Do-it-yourself balcony insulation from a to z school of repair

In detail: do-it-yourself balcony insulation from a to z school of repair from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.

If, in the future, the use of the premises in the summer or as a storage room, you can do only with good waterproofing and install cold glazing on the loggia.

If you are going to combine a loggia with a room, a kitchen, or it will be, for example, an independent living room, then the answer is unambiguous: insulation is necessary.

We will tell you step by step where to start and how to insulate balconies and loggias. A video of the process will add clarity to the article.

The loggia can be insulated with different materials: polyurethane foam, foam foam, isolon and expanded clay. But the most popular insulation materials at the moment are polystyrene, polystyrene foam and mineral wool. We will talk about them in this article, so it will be easier for you to choose one.

This material is very good for sound and heat insulation. It is produced in slabs with dimensions 60x120 cm and 60x240 cm. The thickness of the material is also different, the minimum is 20 mm, then - with a step of 10 mm. From 60 mm, the pitch is 20 mm. The maximum slab thickness is 100 mm. In addition, foam boards differ in density, you can recognize it by the markings on the packaging.

Penoplex is perfect for insulating the walls and parapet of the loggia from the outside and from the inside. This is due to the fact that the material almost does not absorb moisture and is easy to install - it crumbles little and does not break very easily. For outdoor work, plates with a thickness of 100 mm are suitable, and for internal work, 30 - 60 mm will be enough.

Important: you should not rely only on considerations in deciding the thickness of the insulation - "the larger the layer, the warmer." A few degrees, of course, you win. However, the thickness of the insulation will "eat up" the already not too vast area of the loggia. Calculations are best done based on the instructions on the packaging from the insulation.

Video (click to play).

Polyfoam has a lower structure density than penoplex, because of this, the former wins in terms of heat-insulating indicators. However, low density leads to more fragility of the material, during installation, you will have to take some care.

The moisture absorption of the material is much lower than, for example, mineral wool, which we will talk about later, but higher than that of penoplex. Styrofoam is also suitable for both internal and external insulation work.

Foam plates are produced in various shapes, but for work on loggias, as a rule, plates of 100x50 cm are used. For external insulation - 100 mm thick, for internal - from 30 mm. Polyfoam is the cheapest material described here and the lightest. Perfect for a loggia where repairs or restoration of the bearing plate was done.

Mineral wool retains heat very well and protects the room from outside noise. However, this material instantly absorbs moisture and is therefore suitable for indoor use only.

If your loggia has high-quality waterproofing, then mineral wool is quite suitable for insulating the ceiling on the loggia. Sound insulation in this case will be better than when using any of the previous two materials.

Mineral wool is produced in the form of soft mats and in the form of hard slabs, in other words - stone wool. Soft cotton wool is quite cheap, it fits more easily into the crate, there are no gaps between the pieces of insulation.

Plates, on the other hand, have higher heat-retaining properties, but during the installation process, additional sealing of the gaps between them may be required. Plates will cost more, but the price is justified by the fire safety of such a loggia insulation.Video of stone wool tests for flammability is confirmation of this:

Important: all the described types of insulation can become a welcome haven for rodents. Therefore, if your loggia is located on the lower floors, you need to make sure that the entry of these animals into the room is impossible. Do not forget that the "weak link" of your loggia in this regard is not only the floor, but also the ceiling.

So, we figured out the main characteristics of the materials. Next, you will learn how to insulate a loggia with your own hands. Videos will help you get a more complete picture of the progress of work. It will be about mineral wool and penoplex. We will not describe the insulation of the loggia with foam, since the work in this case will be the same with those that are carried out with foam.

The very first thing we need to do is a drawing and an estimate. With it, you can calculate the required amount of insulation, materials for the lathing, vapor barrier, etc. We make a list with which we go to the hardware store. Small things, like screws or nails, are best purchased with a margin.

Before insulating the loggia, you need to take care of high-quality waterproofing of the room. If after glazing there are gaps, we blow them with foam, we also inspect the roof for gaps. Also, at this stage it is worth taking care of the lighting of the loggia, if the wiring is supposed to be hidden. We attach waterproofing to the ceiling, and vapor barrier to the floor.

To assemble the lathing, you can use a bar (40x40 cm or 50x50 cm) or a metal profile. If we use solid insulation, then the step of the lathing is done in accordance with the dimensions of the insulation plates. In the case of soft mineral wool, the distance between the timber or the profile is 50-60 cm. It is best to fasten the lathing with U-shaped fasteners, so it will be easiest to adjust the elements by level.

And now about how to insulate the floor on the loggia. Even if the lathing along the walls and ceiling is made of an aluminum profile, we make the floor on the basis of wooden logs - aluminum can deform over time from pressure on it. If the floor level is lower than in the entire room, you can compensate for this difference by laying thicker joists. Laying the base for the floor is checked with a level.

How to insulate a loggia: video of the correct organization of the subfloor:

We install fasteners for the lathing around the entire perimeter of the walls and ceiling.

In the corners and joints of the walls with the ceiling and floor, we fasten the first elements of the sheathing.

Now it is the turn of the horizontal elements. During the work, we periodically check the location of the lathing on the level. If, according to the plan, it is planned to install the vertical parts of the crate, we do them too.

On the ceiling, work is carried out in the same way as on the walls.

If the wool is used hard, "basalt", then the slabs are adjusted in size so that they fit tightly between the elements of the crate. We put in the insulation using a mushroom dowel to fix it, or, as it is also called, a disc dowel. We do not fix the insulation on the floor, we just lay out its plates tightly. We glue the seams with special tape.Soft cotton wool, when applied in large layers, may require a second pair of hands for support. A piece of the required length is cut from the roll and laid under the crate. The vapor barrier, which will be installed on top of the cotton wool, will serve as a retainer for the insulation. Alternatively, you can perform fixation by pulling the cords between the timber or profiles. The gaps between the layers are compensated by laying pieces of the same insulation in them.Next, it is necessary to sheathe all surfaces, except for the floor, with a membrane vapor barrier. On top of the insulation on the floor, lay out the waterproofing. Now everything is ready for the final finishing of the loggia.Do-it-yourself loggia insulation: video of laying soft mineral wool in the loggia crate.

To begin with, it is worth saying that there are two ways to insulate a balcony - from the inside and outside. External insulation, of course, is more convenient - precious centimeters of the area are not "eaten away", and the facing of the balcony facade becomes more pleasant. But this is a laborious process that requires the involvement of a construction crew and industrial climbers.Therefore, in the article we will focus on how to properly insulate a balcony in an apartment from the inside - this can be done independently.

For insulation inside the balcony, first of all, it is necessary to carry out preparatory work. They include several important stages:

Where to start insulating a loggia or balcony? Free up space of all unnecessary things. It is best if the balcony is completely empty: it is much easier to work this way. Also, get rid of old finishes in advance.
Fill up all the cracks - a lot of heat goes out through them. For small gaps, a weather-resistant sealant is suitable, fill larger ones with polyurethane foam - it will not only fill the voids, but also serve as an additional heat insulator.
To make it easier for you to carry out the insulation work, it is important to smooth out cracks and irregularities on the walls and ceiling using cement mortar.
If you plan to place light bulbs or lighting fixtures on the balcony, you should take care of the wiring in advance. To hide unpresentable cables, place them in plastic boxes.
Before starting work, cover the opening between the balcony and the adjoining room with a film so that construction dust and other pollutants do not enter the apartment.

Is it possible to insulate the balcony in winter? Yes, you can. Only when carrying out work in winter is it necessary to choose frost-resistant materials, in particular, polyurethane foam.

To understand how to insulate a loggia or balcony, let's first figure out what properties the materials should have:

high strength;
fire safety;
water resistance;
environmental friendliness;
relatively low cost;
ease of installation (if we want to do all the work with our own hands).

Most often, mineral wool, expanded polystyrene, polystyrene, etc. are used for insulation. Several of these materials are sometimes combined. We have reflected the pros and cons of each heat insulator in the table:

Summer is the time when they take out a bicycle from the balcony, put skis and skates in a corner, pull on the clothesline ... And this is instead of drinking tea on the balcony, having parties overlooking the city or reading books in a cozy atmosphere among flowers. On the balcony you can meet the sunrises with your loved ones, relax and play sports, create and work. To turn a balcony into a dream room, you need to take a drop of inspiration, a couple of days off, and the following tips.

We have collected the best ideas for decorating balconies and loggias that we could find on the Internet, and asked Olga Kostyukova, master-consultant of the OBI hypermarket chain for summer cottages and repairs, to comment on how and with what materials you can achieve the same result.

Sleeping outdoors and star-gazing is romance in action. Or a solution for apartments with limited space. You can sleep well on the balcony.

The first question is insulation. Even in summer in the fresh air you can freeze at night. This is a costly renovation: you need to install good windows, insulate the walls, floor and ceiling. But the new square is worth it. The main problem is the inevitable loss of space, since the insulation must be installed from the inside, and any insulating materials take up space. Output - rolled polymer materials coated with aluminum foil. For their installation, a massive crate is not needed (there are enough wooden slats on top of the insulation), they themselves are thinner than other materials and have good thermal insulation properties. The insulation will already be covered with a finishing material of your choice.

Image - Do-it-yourself balcony insulation from a to z school of repair

Invite your friends to a cocktail party. To your balcony.

On a loggia or balcony, it will not work to place several chairs around the table. But if you make a bar counter from the windowsill and put several chairs, then a party with a view of the city lights is guaranteed. For such an interior, you will need glossy wall panels, and for atmospheric light, an LED strip.

Fans of reading books are gradually becoming so much that they take up more space than the landlords.The library turns out to be an unjustified luxury, and here the balcony comes to the rescue. With an e-book, you also want to find a cozy place to read. Agree, it's nice to sit with a cup of fragrant tea and a new story in silence. Why is the balcony not suitable? Only by lighting in the evening, and after all, it is just before bedtime that we most often reach for a book.

You can take out the wiring to the balcony and make two-level lighting. Place recessed lamps on the ceiling that will not distract attention from the overall design of the balcony. Attach some sconces below to create a concentrated light in the right place. You can assemble an original shelf with your own hands, just take ready-made furniture parts, screws and glue.

On some balconies nothing more than a stepper will fit, but a loggia with a Swedish wall and a pair of exercise machines is almost a full-fledged hall. It is good to meet the new day by doing the exercises from the yoga course and looking at the dawn.

A warm floor on the balcony is a suitable solution if you need to insulate the room, because you should not leave the heaters running overnight. Pipes cannot be laid on a balcony or loggia, this does not comply with building codes, therefore, the repair technology consists in conducting an electrical system. The best option is to lay the underfloor heating cable based on a heating mat. First you need to provide insulation, and then lay the heating elements in the screed layer. The flooring and carpet of your choice is already laid on top.

Sometimes the balcony is not needed, but you just need more space. Do it! Consider how you will integrate the extra space into the common area. The fact is that it is unlikely that it will be possible to completely remove the wall between the balcony and the room. So the plan depends on which room the balcony will adjoin. Use a portion of the wall as a support for a countertop in your kitchen or nursery.

In order not to remodel the entire room, you need to fit new meters into the finished interior. Determining factors are flooring and curtains. And do not forget that all changes to the area must be coordinated and permission must be obtained for them.

Light, isolated space and the opportunity to work in peace are the conditions for creating a good workshop on the balcony for practicing your favorite hobby.

The balcony is already most often used for storing things, and in the workshop, any tool should lie in its place. In the design of such a room, the main thing is not so much beauty as functionality. You can use ready-made shelves and storage containers or use the detailed instructions for making a shelf-ladder.

Wake up in the morning, go out to the balcony to watch the weather, and drown in flowers. How about starting the day with a walk in the garden? And the size doesn't matter. Turning a balcony into a garden is one of the most elementary interior solutions, for which you can get by with minimal repairs. If the balcony is open and you are not going to be engaged in glazing, then the summer garden is your design option.

For such an interior, sometimes you do not need to repair anything at all, even defects in the painting of the walls will be hidden by the foliage of the plants located on the trellises and arches. And for the mood, light garden furniture and comfortable structures on which flowers are located are enough. Benches, wicker chairs, racks, shelves and pots, soil and greenery - and redecoration is ready. If the balcony is open, choose folding furniture so that it can be easily removed in winter.

In front of you is just your desktop. Nearby - only a chair and a cabinet with documents. Outside the window - the whole city. No one distracts, interferes or distracts from the working spirit. This is not your personal account on the 60th floor of the business center, this is your balcony.

It is simple to arrange a workplace on the balcony: there are tips for warming the area above. For work, it is important that sunlight does not hit the eyes, does not fall at an uncomfortable angle on the screen and does not interfere with work on hot days.For windows, use blinds, roman or roller blinds: a laconic style will create the illusion of a home office, it will be easier to focus on projects in it.

There are many special attachments for attaching, such as bicycle hooks.

Repair school 25.04.2015 helped the young mother to prepare for the opening of the summer cottage season and equip for her a real green country veranda right in the apartment, in the bedroom... The question of how to do this will be answered by a young but very promising designer. She decided to create in the room lively interiorfilled with nature and natural materials, the room is functionally and visually divided, several zones will stand out in it, one of which is completely reserved for the wardrobe. Appear in the room many accent points and design surprises.

The alteration always begins with cleaning the surfaces from the old finish, then they are being prepared for a new... Some just stay intact and closed plasterboard structures... Such a design, and more than one appears in this room. Drywall will be closed old radiator, on the opposite wall will line up plasterboard shelf, and at the window they will mount visor, for unusual lighting and with hidden functionality. Entrance door completely, as well as balcony block, in their place, new, thematically relevant elements are installed.

Almost all walls in the room will be sheathed with boards, unusual texture and color. They will be betrayed by hand aged look, with help brushing technology and painting, they will look unusual, according to the idea of the author of the project. Work in the room continued to fix the lining on the walls, on them, pre-assembled two wooden guides, at a distance from each other, equal to the height of the board, it is on them that the lining via ordinary nails.

The lining will be around the entire perimeter of the room, but only at the bottom of it, the rest, the upper part of the walls, is decorated thin crumpled paper... Fits on the floor laminate in white glossy shade, with a very unusual name. The repair school begins to insulate the loggia with its own hands. The ceiling is made out wallpaper with a very unusual and lively pattern bleached board... The final stage of the alteration will be the installation wooden partitionresembling French window.

Now you can start decorating and arranging furniture, the first to appear in the room dark wooden benches and white wardrobe cabinet... Then the walls with a partition are installed long unusual sofa up to the window... Now the room doesn't seem so long, her the geometry of space has completely changed and transformed, the designer remained add only elements of textiles and decor.

In harsh climates, the balcony can only be used when it is warm. Most often, this room turns into a warehouse of various things. But sometimes balconies have a fairly large area.

With a little effort, the balcony can be turned into a small, cozy room. This is especially true when the apartment is small and every square meter is expensive.

To turn a balcony into a full-fledged room, you need to do the following:

For balcony glazing, plastic frames are most often used. Double-glazed windows installed in such frames keep heat remarkably well.

To this are added gaskets around the perimeter of the window sash, and fittings that, when locked, press the sash against the frame. All this contributes to better heat retention on the balcony.

When installing frames, you must carefully fill all the gaps with polyurethane foam in order to exclude even the slightest heat leak.

At this stage of the work, you need to dwell in more detail. If balcony is located on the ground floor, it can be insulated from the inside and outside. Outside, such a balcony is usually insulated with mineral wool.It is attached to the outer wall of the balcony using wooden blocks, which are nailed to the wall with dowels through the insulation. From above, the insulation is closed with decorative panels that are attached to the same bars. Instead of mineral wool, you can use another insulation, for example, foam. In this case, the foam sheets can first be glued to the wall using special glue, and then filled with the bars.

If balcony is located on the upper floors, then outside it is not insulated. After all, work at height requires the participation of high-altitude specialists, which leads to additional costs. However, it is quite enough high-quality insulation only from the inside.

If there was any decoration on the inner walls of the balcony, it must be peeled off. Do the same for the floor and ceiling. Then you need to choose a heater that will be used to insulate the balcony. I must say that there are a lot of heaters. His choice depends on his own preferences and material capabilities.

Can I recommend using expanded polystyrene or Styrofoam... This material is available in different thicknesses and sizes. So it is quite possible to choose exactly what is best suited for the balcony, based on its size. Each sheet has a tongue-and-groove connection, which greatly facilitates the installation of this material.

The number of expanded polystyrene sheets is best calculated in such a way that there is enough for both the floor and the ceiling. The sheets are attached to the prepared surfaces with glue. You can use any glue that glues polystyrene foam and is not afraid of moisture. You can get advice at a building materials store when buying insulation. The adhesive is applied with five points on the sheet of material and an additional strip around the perimeter of the sheet.

Each sheet of material is glued to the wall. The next sheet is superimposed so that the connections completely coincide with each other. As a result, you should get a flat surface with seams. Seams are glued with tape. If there are places in which the sheets of insulation could not be tightly fitted to each other, then such places are filled with polyurethane foam. It is necessary to use the so-called summer polyurethane foam, since its winter version contains substances that destroy the foam.

The floor and ceiling are insulated in the same way as the walls. When all the sheets are glued and adhere well to the wall, a vapor barrier is mounted on top. For this, foil-clad polyethylene is taken and attached to the insulated surface using double-sided tape. On top of the polyethylene, wooden blocks with a cross section of 50 × 50 or 60 × 60 mm are stuffed. However, the cross-section can be larger. Attach them to the wall with dowels. If the cross-section of the bars is small, then holes are drilled in them beforehand so that the dowels do not split the tree.

It should be taken into account that the finishing cladding will be attached to these bars, so they must be set in level so that the wall turns out to be even. You can choose a wide variety of materials for the facing of the balcony. This, for example, can be drywall. It is attached to the bars with self-tapping screws, the seams are putty, wallpaper is glued on top. Image - Do-it-yourself balcony insulation from a to z school of repair

Drywall can be painted. If you need to carry out electrical wiring on the balcony, then it is laid in a special casing before the cladding is mounted. Locations should be chosen where the cladding sheets can be easily removed to gain access to the wiring. Where switches and sockets will be installed, holes are pre-cut in the cladding. Electrical wiring can also be made external by placing it on the surface of the wall, hiding it in a protective casing.

In addition to drywall, plastic can also be used for finishing. In this case, no additional finishing is required. The lining will also look good. It is covered with stain and colorless varnish. The space between the cladding and the insulation, filled with air, creates an additional thermal effect.

The floor on the insulated balcony can be different.You can pour a cement screed over the insulation and vapor barrier, and lay insulated linoleum or carpet on top. You can lay sheets of thick plywood on the bars, and make some kind of coating on top of it. You can also install a wooden floor. To do this, instead of bars, logs are laid. The same bars, but with a larger section.

If a cement screed is installed on the floor, then a so-called 10 mm wide thermal gap is left near each of the walls. For the screed, a solution is prepared from 1 part of cement and 3 parts of sand.

As a rule, pipes are not laid on the balcony, and heating is not connected. This is simply not necessary. It is enough to leave the balcony door open so that the air temperature on the balcony is the same as the temperature in the room. Very often, the balcony door is removed completely, and an arch is made in place of the doorway. Image - Do-it-yourself balcony insulation from a to z school of repair

There are many ways to use this new room. On the balconies, offices, lounges, even children's rooms are made.

But the most common option is a kind of small winter garden with a seating area. That is, with a small sofa or armchairs.

As can be seen from the above description, it is not difficult to insulate a balcony or loggia with your own hands. This is easy to do even for a person who does not have construction skills.

This will require the following materials and tools:

insulation;
wooden blocks;
drywall or other facing material;
glue, tape;
polyurethane foam;
foil-clad polyethylene;
wooden floor boards;
cement and sand if cement screed is to be made.
drill, screwdriver, screws, hammer, dowels, building level.

No scarce materials will be required. No complicated tools required.

Video (click to play).

Correctly mounted insulation lasts a long time and does not require any additional work in the future... You can only change the exterior finish if it becomes necessary to change the interior.

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