Balconies and loggias have recently become part of a particular living room. However, if you want to make this room only slightly warmer, then appropriate work should be carried out. Thermal insulation of a balcony with polystyrene foam is a rather laborious process, so it is recommended that you first become familiar with the technology of the work. There are many solutions on the market of modern building materials that could be suitable for this. However, one of the most popular and inexpensive is foam. That is why it has become so widespread.
Why choose Styrofoam
The popularity of foam plastic is also due to the ease of its installation, as well as its low weight. This material has excellent insulating properties and exhibits excellent resistance to aggressive media. The temperature of its operation varies in a fairly wide range and can range from -180 to +80 ° C. If you want to sewbalcony with polystyrene foam, you can be sure that it will be resistant to biological attack. Fungus and mold will not appear on its surface during the entire service life.
Preparation of tools and materials
Insulation of the balcony with foam plastic eliminates the need to use an additional vapor barrier, because the described thermal insulation provides high vapor transmission capacity. The material practically does not let water through, therefore it also has waterproofing properties.
Before starting work on insulation, it is necessary to prepare the following materials and tools:
- wood slats;
- dowels with caps;
- mounting foam;
- self-tapping screws;
- sheets of hydroisol or roofing felt.
It is important to determine how much material is required for insulation before going to the store. You should not buy the cheapest thermal insulation, because in this case its quality will not be the highest.
Preparatory work
If you decide to sheathe a balcony, then first you need to prepare. It is important to remove all old things, prepare the walls and floor, and dismantle the old balcony frames. If the house has a tiled finish, then it is better to remove it within the balcony. Railings and partitions can be left - they will act as additional thermal insulation. At the final stage, you can sheathe the surface with plastic or otherfinishing material.
Leveling and thermal insulation of the floor
If you will carry out the insulation of the balcony with your own hands, step-by-step instructions will help with this. It is important to know before starting work that almost a quarter of the heat is lost through the floor. Therefore, it is best to start thermal insulation from this part. To do this, old coatings are removed, the base plate should also be checked. It may have cracks, voids and holes that are sealed with mortar.
Insulation of the balcony with polystyrene involves the need to apply a primer to the floor surface, which will help to avoid the formation of mold and dampness. Styrofoam can be used as a material for insulation, on the surface of which a fine finish is laid, usually ceramic tiles.
Additional recommendations for floor insulation
Quite often, recently, home craftsmen have been insulating the balcony with their own hands. The step-by-step instructions presented in the article will help you with this. For the floor, it is best to use 5 cm slabs of the PPT-25 brand. The number indicates the density of the material. If you choose a heater with a less impressive density, then it cannot be used for the described work.
Before laying the foam on the floor, a layer of waterproofing is covered, which can be a regular film. Styrofoam plates should be cut to size and laid as tightly as possible on the surface of the oilcloth. Anything is possible from above.fill with a cement-sand mixture, the thickness of which will be approximately 5 cm. Self-leveling compounds can also be used, but they are more expensive.
As soon as the screed dries, work on the insulation of the balcony can be continued. A wooden crate is fixed on a concrete base and leveled using a building level. For fasteners, it is recommended to use roofing screws with a bolt head. Slots along the perimeter are filled with mounting foam where the crate adjoins the walls.
Thermal insulation should be placed between the transverse bars. There should be no gaps between the insulation and the structure. If this could not be avoided, then the gaps should be filled with mounting foam. When doing this, it is recommended to use a gun, and the foam jet should be minimal.
Work methodology
If you are thinking about how to make a warm balcony, then at the next stage, using a construction stapler and 10 mm staples, you need to fix the cotton wool on the crate, then there is a plastic film that will prevent the previous layer from getting wet. The final step will be the laying of boards or plywood, any material can be laid on top. It can act as:
- laminate;
- linoleum;
- euroboard;
- carpet.
You can use this method of thermal insulation only in the area where winters are not very severe. The disadvantage of this technology is that bars are laid on the surface of the slab, which have a largethermal conductivity compared to thermal insulation. The result is islands of heat loss.
Wall insulation
If you will use polystyrene foam to insulate the balcony from the inside, then the next step is to start insulating the walls. For finishing in this case, PVC panels are usually used. Styrofoam is attached to the walls with cement glue. It is applied to the thermal insulation with a thin layer, as well as to the ends of the sheet, where the sheets will be pressed against each other and against the wall.
In order to ensure a more secure fastening, each sheet should be additionally fixed with dowel-nails that have wide caps called mushrooms. To do this, using a drill with a victorious tip, it is necessary to make holes, and then install a dowel and hammer in a nail. The dowel head should be slightly recessed into the material.
As soon as the insulation is strengthened, penofol should be installed on it using liquid nails, it will act as an additional layer of thermal insulation. In order to achieve the best result, it is recommended to use whole pieces. The seams between the material must be sealed with foil tape.
The technology of insulation of the balcony with foam plastic in the area of the walls at the next stage provides for the need to fix wooden slats with subsequent fastening of the finishing material. The thickness of the slats can vary from 3 to 5 cm, this will save the usable area.
The slats must be reinforced with metal corners thatare fixed with dowel-nails and self-tapping screws. To the bar, one end of the corner should be strengthened using a self-tapping screw, while the other end should be fixed with a dowel-nail to the wall. The distance between the slats can vary from 35 to 40 cm.
Reviews on the thermal insulation of the balcony with foam plastic
After reading the reviews about the insulation of the balcony with polystyrene foam, you can find out what some home craftsmen believe: the crate of the bars should be strengthened first, and then a heater should be placed between its elements. This method is not suitable for balcony walls, as experts believe. In this case, you run the risk of forming many islands of heat loss on the surface, because wood has a greater heat transfer compared to insulation.
According to some home craftsmen, paint can be used as a finish. In this case, it is possible to save space and money, because you do not have to install the crate. As soon as the foam is glued, the dowel caps must be covered with putty or glue, with which the material was installed. After the layer has dried, the foam base must be glued with a reinforced mesh. As soon as the surface dries, another layer of adhesive should be applied and smoothed with a spatula. At the final stage, putty is applied, and after that - a primer and paint.
Parapet insulation
Polyfoam - a heater that can be used to insulate any part of the balcony, including the parapet. However, the technology in this case will have somepeculiarities. If there are gaps on the parapet between the sheathing of concrete slabs, then they should be filled with mounting foam. Since the parapet is located between the balcony and the street, it is subjected to temperature stress. This indicates that the thickest insulation should be used for thermal insulation.
Sometimes the parapet has a metal structure. In this case, foam blocks of small thickness can be used, on top of which foam plates are glued. If you decide to lay sheets of thermal insulation to a metal parapet, then two layers should be used. At the same time, insulation of the balcony with foam plastic provides for the need to install a crate.
It is necessary to cut the plates in such a way that there is a space of 1 cm between the bar and the foam sheet. Next, the sheet is put in place and filled with mounting foam in a circle. After you can proceed to the installation of the second crate. This must be done in such a way that the bars of the first are not connected to the bars of the second. Mounting foam is applied in a zigzag manner, and another sheet must be installed on the glued foam sheet, filling the gaps with foam.
Conclusion
Polyfoam - a heater that is also perfect for thermal insulation of the main wall. Quite often, these works are not carried out, because they are able to take up a usable area of 50 mm or more. If you still decide to insulate the main wall, then you need to act by analogy with the balcony walls.
