. And the first row of the profile is installed from the outside, and then processed by plastic lining. The second row is installed from the inside. If there are cracks, seal them with mineral wool. Further it is necessary to put a waterproofing layer and to conduct a covering by plastic or gypsum cardboard. In order to avoid the appearance of cracks through which cold air passes, it is necessary to carefully form the corners and joints. As a result, you will get an excellent thermal insulation that will not wear out over the years.
Exterior finish of the balcony
Always in conjunction with the glazing is an external finish of the balcony. It is needed not only for the beautiful appearance of the balcony, but also for creating additional thermal insulation. Therefore, the choice of skin should be approached carefully, and use materials that do not collapse under the influence of weather conditions. Install materials on a metal or wooden frame. At the moment, the lining is carried out by plastic lining( 100-250 mm width), profiled sheeting and siding.
It is best to use a plastic lining. It is very cheap, has high resistance to weather conditions, and the number of colors and possible drawings is very large. But the most actual colors for decoration are beige and white. Basically, the material is used in a width of 10 to 25 centimeters. The main difference is that when the lining is lined with a width of 25 centimeters, there are almost no gaps and slots, so the exterior looks very attractive, the surrounding people do not have doubts that this is a solid material. From the availability of cracks does not depend on the quality of the material, the finish wears out after 15 years, but can also be faster if the balcony is often exposed to intense sunlight.
More durable material - siding, but also the price is 25% higher. The characteristics and installation method are the same as in the previous case. But install siding exclusively horizontally, in contrast to the lining. Serving siding for about 50 years, you can find siding of any color, and there is a realistic drawing that copies natural materials: wood and brick. Compete with siding can only profnastil, which serves even longer, and much stronger. This is a material that is specially coated with galvanized steel. It is coated with polymer paint, so you can choose almost any color.
Cost of balcony insulation and loggia
Everyone knows that the cost of insulation is very high, but why not understand this issue? At the moment you can purchase materials for finishing for 8000 rubles, if the square area of the balcony does not exceed 3 square meters. Next, you will need to install electricity along with the installation of a radiator, this will take another 10,000 rubles. It should be taken into account that the cost of the window block is also included in the list of costs. Also you need to take into account the quality of materials, of course, manufacturers from Europe produce better products, so you have to spend money on quality. As you can see, the insulation is not so expensive, especially if you consider that it will last you a very long time.