The balcony and the loggia are not much different from each other in terms of their functional purpose. The balcony is more complex in design, has three open sides, protrudes beyond the border of the facade of the house and has a fence. Most of the balconies are of cantilever construction, but there are already many residential buildings in which the extension of the balcony rests on the side walls of the lower floor, and so on to the base of the house.
It is necessary to take into account the financial and legal aspect. The living space of the apartment is estimated taking into account the presence of a loggia or balcony and, accordingly, its price rises. In the case of a balcony, the area increment coefficient is 0.3, in the case of a loggia it will be 0.5. Considering the rise in prices for each square meter, this can be a significant amount.
The loggia, combined with the room, has only one open side, which makes it easier to carry out work on the improvement of such a room. And such an important work for the whole apartment is the insulation of the loggia with your own hands. If the owner of an apartment with a loggia decided to glaze, insulate and decorate the loggia, then he must prepare for this in the minimum theoretical and financial and economic terms.
Do I need to transform my loggia? We look into this room, we go several times a day and it is not very pleasant to see her cold, uncleaned, neglected. And if it is a renovated, insulated, "almost" finished room with a good design, then the mood of the whole family when visiting the loggia will invariably improve.
How can you insulate?
Mineral and glass wool is produced in the form of rolls and slabs of different sizes. This is the most common insulation for loggias and similar rooms. Easy to install, it fills walls and floors well. Working with mineral wool and glass wool requires careful handling in terms of exposure to workers. Can absorb condensation.
Penoplex in the form of slabs of different colors. Prepared in the correct shape with chamfers for fast and tight placement. Requires caution when handling chemical solvents.
Polyethylene foam with aluminum foil, which has a heat reflector effect. Thin enough, easily deformable, easy to cut and fit.
Polyfoam in the form of square and rectangular plates, it is easy to cut and fit, it serves for a long time.
Extruded polystyrene foam can be widely used due to its strength and durability, convenience when working with it as thermal insulation. But working with him is quite voluminous and takes a lot of time.
With the help of a sprayer, polyurethane foam polyurethane foam quickly covers rather large areas. After spraying, the surface needs to be processed, but this will take much less time compared to expanded polystyrene.
Penofol. These are rolls of foamed polyethylene with glued aluminum foil. Very convenient to lay, deforms to cover in the most inconvenient places. No multi-layer installation is required, its maximum thickness of 10 mm is sufficient to obtain a significant thermal insulation effect, which is enhanced by the reflective properties of the aluminum foil. Sometimes penofol of small thickness is laid on top of the main insulation.
In general, the scope of work is quite large:
- Cleaning the loggia.
- Dismantling of old structures.
- Glazing.
- Wiring works.
- The choice of insulation.
- Insulation of walls, ceilings, floors.
- Interior decoration.
We remove all things from the loggia, and we must resolutely say goodbye to unnecessary and old things and put them in the trash. Maybe there have already been attempts to transform the loggia, but everything slowed down at the initial stage or was done in haste, based on the capabilities of that period. We carefully dismantle these structures so as not to damage the main parts of the loggia. Some details will be needed for the lathing of the walls and floor, but only if they have retained the qualities we need.
After that, analyze the state of all the details of the loggia, thoroughly clean everything, treat it with disinfectants. We make all measurements, calculate the area of insulation, the required amount of basic and auxiliary materials. Before insulating and finishing the loggias, if there was no glazing, we carry out these works.
We carry out wiring work for the possible connection of an electric heater or wiring for heated floors, this is done after the sheathing of the floors and walls, so as not to open the laid materials later.
In a panel house
If the loggia is in a panel house, then some features must be taken into account. Possible glazing and insulation of loggias was not initially planned. Further exploitation of panel houses revealed many disadvantages. These are concrete panels of low quality, and sometimes completely defective, poor sealing of joints at the joints of the slabs and, in general, in comparison with brick buildings, concrete structures have increased thermal conductivity.
Heat escapes from the apartments through the open aperture of loggias in panel houses. Therefore, the issue of glazing and insulation of loggias in such houses becomes relevant. These two problems lead to the third, quality finishes and good design.
When panel houses were built, fire safety required the arrangement of fire hatches and open loggias and balconies. Now the requirements have softened, in new buildings there are no longer fire hatches and ladders, but changes in the appearance of the loggias must be coordinated with the local supervisory authorities.
It is better to spend time and some money and get an official permit for glazing a loggia or balcony, than then for a long time and less successfully seeking permission under the threat of a fine and various legal and financial costs. These services can fix a dangerous redevelopment and force everything to return to its original state, and even issue a large fine.
Preparatory work
Fencing a loggia with a parapet requires special preparation, a reliable and durable basis for closing a balcony or loggia with any windows depends on it. If the parapet is not even along the entire length, then later this can lead to distortions and difficulties in opening and closing the window sashes.
We align the upper end, close up all the cracks and close the outside with siding.
We prepare everything you need. We need to always have at hand:
- Polyfoam as insulation.
- Wooden slats of different sizes from 2x5 to 3x4.5 cm.
- Polyurethane foam.
- Hangers (preferably galvanized).
- Vapor barrier film.
- Various guides.
- Plastic dowels.
- Logs 5x7 cm (wood).
- Scotch tape (reinforced).
- Disinfectants.
We work using the tool:
- Electric puncher.
- Electric jigsaw.
- Foam gun.
- Level, better than laser, if not, then you need a level.
- Pliers, pliers.
- Shears for cutting sheet metal.
- Electric screwdriver.
- Roulette 3-5 meters.
- Carpenter's pencil and marker.
- Hammers, including rubber hammers.
- Different screwdrivers, a knife.
If the type and the required amount of insulation have already been calculated according to the SNiP methodology and tables, then you can purchase it, as well as all other materials and start work.
- We attach suspensions to the ceiling, which will be needed for attaching the guides.
- We make slots in the foam for access to the suspensions.
- We fix the foam plates with foam or plastic dowels.
- We fill all cracks and holes with polyurethane foam.
- We insulate the floor
Bars, pre-treated with bioseptic DL-3, are laid on the floor of the loggia. This will be the main support for further insulation work. We check the horizontal level with the level and, if necessary, level with glazing beads. The protruding part of the insulating material must not protrude more than 5 mm.
Using self-tapping screws, we attach the logs to the support bars, correctly maintaining the distance between them in accordance with the dimensions of the foam plates or other thermal insulating material. We install thermal insulation.
Cover the surface with aluminum foil upward with a vapor barrier film.
To get the "thermos effect", we glue all connections with mounting tape.
A little about a warm field
Sometimes, to improve the thermal environment in the loggia, heated floors are arranged. These heating systems can be water or electric. It must be remembered that if you have chosen underfloor heating, then this is not only a source of warmth and comfort, but also a thermal effect on the material of the floor covering. It may happen that the material above the thermal system is so good that all the heat is given off to the concrete base. In the worst case, high temperatures can lead to the release of harmful substances and gases from plastic materials.
Water heating is not installed in apartment buildings, so as not to disrupt the general thermal water supply system. This requires complex calculations with the participation of housing and communal services.
In case of electric underfloor heating, it is better to lay ceramic tiles on top of the electrical elements. The power of the electric heating elements must not exceed 150 W / m2. The installation of a warm floor is laborious and requires the participation of specialists. You can do it yourself, but in this case you cannot avoid mistakes that can have negative consequences.
And one more piece of advice. Before deciding to install a warm floor in a loggia or in other areas of the apartment, you should consult with doctors. Warm floors are not always the path to health.
Thermal insulation of walls from the inside
If the side walls are adjacent to the room walls, then they do not need insulation, it is enough to take care of the front wall of the loggia and the insulation of the corners adjacent to the front wall. The parapet after glazing the opening became the wall of the loggia with a window. If one of the side walls of the loggia is a continuation of the end wall of the corner apartment, then it is also insulated, like the front wall. In the case when the side walls are partitions with an adjacent loggia, then they must be completely insulated inside.
Before insulating the loggia from the inside, the walls are thoroughly cleaned, treated with bioseptic agents to protect against fungi and mold. Next, we fill the crate on the walls. The thickness of the beams should be 5 mm lower than the thermal insulation board. We attach the slabs with a foam glue gun, and then fix them with plastic dowels with locking screws.
Dowel holes
We drill the wall with a perforator to a depth of 3/4 of the dowel length, so that the part of the dowel passing through the slab can press the slab with its head against the crate. We insert the dowel body into the holes, a rod or screw into the dowel and carefully hammer or screw in the rod. The dowel is fixed.
Insulator plates should not be butted together. If there are no joining grooves at the ends of the slabs, then it is necessary to use thin slabs and assemble them with an overlay with a shift.
Finishing
To decorate the loggia from the inside, we prepare the material, read a little theory and, following the step-by-step instructions of many good articles, feel free to start work. Recall that the most popular material for finishing loggias and balconies is "lining". This is a board made of wood with a groove-thorn profile 1.5 cm thick and 9 cm wide. There are also Euro-battens and block-houses for cylindrical logs. PVC panels of various colors and shades, width 25-30cm allows you to quickly cover large areas.
MDF panels in the form of panels, pressed from wood fibers, covered with a PVC-based film. The durability is low, unstable to moisture, only glazed balconies should be finished. Drywall speeds up the work, but also requires finishing. A very spectacular and beautiful look is given to the loggia by finishing with decorative plaster of three types, structural, textured and Venetian. The technology is voluminous, but quite accessible to a layman.
