Many apartment owners in urban high-rise buildings today prefer to glaze their balconies. Loggias, closed from the impact of external adverse weather factors, become much more convenient to use and functional. Balconies of city apartments or country cottages can be glazed in a cold or warm way. At the same time, the latest technology among property owners, despite its relative high cost, is very popular.
What is the technology and key features
They call warm glazing a procedure in which, by installing sealed double-glazed windows and installing special insulators, a balcony is, in fact, transformed into another living space in an apartment or house. After performing such an operation, the loggia can be fully used not only in winter, but also in summer.
Where it can be used
Most often, the technology of warm glazing is used, of course, precisely in the arrangement of balconies and loggias. But it's stillfar from the only area of application of such a technique. Such glazing can also be an excellent solution for arranging, for example:
- terraces and verandas of country houses;
- facades of various kinds of shopping centers, kiosks, public buildings.
In all these cases, sealed bags with a special type of profile are used for glazing, which can retain heat well.
Benefits of using
This type of decoration of balconies and facades actually has a lot of advantages. The main advantages of warm glazing are:
- low heat loss, and therefore lower heating costs (in private homes);
- no drafts in the main rooms;
- no condensation on the windows;
- excellent level of soundproofing;
- aesthetic appearance.
Balconies and loggias, equipped in this way, can be decorated using absolutely any modern finishing materials.
Flaws
There are practically no significant disadvantages of warm glazing. The main disadvantage of this technology, the owners of apartments and country houses consider its rather high cost. Also, the disadvantages of such glazing include:
- reducing the usable area of a balcony or veranda;
- reducing the intensity of the luminous flux;
- complexity of installation work.
Independently perform such glazing at the owner of an apartment or a country house, of coursewell, it's unlikely to work. And the services of craftsmen who specialize in the production of this type of work are usually expensive.
When performing warm glazing on a balcony, the parapet is additionally sheathed with insulating materials, which often have a significant thickness. This is the reason for the decrease in the usable area of the loggia.
Installation rules
When installing warm glazing, it is important to pay attention to the following points.
- Sealing the loggia should be as reliable as possible. The presence of "cold bridges" in such structures is unacceptable.
- Measurements before glazing should be made as carefully as possible. No "extras" can be mounted when assembling warm glazing.
- To equip a balcony in this way, only high-quality double-glazed windows with seals should be used.
- A warm facade, among other things, must also be well ventilated. This is ensured by the installation of ventilation valves in wooden profiles, and special shutters in metal-plastic profiles.
Main steps
When converting a balcony or loggia into a living space, which can be used even in winter, craftsmen usually perform the following types of work:
- preparing the parapet - metal, if necessary, strengthen, cracks and holes are closed in the concrete;
- special support brackets are attached to the parapet;
- mount the frame for fastening double-glazed windows;
- mount window sill;
- install double-glazed windows themselves;
- blow out all the cracks.
Next, proceed to the insulation of the parapet, floor and ceiling of the loggia. Then mount the finish. The wiring to the loggia is stretched before the start of the insulation work. After installation of the fine finish, a lamp and a switch are mounted, and, if necessary, a socket is installed. The last procedure is usually performed when they want to additionally equip an insulated balcony with an electric heater.
Stages of facade glazing installation
At the moment, the following types of similar structures can be equipped:
- post-transom;
- semistructural and structural;
- modular;
- frameless spider and cable-stayed.
The most popular method of installing warm facade glazing is post-transom. In this case, the assembly of the structure is carried out approximately according to the following technology:
- Calculate the side of the dominant winds and, taking this into account, determine the location of the facade.
- Install vertical racks. Such structures are mounted using almost the same technology as, for example, a frame in plasterboard partitions.
- Produce frame insulation. To do this, a waterproofing agent is first mounted between the beams, and then a heater.
- Mount sealed double-glazed windows on the frame. For their fastening, special rubber glazing beads are used to ensure a snug fit.
How is the replacement of glazing for warm
Owners of apartments or country houses can perform this procedure on their own. After all, double-glazed windows in this case on the loggia or balcony are already initially installed. The owner of the loggia only needs to insulate its parapet, floor and ceiling.
Cold glazing is replaced with warm glazing in most cases as follows:
- the loggia is covered with a waterproofing film (concrete structures can also simply be smeared with two layers of bituminous mastic);
- wood frame being installed;
- mineral wool boards are mounted between the frame posts;
- a vapor barrier is stuffed onto the rails of small thickness;
- finishing is mounted.
The ceiling of the loggia is also insulated using the same technology, which is usually the base plate of the balcony of the apartment on the top floor. Mineral wool slabs in this case can be additionally fixed on plastic "fungi".
The floors on the loggias are insulated using this technology:
- removing old boards;
- clean the base plate from dirt and smear it with mastic if necessary;
- between the lags, mineral wool slabs are laid or expanded clay is poured;
- mount the floor boards back.
In some cases, not mineral wool, but expanded polystyrene can be used as a heater when covering balconies. Such material is considered suitable for finishing, for example, loggias with a concrete parapet that does not have gaps. Expanded polystyrene on such balconies is glueddirectly on the surface of the fence, and the ceiling.
A variety of materials can be used as decorative cladding when insulating loggias with mineral wool. But most often the glazed balconies of apartments and cottages are trimmed with clapboard or PVC panels. When using polystyrene foam as a heater, the loggias at the final stage are in most cases plastered using decorative compounds.
Replacing facades
This procedure is also carried out in various public buildings using a rather simple technology. In this case, at first, ordinary cold double-glazed windows are simply removed, then the frame is insulated, and at the final stage, new sealed windows with special profiles are installed. In this way, warm glazing of facades is obtained.
