A beautiful and cozy private house with 1-2-3 floors cannot be imagined as finished if it does not have a balcony. Beautiful and varied in shape, area, glazing, insulation, placement, balconies delight the eye and give the house outside its unique look. Of course, not only its appearance is the goal, it also carries a number of functional loads that increase the value and dignity of the house in general.
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It must be remembered that the construction of a balcony for a finished building can lead to high costs, therefore, its design should be carried out along with the general layout of the house. The balcony can become an area of increased danger, so it is better to entrust its design and construction to specialists.
The balcony extension can also serve as a place of rest, entertainment and even a workplace for a creative person. Many books and scientific papers have been written by thinking people sitting in armchairs and sun loungers on the balcony. The balcony with its base can serve as a roof over the porch, protecting it from rain, snow and other influences of natural and human factors. A balcony installed above the veranda helps to divide the facade of the house into two parts and creates the effect of a large air space and increases the apparent volume of the house.
And one more point - fire prevention. This refers to the ability in case of emergency to evacuate through such an emergency exit.
Minuses:
- the complexity of design and construction,
- partial heat leaks through balcony doors,
- in the case of concrete cantilever slabs, heat leaks through technological thermal bridges are possible,
- the need for approval at the planning stage for overview visibility from the balcony of the external environment and buildings of the neighbor,
- additional structures on the facade of a private house complicate and lead to higher costs at all stages of building a house.
Varieties
Concrete
This is the most common type, but it just requires a special approach. The concrete base of the balcony is quite heavy and puts significant stress on the walls of the house. If the walls are not massive enough and there are doubts about their strength, they put additional supports. Of course, they must be well executed and consistent with the overall design of the home.
Balcony slabs can be attached to the wall of the house in various ways:
- a slab clamped in the wall is only suitable for concrete and brick houses due to its weight. The width of such a balcony is up to 1 meter;
- a slab laid on several beams clamped in the wall at a distance of at least 80 centimeters from one another. Balcony width up to 1.2 meters;
- plate on thrust brackets, where the brace can fit to the edge of the cantilever part. Such a mount makes it possible to decorate the structure with any finish from attic to modern. Width up to 1.5 meters;
- the support at the end of the cantilevered slab in the main wall significantly expands its width;
- the balcony slab on 4 pillars already stands on its base and the balcony can be built after the completion of the main construction of the house, this is almost already a terrace on the second floor.
The outreach and depth of the balcony on a concrete base with an embedment in the wall should not go beyond one meter, the slope angle of the balcony slab from the horizontal position must necessarily be about 2%. A water-repellent coating must be installed on the surface of the concrete slab, which must be covered with a cement-sand screed. Metal racks are welded to the embedded steel elements; you need to worry about their artistic appearance in advance when deciding the question of the overall design.
The parapet handrails are attached to the uprights, the ends of the handrails are securely inserted and fixed in the load-bearing wall. The height of the parapet is not less than 1 meter. The artistic metal lathing of the balcony should not have the dimensions of cells that pose a danger to children. The balcony door should have a threshold 10 centimeters high.
Bay windows
The word bay window, which is rarely used in everyday life, does not even make many people think, like many foreign words. This word means one thing - it is the construction of the balcony type protruding beyond the facade of the building. Almost the same glazed balcony, but inside it is a continuation of the room. The shape of bay windows can be any, this is a huge field for fantasy and real embodiment.
There are various types of structures: rectangular, semicircular, with many faces, divided and solid windows, colored, mosaic and many others. The bay window is a part of the wall of the house, it is not an extension piece and the base under it is the same as that used by the house. Above the bay window, part of the structure is made in the form of ramps, but even here they are trying to add some kind of additive in order to distinguish themselves from the neighboring house. You can often see something like a turret above the bay window. A bay window hides very well outside under a roof, usually a gable.
One of the main functions of a bay window, however, like a balcony, is to change the shape of the interior space, to increase its area and illumination due to additional windows. The interior decoration, design, furnishings of the bay window make it possible to turn this small corner of the room into a fabulous place. It all depends on the desires and tastes of the owners of a private house.
Wooden
First, we make beams, for which we use a timber beam with dimensions of 10x20 centimeters. The beams will become the load-bearing elements of the balcony. The beams are impregnated with DL-3 solution and covered with waterproof materials. At a depth of at least 25 cm every 80 cm, the beams are attached to the load-bearing wall with steel corners. To the beams, you need to attach racks of wooden bars 4x10 cm. Then on the cantilever beams we lay and fix the boards of 6x9 centimeters at a distance of 30x40 cm between them. Next, we lay the floor from the boards of 40 mm.
A fence made of 3x13 cm boards is fastened with screws to the posts, handrails made of wood with dimensions of 4x9 cm are attached to the posts and rigidly fixed in the supporting wall. On the wooden handrail there should be no scoring or irregularities. The entire surface of the handrails must be carefully sanded and coated twice with a water-repellent frost-resistant varnish. All elements of a wooden balcony are either oiled or treated with hydrophobic paint.
It is always desirable for cantilever structures to be supported by vertical columnar posts to ensure the stability of the structure for a long period of time.
A little about the French balcony
As a rule, the balcony in a private house is open to be closer to nature, the fresh flow of forest air, to the smell of herbs. But there is also a closed type, the so-called "French". In a private house, you can decide to install all sorts of options for extensions in accordance with the tastes and wealth of the owners. Closed, fully glazed with a forged lattice, with beautiful transparent or tinted glass windows, stylish framing, such a balcony will decorate any home.
But there is one peculiarity in this. We do not tie the balcony to the general appearance of the house, but on the contrary, we will have to coordinate the entire external design with the future French balcony at the design stage of the whole house. Detailed step-by-step instructions for such a design are a separate complex topic. It is necessary to agree on the design of the room associated with the French balcony, their interior decoration, colors. All these are themes for the inspirational work of artists, designers, creative blacksmiths to create genuine masterpieces.
Awnings
Visors or awnings to some extent protect the balcony from rain, snow, falling leaves. There are several types of awnings:
- single-slope mounted on brackets with a sufficient slope for water drainage and snow sliding;
- in the form of a gable surface, more stable, does not accumulate snow, used for corner balconies;
- type "marquise", easy to install, does not hold snow and icicles;
- the dome canopy looks very solid in presentable houses;
- arched type combines presentability and cheapness.
The choice of your building from a wide variety of options will allow you to solve many functional problems, give individuality to your beloved home and create the prerequisites for a good rest near nature for many years.
