How To Insulate A Balcony With Your Own Hands According To All The Rules

2023 Author: Philip Bishop | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 07:54

• What are the advantages of insulation?
• Balcony insulation rules
• How is the preparation for insulation carried out?
• Floor work
• Working with walls and ceilings
• Thermal insulation of capital walls
• Loggia finishing methods

In order for the balcony to be used not only in summer, but also in winter, you need to understand how to insulate the balcony yourself. Having correctly done a simple work, you will significantly increase the useful area of the apartment, you can use it for relaxation, sleep in a cool room, store various things, you can also equip an office or a winter garden on the balcony.

What are the advantages of insulation?

The insulated hinged structure will be useful at any time of the year. It will not only protect the area from rain and wind, but will also become a good buffer between the apartment and the street. Despite the small area of balconies and loggias, it is convenient to use them as a study, a hookah room, and other rooms where a large amount of furniture is not required. It is convenient to read on the balcony, as the glazing lets in a lot of light, and the insulation will make the space comfortable.

The apartment will receive additional space, protected from the cold. You can conduct heating on the loggia, place here those objects that get in the way of the room, but require room temperature for storage.

Balcony insulation rules

Before deciding where to start the insulation of the balcony, you need to study the sequence of actions to be taken. In total, it includes several stages:

• Preparatory work. In order to carry out the work on insulation, you will need to take out unnecessary items from the balcony, prepare the floor and walls for finishing, remove the old frames if they do not do the job well, and glaze the structure with high quality.
• Installation of glazing. It makes no sense to insulate a balcony that has no glazing or is glazed in a cold way with old, cold-letting wooden frames. The structure must be sealed. It is often through frames and glass that heat is escaped, so special attention should be paid to them.

Advice: in order for the balcony to keep heat well, it is recommended to glaze it with plastic windows. Wooden frames, if it is not a Euro window, are not able to cope with the cold enough, and aluminum glazing is usually cold.

• Floor insulation. After the new frames are installed, a crate is made on the floor and its insulation is carried out. This is exactly where to start insulating a loggia or balcony, since heat loss also occurs through the floor, and the walls are finished after.
• Walls and parapet. The insulation will need to be placed directly on the walls facing the street, that is, there is no need to insulate the wall of the dwelling.
• The main wall, as a rule, does not need additional insulation, especially if high-quality plastic frames have been installed. However, if you feel the need to do this, the principle of operation will be the same as with the balcony walls. Extra insulation will not bring harm.
• The final stage: it is wall decoration. Whatever insulation you use, you will need to carry out a fine finish by covering it with something solid. For these purposes, on the inside, you can use various materials: lining, brick, chipboard, plywood, drywall, plastic. In addition, you will need to install slopes on the windows.

How is the preparation for insulation carried out?

Before you insulate the loggia yourself, you need to carefully prepare the site for work, otherwise foreign objects will interfere with you, and you will spend a lot of time moving them from place to place, you will not be able to make the crate correctly.

Check how strong the railings and concrete partitions of the structure are: they may need to be reinforced or restored. The outer side of the railing is sheathed with plastic or other material that does not allow moisture to pass through. It is needed to isolate the wind and protect the insulation from rain. If the parapet is brick or concrete, nothing needs to be done outside. If the concrete has cracks or cracks, they must be sealed with cement mortar or blown out with polyurethane foam.

Installation of windows may not be required if you already have plastic frames with a glass unit. Even if you haven't changed the frames, vacuum the floor and clean it of traces of debris before you start insulating.

Floor work

In order to make a crate, you will need to purchase wooden slats. It is most convenient to attach them to self-tapping screws. Penoplex, mineral wool or foam can be used as insulation. The rail must be selected the same thickness as the penoplex, if you are going to insulate it; the optimal height is 50 mm.

The slats are laid on the floor, fixed with self-tapping screws. Place the mounts at a distance of approximately 40 cm from each other. The use of anchors is applicable if you have a loggia. It is important to take into account how wide the slab is, otherwise there is a risk of punching it through. After that, you can proceed to laying the slats, their width should also not be greater than the insulation: for example, 1 cm is suitable for the penoplex. You should leave a gap on the sides, as it will be filled with polyurethane foam. It is most convenient to mount the slats along the balcony structure.

Tip: the slats should be laid on a level, otherwise you will not be able to get a flat floor. In order to raise the rail and align it, special plastic spacers are used, most often they are sold in stores that sell plastic windows and doors.

After the penoplex is laid in the cells, the empty space must be filled with polyurethane foam. This is what you need to insulate the balcony,

because if there are gaps, the heat will go through them, and the insulation will become ineffective.

After the insulation takes its place and the polyurethane foam dries, you can proceed to the installation of the final coating. To do this, you can use boards, plywood, chipboard. The thickness of the materials should not be less than 2 cm, otherwise they will bend. The selected material is attached to the beams with self-tapping screws: they need to be screwed in, retreating 15 cm from each other. Using sheets of chipboard or plywood, lay them across the beams, leaving a slight gap.

Advice: while work is underway to secure the material, it is not recommended to step on it, otherwise there is a risk of bending the sheets and getting a crooked floor.

Working with walls and ceilings

For the walls, you can use the same insulation as for the floor: both mineral wool and polystyrene foam, penoplex are suitable. The latter costs a little more, but has improved technical characteristics, which makes it a more profitable material.

If you take solid insulation in sheets, work with it will take much less time. You can attach it to liquid nails. The sheet is easily cut with an ordinary knife, so if it is too large or a piece of a certain shape is required, you can effortlessly make one from a regular sheet of foam or foam.

After you have been able to insulate the loggia yourself from the bottom, you need to start working with the walls and ceiling. It is advisable to lay the sheets as close as possible to each other, the joints between them can be filled with polyurethane foam: this will not only provide a better adhesion between the materials, but also allow you to get rid of cracks and possible drafts. When working with walls, you also need to ensure that the insulation falls flat.

When you have secured all the sheets, let the glue dry. If you use liquid nails, it will take about an hour, the glue completely hardens after a day. Penofol must be attached on top of the insulation: this is a special material that repels heat, directing it back into the room, and does not let cold air from the street through. If you can glue it with a minimum number of joints, it will create the effect of a thermos, and it will be cool on the balcony in summer and warm in winter. The seams between the sheets of penofol are sealed with special tape with a foil surface. The work with the ceiling is carried out according to the same principle.

Thermal insulation of capital walls

A wall is also called a capital wall, which performs a load-bearing function; the main load from the structure falls on it. It is not necessary to insulate its surface, but if you decide to do this, you, as in the case of working with floors, will need slats, dowels and insulation.

As mentioned above, the insulation of this wall is optional, in addition, when carrying out work, you need to be prepared for the fact that it will "move" by almost 5 cm, which will take away the useful area of the balcony. The principle of operation is similar: first you need to fix the slats (note that the penoplex must be laid horizontally). Use a building level: the battens must be fixed evenly both vertically and horizontally.

You do not need polyurethane foam. Joints will not form, since the foam sheets need to be wound under the slats and pressed against each other as tightly as possible.

Loggia finishing methods

After you were able to insulate the balcony on your own, you will need to bring the structure to a completed look, since an open insulation not only has less efficiency and may suffer from mechanical stress, but it also looks ugly.

For the final finishing, you can use a variety of materials to suit your taste, budget, and overall interior style. The simplest option is plastic panels. They are lightweight, easy to install, inexpensive and attractive.

In order to secure any finishing material, you need wooden slats. They can be screwed onto a wooden frame that you already have. Make sure the slats are straight. For the main wall, you can use the same elements that hold the insulation: this will save both materials and the space of the loggia.

After the crate is ready, you can screw any finishing sheets to it: plastic, MDF, drywall. The latter has an unaesthetic appearance, so it is either painted, having previously putty the joints and screws, or pasted over with wallpaper.

Conclusion: it is not difficult to insulate a loggia or balcony on your own if you have detailed instructions, high-quality materials and tools. This will take several days, but you will get a cold-sheltered room that you can use in any weather.

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