Balcony Insulation: Tips And Tricks, Wall And Floor Insulation, The Possibility Of Heating The Balcony + Video

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

How to insulate a balcony with your own hands so that it becomes a cozy corner of your home

If you are the lucky owner of an apartment with a balcony, then you will surely use this additional space effectively. The balcony can be adapted not only for storing blanks for the winter or old things that may come in handy someday. In such a convenient place, you can arrange a greenhouse or winter garden, an office, a recreation area and even a room. And in any case, the balcony will need additional insulation.

The most important thing is to prevent the temperature on the balcony from dropping to below zero. Therefore, the first thing that needs to be decided by every craftsman who has conceived the arrangement of such a space is the better to insulate the balcony so that it becomes a cozy continuation of your apartment.

Let's look at several options for insulating a balcony that will help us provide an apartment with an additional multifunctional room.

Content

• 1 Basic concepts that will determine further work
• 2 How to insulate a balcony yourself: insulation scheme and work plan
• 3 How to insulate a balcony from the inside: the easiest ways
• 4 Insulation of the balcony with penoplex
• 5 How to insulate the floor on the balcony
• 6 Heating on the balcony

Basic concepts that will determine further work

Before starting work on insulation, it is necessary to separate the concepts of "balcony" and "loggia". Popularly, both of these designs are most often called a balcony, although they are very different from each other.

For example, a balcony is an outrigger structure that extends completely outside the building. Its floor is a slab of concrete built into the wall, the perimeter is fenced with a metal grill, which, if desired, can be sheathed with available material, for example, plastic, plywood, steel sheets.

Loggia is an additional room built into the building. Only one side of it is open, and it can subsequently be fenced off with a parapet made of metal, brick, concrete or plastic. On two or three sides, the loggia is fenced with walls adjacent to the rooms or neighboring apartments.

The loggia is much more than a balcony, it is suitable for equipping it with a full-fledged insulated room. There are several reasons for this:

• the loggia is larger than the balcony in size;
• since the loggia is part of the building, its floor slab is designed for heavy loads;
• the walls surrounding the loggia are adjacent to warm rooms, and this significantly reduces the cost of insulation materials.

For simplicity, we will use the word "balcony" in both cases, considering options for warming these structures, and paying special attention to clarifications related to the features and differences of these objects.

How to insulate a balcony yourself: insulation scheme and work plan

Work on the insulation of a balcony or loggia should start with glazing. Considering the fact that this structure is located on the street and is not initially insulated, it is necessary to give preference to double-glazed windows. If you live in cold regions with harsh winters, three-chambered are the best option.

You need to create a thermos effect on your balcony using insulation and sheathing. It is high-quality glazing that will be the first step towards achieving the goal, since it helps to retain heat. And after that you need to start insulating the walls, ceiling, floor and parapet.

Balcony insulation technology is divided into the following stages:

1. After glazing, carefully seal all gaps. Foam or sealants will help you with this. Cover too wide gaps with pieces of plywood or polystyrene, stamp, and cut off the excess after drying.
2. All surfaces of the balcony from the inside should be waterproofed. There are various materials for this. For example, you can lay the roofing material with an overlap, gluing it to the base, and gluing the joints with a gas burner. Liquid penetrants such as Penetron are also very popular. They are applied to concrete with a brush or roller.
3. Now you need to fix the insulation material. We will talk about the types of materials and methods of their fastening later.
4. The next stage is vapor barrier. Foamed polyethylene foam is well suited for this. It must be secured end-to-end, not overlap, gluing with aluminum tape. The foil side should be located inside the room so as not to let heat out of the rooms.
5. The ceiling and walls of the balcony are finished at your discretion.
6. The floor is being made: it can be concrete, self-leveling, or wooden, located on the logs.

This is a universal scheme for insulating a loggia or balcony, and you can stick to it to get the perfect result in any case. The main thing is not to skimp on materials so that the work does not go to waste.

How to insulate a balcony from the inside: the easiest ways

There are several ways to insulate a balcony or loggia from the inside, depending on the planned use of the structure:

• if you need a loggia in order to dry clothes and store vegetables, it is enough to insulate the parapet in one layer;
• if the balcony or loggia will serve as a separate room, you need to insulate all surfaces in two layers using different materials;
• when attaching the loggia to the room, carefully insulate the parapet in two layers, and the ceiling, floor and walls in one.

The materials used in the repair and arrangement of balconies are selected according to their technical properties. For example, heaters have different thermal conductivity coefficients, shape, composition and structure. Let's consider the most common of them in order to know how to use and fix them correctly.

Insulation of the balcony with penoplex

Penoplex is a material belonging to the group of extruded polystyrene foam. Its thermal conductivity is 0.030 W / (m ° C), it repels moisture well, and is also strong in bending and compression. This material is produced in the form of plates with a thickness of 20-100 mm. Such slabs are both smooth and with a surface provided with projections according to the "thorn-groove" pattern, which makes installation and fastening quite simple.

If you live in an area with harsh weather, choose thicker slabs, in areas with mild weather, slabs up to 40 mm thick will suffice.

The method of fixing Penoplex depends on what kind of finishing you have planned.

If you are going to sheathe the balcony with plasterboard or plastic, then to fix the Penoplex plates, it is enough to use special plastic dowels, similar to a mushroom. Their legs are from 8 to 10 mm thick, and the lattice caps are the fastening element. The recommended length of such a dowel is 8-10 cm. If plaster is used as a finishing coating, then the plates must be fixed in combination: first stick to the surface, and then use the dowels.

The process of installing Penoplex insulation is as follows:

• fix the slabs to the surface with a layer of waterproofing;
• slabs are assembled either end-to-end or according to the “thorn-groove” scheme, depending on the selected type of material;
• fix Penoplex with dowels so that 5-7 pieces are needed for each plate.

Now Penoplex is considered the best option for insulating a balcony, due to its high strength. If this characteristic does not play a big role, a more economical option is suitable - foam.

How to insulate the floor on the balcony

It is the floor that will provide your balcony with warmth, and improper insulation can negate all finishing work. First, decide which material is best to use. For example, expanded clay is not recommended for this purpose: it has low thermal insulation, therefore a very thick layer is required, and the result will still be insufficient. Mineral wool is also not the best option. Its use requires particularly careful vapor barrier. Therefore, foam sheets are considered the most suitable.

1. Typically, the balcony floor is installed with a slight slope towards the street, allowing water to drain. But since you are insulating the balcony, isolating it from precipitation from the outside, the floor can be made level, horizontally.
2. To begin with, lay the foil-clad foam on the plate with the metal side up: it will serve as a heat reflector. Then, using a level, fix the 40 X 40 bars of wood in half a meter increments.
3. Insert the foam sheets tightly between the bars, and fill the cracks with polyurethane foam. Now lay the second layer of planks perpendicular to the first to create an air cushion and give the floor extra strength.
4. The last step is to install the moisture-resistant plywood on the top layer of the beams and install the selected flooring, such as laminate or linoleum.

In the same way, you can insulate the ceiling, walls and parapet of your balcony or loggia.

Heating on the balcony

To keep your balcony always warm and cozy, as befits a room or office, you will need to provide it with heating. Previously, the easiest and most common way was to install a heating battery from a common system. But now it is prohibited. But there are excellent alternatives.

If the balcony will not be constantly used, then the best solution would be to install an oil or electric heater. This will require an additional outlet and powerful electrical wiring that can withstand additional loads

Such heating has significant disadvantages:

• energy costs increase, therefore it is unprofitable to keep such heaters constantly on;
• oil heaters and electric convectors dry the air, which causes an unpleasant smell in the room;
• heaters, despite the means of protection, are still quite fire hazardous.

It is better to use this method of heating not constantly, but if necessary, turn on the heater to raise the temperature to the desired level.

If you need constant heat on the balcony or loggia, then the underfloor heating system would be the best option. This method is not only effective but also economical, safe and reliable. The air, warming up, is directed upward, maintaining the desired temperature. These systems can be water or electric.

The water floor is laid inside the concrete screed, while the old screed layer is completely removed, and the base is leveled. The next layer is insulating material.

The basis of the system is a plastic pipe filled with hot water. It is laid in the form of a snake so that the distance between the bends is small. Connect the pipe to the water supply and test under pressure. If the system is functioning properly, place a concrete screed and floor covering.

As you can see, dear readers, every craftsman can equip a balcony with his own hands. We will be glad to see your questions and comments regarding these works in the comments. You probably want to share your experience with others. Good luck!