A unique opportunity to increase or expand a living space is to combine a balcony with a room. This process is complex, but has its advantages. The room will receive more daylight, and there will be an additional opportunity to complete the original design.

It is possible to connect a balcony with a room only upon receipt of permission from state authorities and services that give permission for redevelopment. Of course, you can temporarily attach a loggia to a room if the apartment is not for sale in the near future, but this can only be done at your own peril and risk, because it is not known what the consequences will be after redevelopment.

Connected rooms design

By removing the balcony partition, you can increase the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe main room

What will be the hall after the loggia is attached to it will depend on the technical capabilities. Work can be done in different ways:

1. In a panel house, you can leave a small part of the wall along the edge of the balcony in order to maintain the technical characteristics of the panel.
2. In a brick house, if the wall is not load-bearing, completely remove the partition.
3. Combining a loggia with a room will help increase the space if you do not use additional architectural details in the interior.
4. When combining a balcony with a room, make sure that the design is harmonious. To do this, it is necessary to use the same materials that are used for finishing (paint, wallpaper).
5. If the threshold was not removed, then the second tier of flooring should be performed in the balcony area.
6. By converting a room into a workplace, you can make a small partition that will contain shelves and at the same time serve as a boundary between rooms.
7. When combining a loggia with a room for organizing a place of rest, a bar counter or just an original tabletop should be installed on the border.

Preliminary work

Before you combine the loggia with the room, get the necessary approvals

Before the loggia is combined with the room, the agreement must already be signed, and the documentary part of the project has been drawn up.

Since this process is very serious, you should be well prepared for it.

To connect a room with a balcony, you first need to remove the wall partition. The order of work can be performed as follows:

• take out all the furniture (if this is not possible, cover it with a protective film);
• having previously coordinated with the management, dismantle the batteries;
• according to the new project, adhering to the plan, dismantle the walls;
• check the quality of the installed windows (if there are any damages or the packages have become unusable over time, it is recommended to change them for new products);
• the last stage is the decoration of the premises.

Since originally the balconies were not intended for living, they do not have the ability to maintain a comfortable temperature. In this regard, insulation is an integral process when combining several rooms.

The finishing material is selected depending on the climatic conditions, the structural characteristics of the building and the financial capabilities of the developer.

To make the balcony a full-fledged room, carry out hydro and thermal insulation

However, you can implement reliable protection of the balcony in the following way. First, it is necessary to cover the surfaces with a layer of waterproofing so that moisture does not penetrate inside, and then insulate with special materials (mineral wool or foam plastic).

The purchased insulation should be fastened between the parts of the manufactured frame, on which the skin will then be installed. The scheme by which the loggia and the room are combined is drawn up individually for each case.

Coordination of work

The current legislation does not provide for the unauthorized association of a balcony and a room. This process must be approved in advance.

But for many residents, this is not a reason to refuse to increase or improve the usable area, so in some cases they independently remove frames or partitions, which ultimately causes litigation and payment for additional squares of living space.

Demolition of load-bearing walls is strictly prohibited.

When signing an agreement to combine a balcony with a room, it is important to remember that it is strictly prohibited:

• demolition of load-bearing walls or frame elements;
• removal of heating radiators outside the premises;
• destruction of deaf walls in contact with the window space and the edge of the loggia;
• use for insulation of heavy building materials.

All prohibitions are justified, since when there may be a weakening of some structures or an increase in the load on the heating and other systems.

In order to combine a balcony with a room without violating operational characteristics, it is advisable to seek help from a design organization that has permission to carry out such activities.

A well-designed project contains redevelopment options that, in accordance with existing norms and laws, can provide:

• preservation of the microclimate in the room;
• sufficient lighting;
• installation of a transparent partition between rooms;
• high-quality reinforcement of load-bearing walls.

Before connecting a room with a loggia, it is necessary to coordinate all the work performed for several reasons:

• by arbitrarily combining the premises, the owner is fully responsible for all the consequences, and any complaint from the neighbors can lead to large fines, as well as the restoration of the original layout;
• the executed documents will allow you to get a guarantee for a safe and comfortable stay;
• combining a room with a balcony by law will allow you to sell living space without any problems;
• without drawing up documents for joining a loggia to a room, it is impossible to privatize an apartment or take a mortgage on it.

To make any transactions with real estate in which redevelopment (combining rooms) was carried out, it is necessary that all the manipulations carried out are reflected in the relevant housing documentation.

Features of the work on the unification of premises

In order for the balcony, combined with the room, to have a beautiful appearance, as well as high constructive qualities, it is necessary to perform a number of works. For more information on combining a balcony with a room, see this video:

1. It is very important to properly dismantle the structure. If the work is carried out in the winter, the first to be insulated, and then the dismantling of the wall. This will help keep the heat in the room. In summer, the order does not play a big role.
2. If the wall is completely removed, the battery will have to be installed elsewhere. In winter, this process will be problematic, as it will be necessary to turn off the entire house or riser in order to drain hot water. In severe frosts, freezing of the heating system may occur. In this case, permission to drain the water may not be obtained.
3. Removing only a window or door will not create many difficulties. It is enough to remove these structures from the hinges and remove the boxes that are installed in the opening. This is a dusty job, so it is necessary to protect the objects or things that are located to the maximum with a special film. The concrete pier will have to be destroyed with a puncher or grinder.

Finishing work

After developing a design for the design of the room, you can proceed to the finishing work. The walls and ceilings of the balcony, after combining it with the room, can be sheathed with clapboard, or plastered and wallpapered.

It is desirable to trim the floor in level with the living room. If this is not possible, then the ledge can be equipped as a beautiful decorative step.

It is important to correctly perform the lighting, regardless of how the space will be organized: for a nursery, an office or a continuation of the bedroom.

Design options when combining individual rooms

Proper balcony lighting is an important part of redevelopment

To combine the balcony with the room where the children live, various methods are used. If the window sill has not been removed, it can be used as a table for games or drawing.

A balcony combined with a nursery can become a play area. In this case, you can use bright colors on the walls for decoration, and cover the floor with carpet.

When using the combined rooms as a work area, you can attach bookshelves here or install a computer desk.

If you attach a balcony to a room that is intended for relaxation, then it is best to place comfortable chairs in it, organize a sports simulator or a small dressing room.

Combining a room with a loggia and a living room is not common, but there are no limits to design incarnations. Especially in a small room, combining a loggia with another room is a great solution for implementing unusual ideas. For more information about finishing the balcony, see this video:

When performing such processes, it is important to make sure that the combined balcony with the adjacent room will not become a threat to the strength of the entire residential area. It should also be taken into account that the loggia, combined with the room, should not stand out from the general background, so as not to spoil the aesthetics of the entire apartment.

All work performed on attaching a balcony to a room requires certain knowledge, effort and time. But still, they allow you to increase the living space and give it functionality, coziness and the required comfort.

Combining a balcony with a living space is one of the most interesting and sought-after building ideas. In small apartments, this allows you to significantly increase the room, in large families - to arrange a secluded corner, a study or an extra bedroom, for hospitable hosts - to organize an original dining room.

The process of combining these areas is quite difficult and long: you need to obtain permits, demolish unnecessary walls and doorways, develop a design, prepare and equip a residential loggia. But we assure you - the result is worth it.

Combining a balcony with a room often looks very impressive.

Advantages and disadvantages of combining a balcony with a room

Before deciding on such a global restructuring inside the apartment, you need to weigh the pros and cons. At first glance, the expansion of living space at the expense of non-residential premises has only advantages, but there are some nuances.

Advantages of reconstruction:

• increase in living space (especially important for 1- and 2-room apartments);
• the apartment will cost more (if all redevelopments are legal and agreed);
• additional natural lighting due to large balcony windows;
• room for design ideas.

Disadvantages:

• the process of registration of all papers can take up to six months and require a lot of money;
• it is not always realistic to completely eliminate the threshold, side walls and window sill - you will get not one large room, but an additional small one;
• loggia insulation and dismantling of all walls and glass require special skills or long work of the construction team.

Loggia matching requirements

You can combine a balcony with a room only after organizing all the preparatory work. Before reconstruction it is necessary:

• Carry out balcony glazing - plastic windows, two- or three-chamber double-glazed windows. To keep warm, it is better to leave only one opening sash, ideally, remove the windows on the sides.
• Fully insulate all surfaces: loggia ceiling, walls and floor.
• Provide for additional heating: if you do not plan to transfer the radiator to the loggia, you can mount a hinged convector under the window, buy oil radiators or put an electric floor heating.
• Install supports from the wall to the edge of the balcony concrete slab in the form of a triangle - if you plan to expose a lot of furniture and load the balcony.
• Find out if the wall in the balcony opening is load-bearing - in this case it will be impossible to demolish it. It will only turn out to remove the door and the window, and the window sill will have to be arranged under a table, bar or decorative shelf.

You need to be very careful with the load-bearing wall

Combination options

When combining residential and non-residential premises, the layout can be changed radically or simply make small touches to the apartment interior. And it depends not only on the design talents of the owners and the needs of the family, but also on the combination option. Let's consider the main ones.

• We dismantle only the door leading to the balcony and the window. We leave the side walls and a piece of the wall under the window and decorate it under a bedside table or table.
  This method of redevelopment does not give a chance to get a full-fledged huge hall or bedroom, but you will have a small separate annex room that can be arranged in an unusual way.
• We completely remove the door and window blocks, walls, align, and get a wide doorway.
  The loggia, connected to the room in this way, gives additional sunlight and expands the room not only in fact, but also visually. However, these dismantling works are quite difficult to coordinate and carry out.
• An intermediate option - we eliminate a piece of the wall under the window, and mount a decorative arch in place of the opening. With this design, the balcony room is not a direct continuation of the hall or bedroom, but it cannot be completely isolated either.

How to get permission?

Coordination of combining a balcony with a room is required only if you choose the second or third reconstruction options. When the door and windows are removed, but the loggia is well insulated, this is not considered redevelopment. The only problem you may face is if, when selling an apartment, the new owner demands that the door with the window be returned to its place. However, such issues are easy to resolve in private.

Important!
If you plan to remove the wall between the balcony and the hall/bedroom/kitchen, all paperwork is necessary, and the chances of getting a positive response to the redevelopment are quite high.

Permission may be denied for several reasons:

• dismantling the exit to the balcony can lead to the destruction of the house;
• the house is a city monument of architecture;
• an increase in living space in an apartment requires additional heating, and thermal communications in the house do not allow this;
• Balconies/loggias are fire evacuation sites, and turning them into a living room will reduce the chances of a quick evacuation.

For redevelopment, it is necessary to issue a re-registration

But if the first 2 points are missing in your case, there will probably be no serious obstacles when agreeing to combine the balcony with the room. So, the main stages of obtaining permission for redevelopment:

1. We apply to the local BTI for the issuance of a registration certificate for housing.
2. We draw up a redevelopment project taking into account the merger and coordinate it with the author of the house project.

You can contact a licensed construction and design company or directly to the design institute that developed the project for your house (get both the project and the approval in one place). If the institute no longer exists, the document can be approved by the local expert organization.

• In some cases, it is necessary to obtain permission for an already finished project in a number of departments: the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Sanepidnadzor, the management company, resource organizations, etc.
• With all the documents, we turn to the housing inspection for permission.
• After dismantling and construction work, we call the employees of the housing inspectorate (sometimes - BTI) to draw up an act, then we go to the BTI to draw up new documents for the apartment.

Today there are special licensed organizations that are ready to take on not only the drafting of the project, but also the execution of all redevelopment papers. In this case, combining the loggia with the residential part of the apartment will cost more, but you will get rid of a lot of trouble and save time.

Risks in case of illegal combination of a loggia

There is no special body in our country that is called upon to punish active owners who have decided on unauthorized redevelopment. You can call for liability through the court on the basis of a claim by a person who suffered from your work (for example, neighbors were flooded or the ceiling of the lower balcony began to crack), or simply an observant senior at home.

According to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, the owner of the apartment will have to pay a fine from 2 to 2.5 thousand rubles and return the walls with the balcony door to their place. In case of refusal - a repeated fine, in an increased amount.

Another consequence is that it will be almost impossible to sell an apartment with illegal reconstruction, or the cost of obtaining all permits will have to be deducted from the apartment price. Therefore, if in the future you plan to sell or exchange housing, think about all the legal intricacies in advance.

Main stages

Facing and insulation of the balcony

In order for the loggia to become a truly warm room, insulation is necessary both outside and inside. For this, siding is perfect as a facing material, preferably with a special wind barrier that will protect against drafts.
Before dismantling the balcony passage from the side of the apartment, install plastic windows and insulate the room. This is a guarantee that you will not stay in an open, ventilated apartment during a massive renovation.

Dismantling and decoration of the doorway

If you decide to get by with a little construction blood and just remove the balcony door with a window, there will be no problems. It is necessary to properly arrange the passage, if necessary, mount light sliding doors, turn a piece of the wall under the balcony window sill into an interior element.
If the redevelopment requires the demolition of the walls, the work will be long and dirty, while you need to be as careful as possible so as not to damage the structure of the house. In brick houses, it is necessary to disassemble the masonry, in panel houses - to eliminate the concrete with a grinder saw or a perforator.

It is important to beautifully and correctly design the opening

floor leveling

When enlarging a room with a loggia, most people want to make the floor level the same throughout the room. To do this, you need to pull up the balcony floor to the level of the apartment floor - lay an additional layer of insulation, for example.
But if leveling the floor is unrealistic for technical reasons (may damage the house), there is always a chance to beautifully beat this transition. It will be interesting to look at a ramp or a decorative step.

Additional insulation

The loggia connected to the room gives an increase in living space, which means that you need to take care of heating the room. If you do not touch the wall from the balcony window, then the radiator usually also remains in place. With a complete redevelopment, it is better to move the battery under a street window or install an electric convector and a warm floor.
If the floor on the balcony is wooden, they are usually insulated with mineral wool or foam plastic. With a concrete coating, it is advised to make a screed with expanded clay, on top - expensive heat-insulating linoleum or a good laminate. You can also mount an electric floor, if it is possible to connect it to the network.

Lighting

If the layout of a new large apartment involves a business office or any place where you will read and work, you need to take care of the lighting. To do this, you can supply electricity to the loggia or install lamps and connect them through an extension cord.

Ideas for planning a combination of a balcony and a living room -

Anything can be placed in the vacant corner, and most often it depends on which room you connect the loggia to.

Balcony + bedroom.
This is the most common type of redevelopment. It does not matter whether you remove the wall completely or remove only the balcony door with a window - there are a lot of options. In a free loggia, you can place a dressing room or a greenhouse, arrange a small bedroom for a child or arrange a corner for relaxation.

Balcony + living room.
This option is less common, but design ideas for such a large room are simply inexhaustible. You can equip a study or library on the square meters that have appeared (if you have strengthened the balcony slab), set up a winter garden or organize a place with a bar where you will receive guests.

If there are many children in the family, the insulated loggia will make an excellent children's bedroom or playroom. You can also organize a small gym by mounting a Swedish wall or placing several light weight machines on the balcony.

An example of combining a balcony and a living room

Balcony + children.
It makes it possible to get an extra bed, if there are several children in the family, to equip a play or school corner.

Balcony + kitchen.
Also quite common. On the vacated area, you can place a dining room, move several cabinets and even an electric stove there. In some houses there is even an opportunity to bring pipes to the loggia and put a sink.

Whether you are making a complete combination or simply making an open passage to the loggia, the result will be a new room that can be used in an original way.

People do not always buy new housing to improve their living conditions. Many today decide to increase living space by combining a balcony with an apartment. The idea of ​​​​combining a balcony with a room is especially reinforced by photos on the Internet shared by apartment owners who have already made such a redevelopment.

If you also want to join a balcony, make it part of your apartment, this article will help you find out the advantages and disadvantages of such an alteration, the options and technology for its implementation, as well as the rules that must be followed during the reconstruction process.

Preparation for combining a balcony with a room

Combining a balcony is possible with absolutely any room. It is connected to the hall, living room, kitchen, bedroom or nursery.

However, increasing the room due to the balcony is a very difficult procedure. This applies to both construction work on expansion and the execution of relevant documents.

There are two main options for combining a loggia with a room:

1. Combining when the window and door frames are dismantled.
2. Association, when, together with a window and a door, a part of the wall between the apartment and the loggia is dismantled.

Attention! The addition of a balcony is legally regarded as redevelopment, even if only window and door openings are released.

The fact is that any house has a certain rigidity and stability of the structure. These values ​​are used to calculate the value of deformation in various parts of the building, depending on the mechanical load and the effects of temperature. And if the loggia, when combined, is turned into a warm room, then the scheme of deformation of parts of the building may change. What consequences the accession will entail, only a specialist is able to assess.

And if we are talking about the second option for combining a balcony with a room, then we are talking directly about removing part of the outer wall, as the supporting structure of the building, which is responsible for its safety.

Dismantling of a part of the opening when attaching a balcony

Therefore, the work on unification requires coordination in a number of organizations. Before you start joining a loggia, you need to prepare some documents. Initially, it is advisable to invite a professional architect or engineer who will help you draft the future layout of the apartment, taking into account the association.

Balcony combined with a photo room

With this project, you need to go to the local Bureau of Technical Inventory (BTI), where specialists will evaluate the possibility of combining a balcony and a room and, if the answer is positive, they will give you a list of documents required to obtain permission for redevelopment. As a rule, in addition to the application form for combining a balcony and a certificate of ownership of an apartment, it includes acts of consent of capable neighbors and family members, the conclusions of Rospotrebnadzor, the Ministry of Emergency Situations on the safety of the project, and some other papers.

How can I connect a balcony with a photo room

On a note! Be prepared for the fact that all certificates, acts and conclusions necessary for the merger are valid only for a certain number of days. In the event of the expiration of the documents, they will have to be reissued.

After you have a package of relevant permits on hand, you can begin to attach the balcony to the room.

Work to combine a balcony with a room

To connect these two rooms, first of all, it is necessary to achieve the correspondence of the temperature on the balcony or loggia to the room at any time of the year. To do this, they are glazed and carefully insulated. Simultaneously with the insulation, it is necessary to arrange vapor and waterproofing of the walls, ceiling and floor of the room. Then, window and door openings are dismantled, and, if provided for by the project, part of the wall is removed.

Bedroom combined with a balcony photo

The sequence of actions for dismantling windows, doors when combining a balcony with a room:

1. Remove windows and doors. Blind windows are carefully dismantled.
2. The space between the wall and the box is freed from plaster with a hammer and chisel. In this case, you must act carefully so as not to damage the brickwork or concrete panel.
3. If the window is mounted on a metal frame that is held by bolts, then they must be unscrewed.
4. With a grinder or a diamond saw, the clamps are sawn off at the corners and parts of the frame.
5. With a crowbar or mallet, a window or door frame is pulled out of the opening. Surfaces are cleaned if necessary.

The sequence of actions for dismantling the walls when combining a balcony with a room:

1. Skirting boards are dismantled. If the wall is brick, then its decoration, plaster and cladding are removed.
2. Bricks are knocked out with a chisel, a sledgehammer and a puncher. Holes are punched in concrete walls with a jackhammer, puncher or grinder. Pieces of concrete are knocked out with a sledgehammer. The rebar is cut with a diamond wheel or other tool.

When redeveloping a balcony into a room, the question often arises of how to level or smooth out the floor difference. If the floor on the loggia and in the room is the same height and a threshold separates them, then, as an option, when combined, it can be dismantled and the problem will be solved. However, this path is rather laborious. In addition, the project for combining the balcony must necessarily contain this condition.

Advice. To organize a smooth transition of the floor from the room to the balcony when they are combined, the easiest way is to make a small inclined ramp.

Combined living room with balcony photo

A balcony or loggia, as part of a room in the process of joining, must not only be insulated, but also provided with a heating system. As you know, it is forbidden to bring central heating outside the outer walls, therefore, when combining a loggia with an apartment, electric heaters or an electric floor system are most often used.

Attaching a kitchen to a balcony or loggia

The variety of rooms adjacent to the loggias gives their owners the opportunity to create bright and original interior solutions by joining them.

Undoubtedly, one of the most successful options would be to combine the kitchen or dining room with a loggia, as the smallest, and often cramped, rooms in standard multi-storey buildings that are in particular need of extension.

Redevelopment of the kitchen with a balcony photo

If the balcony is part of the kitchen, it can be used as an area for placing a dining table. In place of the window sill, when combined, you can also arrange a small table for cooking or eating.

Kitchen combined with a balcony photo

If desired, you can organize a semblance of a bar counter on the former window sill of the combined balcony. Place small chairs along it for home gatherings and receiving guests.

Combining a kitchen with a balcony photo

The disadvantages of such a combination include the following:

• An electric stove cannot be placed in the attached room.
• Connection does not involve the installation of heavy pieces of furniture and household appliances on the loggia in order to avoid overloading the interfloor slab.
• Bringing sewerage and water supply to the loggia upon merging will require coordination with the authorities.

On a note. When attaching a balcony, it is best to place cabinets with kitchen utensils, a refrigerator, flower pots, chairs or other relatively light items on it.

But, despite all these nuances, combining a kitchen with a balcony is a great solution for a small city apartment.

If you make some efforts to process documents that will make the combination a legitimate process and wake up your imagination to create an individual design of the room, you can attach a loggia or balcony to one of the rooms and make it your favorite corner in the apartment. Dare, try, make your dreams come true!

If your apartment doesn't have a lot of space, and things are stored on a large balcony, it's time to think about turning it into a full-fledged living space. To do this, we recommend that you combine the loggia with the room. This "expansion" option is an important and complex type of work, even if it is only about removing the balcony block. So, let's look at what combination options exist.

With partial combination, a wall is preserved that will zone the space. This option will allow you to get another living room, especially if the combination with the apartment is accompanied by a balcony insulation. This is the easiest option for combining, with it only the door and window frames are dismantled. The resulting opening is ennobled with slopes and corners. The lower window sill part of the wall is leveled with drywall and a countertop is installed on it. It can be made of chipboard or stone. This option for expanding the space of a room is the most common and frequently ordered project in our company.

With this method, the window sill wall is not preserved. The rooms smoothly flow into each other with the help of a decorative arch. This is a great option for a small bedroom to add natural light to it or equip it with an office. A very popular service among our customers is the combination of a loggia with a kitchen at a bargain price. Additional space is used as a dining room, greenhouse or bar. Choosing an arched combination of a loggia with a room in the Alliance Spetsstroy company, you get a professionally designed beautiful balcony with extraordinary design solutions, high quality work performed by our specialists in the shortest possible time and without involving workers from outside.

The price of a complete combination of a kitchen or a room with a balcony will be significantly higher than in the previous two options, since all structural elements are subject to dismantling - a balcony block, a wall and thresholds. The latter are allowed to be removed only in monolithic buildings, while in panel buildings it is prohibited. The result is one large room. For small apartments - this is the best solution to rationally use all the space.
We recommend that you take care of the combination project in advance, because you will need to obtain consent from the relevant authorities. It will be much easier to do this before the repair than trying to legitimize the redevelopment after the fact.

7948 0 1

How to make capital insulation of the loggia yourself

It just so happened in our country that the apartment is repaired first of all, and almost all available funds often go there. As a result, most owners decide to do the insulation of the loggia with their own hands. At one time, I also had to step on this rake, but as optimists say, everything that is done in this world is done for the better. Now I know how to insulate the loggia with my own hands, and in this article I will try to describe this whole process for you in as much detail as possible.

General, fundamental rules

Before doing any work in a multi-storey building yourself, it would be useful to find out a number of fundamental things, the failure to comply with which can subsequently lead to quite serious troubles.

Loggia or balcony

Until I came across the arrangement of the loggia, I did not know that almost the majority of our respectable citizens had a rather vague idea of ​​how a loggia generally differs from a balcony.

So, the loggia is considered to be a reinforced concrete slab of interfloor overlapping extended beyond the front wall, which is supported on both sides by capital piers. The length of the structure depends on the layout of the housing, but most often it is 6 meters or 4 meters.

The loggia can capture one or two rooms at the same time, but in any case it cannot be less than the width of one room along the front wall.

In turn, the balcony is only part of the extended floor slab. Often its dimensions are smaller than the width of the adjacent room. And the most important difference is that it does not have side bearing walls. The balcony is held only due to the strength of the slab, respectively, its bearing capacity is much lower.

In stalinka and Khrushchev, according to SNiP standards, the maximum load of 1 m² of a balcony slab does not exceed 200 kg. And now let's calculate:

• The area of ​​a standard balcony fluctuates around 3m², which is 600kg maximum;
• A capital parapet made of hollow facing bricks or aerated concrete will weigh at least 150 kg;
• About 100kg more will be modern glazing;
• The screed, facing sheets, plaster and the weight of the insulation itself, in a circle, will be about 200 kg more.

In total, the correct insulation of the balcony will weigh around 450 kg. If you add to this the weight of balcony furniture with tools or flower pots, then you will inevitably wonder whether it is worth messing with such insulation at all. Plus, such balconies are already more than half a century old, which means their strength is even lower.

The bearing capacity of the slab on the loggia is approximately 2-3 times higher than that of the balcony. The loggia received these characteristics thanks to the side load-bearing walls. Therefore, in fact, the options and methods of insulation here can be anything.

Combining a loggia with a room

Now many owners, in pursuit of usable space, decide to combine a loggia or balcony with a room. As for the balcony, here I would not advise doing this at all. First, you will never get official permission for such work. And secondly, as I said, it is too risky due to the low bearing capacity of the balcony slab.

The easiest way is to organize the connection to the room in houses built according to the P44T project. In the people, such a project is called free planning. There will be no barriers from the regulatory authorities.

In standard typical skyscrapers, it is not difficult to convert a loggia into a living space. The whole problem is in these very controlling bodies. One of my acquaintances found out for a long time whether such an association is redevelopment and what is needed for this.

As a result, he was tired of fighting with officials, he simply insulated the loggia and removed the balcony block (doors with a window). He turned the curbstone with the one based on it into an impromptu bar counter. Now the room and the panoramic loggia combined with it resemble a studio apartment. As it turned out, this is quite an acceptable option and it is not considered redevelopment.

Before you do anything with the front wall, you need to get permission. And in this case, the most important "permits" are officials from the BTI. If there is no permission, then as long as you live in an apartment, everything will be in order, but if you want to sell it, problems with registration will begin.

Loggia insulation process

Now it's time to talk about how to properly insulate the loggia. For those who decide to do everything with their own hands, step-by-step instructions are the key to success. Therefore, I will continue to try, based on my own experience, to paint everything to the smallest detail.

Glazing of the loggia

Previously, in such places, as a rule, light home-made wooden frames with one glass were installed. At that time, there was simply nothing else. And it was very problematic to get a standard wooden frame with two glasses, plus it did not fit in size. Such a miracle of Soviet design stood on my loggia.

To equip any kind of insulation with such frames is a stupid and useless task. Therefore, thinking about where to start, I decided to dismantle the old frame and put in its place a modern plastic version with double-glazed windows.

I didn’t have any problems with dismantling the old frames, but I want to warn you: if there are such frames on your loggia, then first pull out the glass from them. And only after that you can remove the frames themselves. Otherwise, glass falling from the top floor can cause a lot of trouble.

After calling the measurer, do not hesitate to “get it” with questions and ask him to explain his actions to you. The fact is that at one time I relied on the professionalism of a person, and as a result, frames were delivered to me 200 mm shorter than the window opening.

There is one nuance here. As the guys who came to install the windows told me, the width of the support should be at least 50 mm and such a platform is installed strictly horizontally.

In my case, there was an ordinary, still Soviet, thin-rolled parapet. Plus, this parapet was skewed, the collapse at six meters was about 100 mm. As a result, I had to pay extra to people for the installation of the fiftieth corner.

Although if the parapet is concrete or brick, then consider yourself lucky. It is much easier to install frames on such capital structures. But in any case, you need to consult with those who will install.

Again, based on my own experience, I want to give one more piece of advice. If the loggia is long and the apartment is on a high floor, it is better to divide the entire structure into several sections. I had 2 sections of 3 meters each and these windows had to be raised on the seventh floor for about three hours. It's good that the time of delivery was agreed in advance, so you would have to pay more for this.

Parapet installation

As I said, the ideal option is when you initially have a capital parapet provided for by the project. I had to "fence" almost everything again. The first thought was to cut the grate to the supporting corner under the window frames and lay out the parapet of aerated concrete or facing bricks.

Facing brick is certainly beautiful, but to lay it, you need to be a bricklayer, you can’t do it randomly here. With aerated concrete, everything is much simpler, since it has clear shapes, and most importantly, it is mounted not on a cement-sand mortar, but on building glue.

But here another problem came up. It turns out that aerated concrete needs to be plastered with high quality from the outside, otherwise it will be saturated with moisture and begin to actively collapse. Plus, its warming qualities will disappear completely.

To plaster aerated concrete, hanging over the parapet with my own hands from the outside, and on the seventh floor, I honestly did not dare. It’s not that I didn’t know how to plaster at all, it’s just that you never know, working at height is a dangerous thing.

As a result, I settled on clinker panels without insulation, I really liked the look of beautiful brickwork. A clinker panel is a sheet trimmed with clinker tiles, in my case it was brickwork. Asbestos cement or waterproof OSB is taken as the basis. Of course, you can take a panel with insulation, where polyurethane foam is taken as the basis, but it costs almost half as much.

Since the support corner for the window frame was pushed a little beyond the lattice metal parapet, I horizontally fixed 4 rows of wooden bars from the outside and from the inside of the lattice. They then became the supporting frame for exterior decoration and interior insulation.

Outside there was a bar 30 mm thick, from the inside a bar 50 mm thick was installed. Plus, from the inside, between the horizontal bars, with a step of about a meter, I mounted vertical guides. The whole structure was pulled together and fixed with long self-tapping screws and metal clamps. Vertical and horizontal bars were fixed with corners between themselves.

Clinker panels are assembled as puzzles of the designer, the front part is solid. I screwed the panels themselves to the wooden crate with self-tapping screws with a press washer. Plus, to be sure, I fixed each panel at 3-4 points to the old metal lattice parapet.

For this, I used U-shaped iron clamps with a removable jumper. Self-tapping screws and clamps on the outside later smeared with grout. It is quite simple and it is not visible between the clinker tiles.

At the end, I blew out all the cracks from the inside with mounting foam. As a result, I got a solid facade in the form of an ideal brickwork. By the way, manufacturers of such outdoor panels give a guarantee on their product for 30 years.

If you don’t feel like messing with the parapet, you can do without the parapet at all. In this case, the fence is cut off completely, and, roughly speaking, a large plastic window frame is mounted instead. This is done by the same companies that deal with windows and this design is called “French Balcony”, but the price of such pleasure is solid.

A few words about the choice of insulation

The question of what is better to insulate the loggia is quite controversial. In general, there are several main contenders, but it all depends on the size of the budget and the desire to work independently.

• The classic and still the most beloved by the people material is polystyrene with a density of 25kg / m³. It is lightweight, not afraid of water, quite easy to install, and most of all, naturally, the low price of polystyrene attracts.
  In my opinion, the only drawback of polystyrene is its flammability, but to tell the truth, most of the heaters used in such structures suffer from this drawback;

• Mineral wool is also relatively cheap.. Previously, glass wool was used, but this is a poor choice, it is afraid of water and quickly cakes. Plus, for its installation, you need to wear gloves and a respirator. Otherwise, the glass will go into the skin, and you will itch for a long time.
  It is much easier to mount soft mineral wool mats, such hard protection is no longer needed with it;
• But if you buy, it is best to opt for dense basalt slabs, this material, if necessary, can even be plastered. Although remember, any cotton does not burn, but is afraid of moisture;

• The most fashionable material today is extruded polystyrene foam or Penoplex, as we call it. In essence, this is the same foam, only made using a different technology. But if the foam is considered a partially vapor-permeable material, then its extruded counterpart is an absolute waterproofing agent.
  Its thermal conductivity is one third lower, which means that where foam plastic 50 mm thick is mounted, extruded polystyrene foam 30 mm thick can be used.
  But personally, I like Penoplex for its high mechanical strength. This material is used to insulate the roadway, so it can easily be laid dry or wet for the floor;

• At the moment, the most expensive in the market of heaters is polyurethane foam.. This is a liquid insulation that can be sprayed onto a surface with any geometry. As a result, you get a solid insulating shell, without any gaps or cold bridges. This coating has excellent sound insulation.
  According to its characteristics, polyurethane foam is somewhat similar to extruded polystyrene foam. The problem is that in addition to its high cost, polyurethane foam can only be applied using special compressors, you cannot do it yourself;

Ignorant people are often offered to insulate the loggia with penoizol instead of polyurethane foam, it is sprayed in the same way as polyurethane foam. So I do not advise you to do this.
Behind an incomprehensible, tricky name, ordinary polystyrene is hiding, with the only difference being that it is sprayed in liquid form, and accordingly, they will ask for a lot of money for this. And why pay more if you can buy foam sheets and do practically the same thing, only at least 3 times cheaper.

• For reasons of economy, people sometimes insulate the floor on the loggia with expanded clay granules. Expanded clay is a porous, foamed and fired clay. In principle, the thing is good, but expanded clay is a loose material and is only suitable for the floor. In addition, he is afraid of moisture, and the worst thing is that the thickness of such an embankment starts from 150 - 200 mm. Accordingly, it can only be used in apartments with high ceilings;

• There is also such a “smart” insulation as penofol. This is a sheet of foamed polyethylene, coated on one or both sides with foil. In its structure, penofol partly resembles foam rubber. But the thickness of this material is only 10 - 15 mm. Therefore, in our case, it can only be used as an auxiliary, additional insulation.

In general, I believe that insulation should be comprehensive, only then it will be reliable and effective. That is, you can not rest on only one type of insulation, it needs to be supplemented with something.

Insulation of the facade parapet and load-bearing walls

For reasons of economy, I used 50 mm foam boards for the walls and ceiling. Of course, it would be better to mount extruded polystyrene foam, but it is about 2-3 times more expensive.

And the easiest way out is to call specialists, pay and let them fill everything with polyurethane foam, but I didn’t have so much money at that time, apartment repairs “ate” all the reserves.

As you remember, we have already assembled a 50 mm thick wooden beam frame. Now it remains to cut the foam sheets clearly according to the size of the finished niches and insert them there as tightly as possible, and fill the remaining small gaps with mounting foam.

But the coefficient of thermal conductivity of wood is several times higher than that of polystyrene, so the wooden frame will be a kind of cold bridge.

By and large, one could not pay attention to this, but we do it for ourselves, therefore, with the next layer, I fixed the foil foam with a continuous sheet over the entire inner surface of the parapet. Moreover, penofol must be fixed with foil inside the room, so the reflection of heat rays will be an order of magnitude higher.

As a finishing cladding, I chose a wooden lining. Accordingly, under it, I needed guides. To do this, I fixed another bar with a section of 30x40 mm on top of the penofol directly on the horizontal frame wooden beams.

The fact is that the minimum thickness of the bearing bars for a wooden crate is 25 mm, if you take it thinner, they can crack when you hammer in nails or screw in screws.

In addition to wooden lining, plastic or MDF panels can be mounted on such a crate. In general, everything you like, if desired, even drywall for plastering.

If instead of foam you choose basalt wool slabs, then the sequence will be slightly different. As I said, any cotton wool is afraid of moisture, so before installing it, you will need to fix the waterproofing layer.

After all, we have a clinker panel on the outside, and foil penofol on the inside. Both of these materials are vapor-tight. Accordingly, instead of expensive vapor barrier, you can safely put cheap technical polyethylene. The rest of the warming cake will be the same.

As for the walls, a wooden beam of 50x50 mm is also stuffed on them. After that, foam sheets are inserted, penofol is applied, the supporting crate is attached under the lining, and then the lining itself goes on. Naturally, polyethylene will have to be additionally laid under the cotton wool.

Ceiling insulation

The ceiling can be insulated in two ways. One thing I have already told you about. It is done in exactly the same way as we insulated the side walls.

Only wooden bars are attached to the ceiling with anchors, and the foam is not only inserted into niches, but also additionally glued to the ceiling. Then everything is as usual, we apply penofol, fix it with a counter crate under the lining and sew up the ceiling with a lining.

But I decided to go the simpler way: in this version, a wooden crate is not provided at all. The foam sheets here are simply glued to the reinforced concrete ceiling slab. These plates are absolutely even, so fixing problems, as a rule, do not arise.

Styrofoam can be glued to Liquid Nails, mounting foam or Ceresit CT83 construction adhesive. But in all these cases, it is desirable to cover the concrete slab with soil a couple of times.

• Glue "Liquid Nails" is sold in tubes adapted for a construction gun. This glue must first be smeared on a sheet of insulation, attach this sheet to the ceiling and immediately tear it off. Then the glue should dry a little for 5 to 7 minutes. After that, the sheet can be glued finally;
• Mounting foam is applied to the insulation in an arbitrary pattern and immediately applied to the ceiling. But this sheet will have to be pressed against the ceiling several times with an interval of 10 - 15 minutes. It is well known that the foam expands and until this process is completed, the sheet will move away from the ceiling;
• My favorite is the Ceresit CT83. This is a dry mix that is diluted with water, the instructions are on the package. Initially, it was created for gluing Penoplex, but since these materials have the same base, this mixture is also well suited for foam. It is applied with a notched trowel with a comb depth of up to 10 mm.

After I glued the foam to the ceiling in a continuous layer, blew out the gaps with foam and the glue finally set, I decided to plaster my ceiling over the foam. This is not difficult to do, the sequence of work is something like this:

1. Initially, on top of the foam, with the same comb spatula, I applied a layer of Ceresit CT83 glue. You can use the starting putty, but under it you will need to apply primer to the foam;
2. Until the glue hardened, I gently drowned a sickle (reinforcing fiberglass mesh) into it with a spatula;
3. After that, holes with a depth of 30 - 40 mm are made through the insulation with a perforator in a reinforced concrete slab. For each sheet, approximately 4 - 5 pieces;
4. Plastic dowels-umbrellas are inserted into these holes and fixed tightly in them. Such a dowel consists of a plastic body with an umbrella and a central rod. So, first, the dowel body itself is inserted all the way, and then the central rod is clogged;

1. At the last stage, a layer of finishing plaster is applied.

If you have a problem with plastering, and you are too lazy to attach a wooden crate under the lining, then you can make it even easier. In this case, the sheet of foil foam foam is simply glued to the foam.

If you decide to glue penofol to foam, carefully choose the glue. The instructions should indicate that it is suitable for these materials. Otherwise, penofol or polystyrene can corrode the solvent contained in the adhesive.

Floor insulation

Finally, we got to the arrangement of the floors. This stage is considered one of the main ones. The easiest way out is to install a wooden crate, lay insulation in the cavity and sew it all up with a floorboard. But such a “pie” will take at least 70 mm.

I wanted to make the floor as thin as possible, plus install an electrical "Heat Floor" system under it. Therefore, I decided to do without the crate, and took high-strength extruded polystyrene foam as the main insulation.

Previously, I had linoleum on my balcony, so removing it and cleaning the concrete slab to perfect condition was not a big deal. In my case, the plate turned out to be even, if the situation is different with your floors, then you will have to fill in a small screed. Penoplex is laid only on a perfectly flat surface.

If you do not have the proper experience in leveling the screed, then it is better to buy self-leveling compounds. They, of course, will cost more than a cement-sand mortar, but you don’t flood the hall, but just a loggia, you don’t need much material for it.

Before any insulation, the reinforced concrete floor of the loggia must be waterproofed. As a waterproofing, I used technical polyethylene. It is covered with a solid ball with entry to adjacent walls, just above the level of the finish coat. Then the excess is cut off.

Now it's time to install the penoplex. There is nothing complicated here. Penoplex sheets on the sides are equipped with docking grooves, as a result, the flooring is smooth and beautiful.

Underfloor heating can be equipped in different ways. If you have official permission for redevelopment and the loggia is equipped for living quarters, then it would be best to lay a water-heated floor and power it from the outlet of the radiator, which you will remove when you demolish the cabinet under the window block.

There are 2 types of electric underfloor heating, film and those that use a heating cable. Mats with a heating cable, as well as pipes of the water system, should be laid in a screed. I didn’t want to carry dirt and fill the screed, so I chose a film floor.

Film floors are laid quite simply. A foil material called isolon is laid on the previously laid extruded polystyrene foam. As far as I understand, this is one of the penofol derivatives.

Further, the heating elements themselves and the temperature sensor are laid on top of the isolon. The control panel is mounted on the wall nearby. From above, everything is covered with plastic wrap and you can proceed with the installation of the laminate.

The good news is that the complete set of such a system includes all the material, down to the smallest detail. I even had a CD with a video instruction. How to independently mount such a system is shown in the video in this article.

According to the rules, laminate planks should be mounted along the loggia. But no matter how hard I tried, the locks did not fit together well and constantly diverged. In the end, I left this hopeless task alone and mounted the laminate across the loggia. Fortunately, the slats just fit in size, I even had to trim a little.

Conclusion

I don't consider myself a real builder. And if I, possessing only the general skills of working with a traditional home tool, could make a major insulation of the loggia with my own hands, then it means that you can do it too, the main thing is not to be afraid. The photo and video in this article provides additional material on the topic. If you have any questions or have something to add, write in the comments, we'll talk.

September 7, 2016

If you want to express gratitude, add a clarification or objection, ask the author something - add a comment or say thanks!