Almost all owners, carrying out a major reconstruction of an apartment or house, think about the lining of the balcony. Having finished it on the outside and ennobled on the inside, you can get additional living space. Of course, it will be cooler in it than, for example, in the living room or in the bedroom. However, with high-quality work, you can use such a room for a significant period - from early spring to late autumn. As for winter, with its arrival, a sheathed balcony will become a great buffer for cold air.
Of course, it is quite possible to insulate and finish the balcony with your own hands. But such work will require considerable effort and knowledge of the technology for their implementation, which must be familiarized with in advance.
How to install the balcony trim with your own hands? This issue will be discussed in this article.
Exterior decoration
The outer skin is designed to perform two functions. First of all, it protects the balcony railing, as well as all those materials that are behind it, including hydro-, thermal insulation and decorative coatings. The second function of the exterior cladding is to give this room an attractive appearance.
In order to implement the above functions, you will need to spend time and effort on the preliminary preparation of the balcony. Or rather, on his fence. When finishing the balcony with your own hands, you must adhere to the following scheme of work.
At the first stage, those elements of the fence are dismantled, which, due to the duration of operation, are held rather weakly. As a result, only a metal frame should remain near the outer wall. In some cases, this may be a concrete parapet, which is fixed on metal mortgages.
The next step involves repairing the fence. This is nothing more than a strengthening of a metal structure, which must be reinforced with additional load-bearing parts. In the presence of a concrete parapet, the cracks that have arisen in it are embroidered, filling them with cement mortar. In addition, the concrete slab can be impregnated with reinforcing penetrating compounds. These funds will be an excellent protection of the material from the damaging effects of moisture.
When finishing the outside of the balcony with your own hands, it should be borne in mind that if the old fence is in extremely poor condition, it is advisable to completely dismantle it. In his placea new frame is installed. It is made from a corner and a profile pipe. In the case of a concrete fence, such work involves the construction of a new parapet from concrete blocks. A prerequisite for this is the reinforcement of the masonry.
If a fence is being replaced during outdoor work, it is important to check how the concrete base is able to cope with the increased load. But be that as it may, it is recommended to reinforce this plate around the perimeter using a reinforcing belt. In addition, repair of its crumbling edge is necessary. Such work, even if the exterior decoration of balconies and loggias is done by hand, is recommended to be entrusted to specialists. After all, such repairs are not only very time-consuming, but also require a correct assessment of the bearing capacity of the foundation. And you can’t do this “by eye”.
Materials for outer skin
Exterior design for finishing balconies with your own hands usually involves the use of two options. With the first of them, the fence is sheathed with siding, and with the second - with corrugated board. There is also an economical option for such work. It involves the use of PVC lining. However, as practice shows, such panels "survive" only until the first heavy wind or hail. This leads to the fact that sometimes after three years such balcony cladding will require a major replacement.
Siding, along with corrugated board, is strong enough. That is why their use when conducting independent work is the most preferable.
Siding sheathing
Ninety percent of the timethis material, when finishing the balcony with their own hands, is fixed in a horizontal position. If it is planned to mount it on a perfectly flat slab, then no preliminary work is required.
How to make a do-it-yourself balcony decoration if there are surface irregularities? For high-quality work, you will need to make a frame. It is made from wooden bars with a section of 40x40 mm, which are pre-impregnated with an antiseptic. After cutting the necessary parts, they are fixed on the fence.
Having studied the step-by-step instructions for finishing the balcony with your own hands, they proceed to carry out further work. To mount the frame, first two vertical fragments are attached close to the walls. After that, the details of the crate are installed, the pitch of which should not exceed 60 cm. This will prevent the sheathing from “playing”. Further, at the corners, two beams are butt-jointed. They will bear the greatest burden.
The next step is to mount the horizontal bars on the bottom and top. The lower one is installed on anchors that are screwed into pre-prepared holes in the ends of the balcony slab. The top beam is laid on the railing. It will also support future glazing.
When finishing the balcony with do-it-yourself siding, it is important to ensure that all the bars are aligned on the same plane. This can be done using mounting wedges. They are driven into the gaps between the base and the timber. Thus, even the most crooked balconies are visually aligned with the help of cladding.
After the arrangement of the frame, they begin to install the siding. The beginning of the dataworks is the installation of corner slats. Further, the internal corners located along the walls, as well as the external ones, located at the junction of the planes, are fixed. After that, the corner strips are set exactly vertically.
The next step in the exterior decoration of the balcony with your own hands with siding involves attaching the starting bar to the batten below. The plastic panel must be aligned strictly horizontally and placed with the institution in the corner strips. Next, the next row is laid. The siding panels located in it snap into place on the bottom bar and are fixed with self-tapping screws to the crate. Further, all actions are repeated. As for the last panels, sometimes they have to be cut along. This will allow the edge of the structure to be at the level of the top beam of the wooden crate. The rows of panels are completed with a finishing profile or a drainage strip.
It is necessary to carry out all the work described above using a suspension system. After all, the arrangement of the frame and the installation of siding while inside the balcony are impossible. The best way out in this case is to involve specialists. But if the owner nevertheless decided to sheathe the balcony on his own, then he should do this only with high-quality insurance.
Sheathing with corrugated board
Exterior decoration of a balcony room with a metal profiled sheet with an anti-corrosion coating is performed somewhat differently. In this case, the process is not so laborious due to the large dimensions of the parts. In addition, the cost of such material is low.
At the first stage of suchwork under the skin, it is necessary to make a crate. It is a structure consisting of two or three belts of wooden beams, pre-impregnated with an antiseptic. The bottom row of the crate should be approximately 50 cm from the edge of the fence. And the top at the same time - at the level of the railing. Bars of this design are fixed to the parapet either with anchors or self-tapping screws. When fastening to a metal frame, bolts inserted into pre-drilled holes fixed from the inside with nuts can be used.
Stiffening ribs of corrugated board during installation must be placed vertically. This will allow water to flow freely. All sheets are fixed with special self-tapping screws with thermal washers. The corrugated board is connected with the same fasteners in places of overlap. Upon completion of installation, additional elements are installed, which are internal and external corner plates, ebbs, peaks, etc.
Glazing
Do-it-yourself interior decoration of a balcony is not rational in all cases. They resort to it when the owners set themselves the goal of turning this room into a comfortable enough place to stay here during the warm period. And in this case, the interior decoration will need to be protected from precipitation. That is why the lining of the balcony from the inside should be done only after it has been glazed.
You can call specialists to install translucent structures. But if desired, the installation can be done independently. At the first stage of their implementation, the foundation is being preparedfor windows. It can be installed on railings. However, sometimes the fence raises doubts about its strength or is simply carried forward. In such cases, it will be necessary to prepare the structure by placing a bar with a section of 50x50 mm strictly horizontally on the supports. After that, the parameters of window openings can be finally determined, according to which glazing is ordered. It can be wooden, aluminum, but the most effective in terms of cost savings and energy saving are PVC windows.
After installing the ceiling visor, the acquired frames are lifted onto the balcony railing, aligned in three planes and attached with anchors to the supporting structures. For reliable fixation, mounting plates are used or dowels are inserted into the holes drilled through the frame. Further, all the gaps formed between the opening and the frame are filled with self-expanding foam. At the final stage of such work, the double-glazed windows themselves are installed.
Waterproofing
Before lining the balcony from the inside with your own hands, it is advisable to do work that will protect the finishing material from damage. For this, waterproofing is done at the initial stage. It involves filling the joints with sealant in those places where the balcony base adjoins the fence and walls. For this, ordinary polyurethane foam can also be used. However, moisture-resistant materials are more suitable here. In addition, a layer of mastic made on the basis of rubber or bitumen is applied to the concrete base. It will become an impenetrable barrier toliquid.
Insulation
After the waterproofing work is completed, a material is installed that will protect the balcony from the cold. It fits into the cells of a pre-prepared frame located on the inside of the fence. In the future, the inner lining itself will also be held on the same structure. The thermal insulation material for the balcony can be mineral wool or foam plastic, on top of which a vapor barrier membrane or foil polyethylene is laid.
Before the balcony is finished inside with your own hands, a rough flooring of boards and plywood must be installed on the floor logs.
Materials for room cladding
So, the balcony is protected from moisture and insulated. Then it is trimmed with decorative materials. Which one is better to choose? In this case, the material can be anything. However, when choosing it, it is necessary that the inner lining of the balcony is as follows:
moisture resistant;
strong in its mechanical characteristics;
easy to install;
attractive in appearance
Let's consider the two most popular options that match these criteria.
Clapboard
This material is a specially shaped board made of solid wood. There is a groove on one side of the lining, and a spike on the other. The dimensions and shape of the latter allow all the elements of the skin to be joined together.
Finishing the balcony with clapboarddo-it-yourself is an attractive option as this material:
does not collapse even with prolonged contact with a humid environment;
keeps warm well;
exploited for a long period;
due to its strength, it allows shelves and other small parts to be attached to the skin without first installing mortgages
Obvious disadvantage is only the price of the material.
How to make a do-it-yourself clapboard decoration on a balcony? Step-by-step instructions provide for a series of sequential work.
- Boards are cut, the length of which is 20-30 mm less than the height of the room. Such a gap will be needed so that the skin can freely deform.
- The lining board is pinned to the crate. After leveling, it is nailed to a pre-prepared frame. The nails are driven at an angle into the groove.
- The next board is mounted. Its spike slides into the groove already installed. Next, alignment and fastening are repeated.
- After the inner cladding is completed, the wood is treated with a protective compound. For this, waxes, oils, stains and varnishes are used.
In addition to lining, there are also a large number of other natural materials. According to the scheme described above, a false beam, planken and block house are installed.
Plastic panels
This material is used in cases where precipitation is almost guaranteed to penetrate into the room. This is possible with single-row or sliding glazing. At the same time, it is recommended to finish the balcony with your own hands.panels made of PVC. Such products have a design similar to lining. They are absolutely moisture resistant, which allows you to protect the bearing surfaces and insulation by almost 100 percent. In addition, the cost of such material is low.
Finishing a balcony with PVC panels with your own hands involves some work. At the first stage, you will need to mount the plinth. It is located at the junction of the ceiling and walls. This plinth should have a special groove for the panels. How do you finish the PVC balcony with your own hands? At all corners of the room, installation of vertical corner plates is required. After this preparation, the plastic panels must be cut to size with a fine-toothed saw or knife. The prepared material is inserted into the grooves of the plinth. The ends that ended up in the corners must be brought into the corner profiles.
How is the balcony trim fixed with plastic panels? It is easy to do it with your own hands. The plastic is fixed to the pre-prepared frame using greasy staples, small self-tapping screws or “liquid nails” glue. It should be borne in mind that the latter option will subsequently become an obstacle to dismantling the panels.
