And on the balcony during the cold season it will be possible to grow plants and relax, admiring the scenery outside the window. Of great importance is, first of all, the insulation of the floor on the balcony and loggia. What materials are used for this, and which ones are optimal for each specific case?
Before starting work on floor insulation, you should make sure of the strength of the balcony or loggia. The structure must withstand a layer of insulation, and if in doubt, it is better to start work by replacing concrete slabs. A thicker layer of insulation is not always better - the floor should not be higher than in the adjacent room. Now let's look at the most popular warrants for heaters.
# 1. Styrofoam
Stone wool is produced in slabs and rolls, but it can also be in granular form and with a special installation directed to the insulated surface in order to fill all the cracks. In whatever form the mineral wool may be, its main advantages are:
- good thermal insulation properties. The coefficient of thermal conductivity is approximately on the same level as the foam, so the material will provide excellent protection and will not release valuable heat;
- the ability to pass air - the microclimate of the balcony will be in perfect order;
- incombustibility;
- soundproofing properties;
- resistance to mechanical damage;
- rock wool is not touched by rodents;
- durability;
- affordable price.
The combination of all these advantages explains the wide distribution of the material. It is worth noting that glass wool and slag wool will cost less, but they are more fragile, and all work will need to be carried out in protective equipment.
No. 3. Expanded clay
For insulation of the floor on the balcony and loggia, they are often used. This material is made from clay that is fired at high temperatures. As a result, oval-shaped granules with a porous structure are obtained. The material is able to make even the coldest floor warm and comfortable, and this is exactly what is needed. When working with material, it is important to take into account a number of nuances. Since expanded clay is porous, it able to absorb moisture, therefore, the waterproofing layer must be strong and reliable. The material is very fragile, you need to work with it extremely carefully. Expanded clay insulation technology does not allow to make a layer of insulation less than 15 cm what you need to consider in order not to get too high a floor.
Despite all the nuances of working with expanded clay, this insulation it has a lot of advantages:
- light weight;
- low price;
- excellent performance of heat and sound insulation;
- fire resistance and frost resistance;
- durability;
- environmental friendliness.
No. 4. Penofol
Penofol is one of the most modern insulation materials that combines the advantages of foam and mineral wool, but at the same time the material is very thin, therefore it is optimal in cases where every centimeter of space counts. Penofol consists of foamed polyethylene and aluminum foil, and its action resembles a regular thermos. The material does not retain the warmth of the room, but reflects it. Penofol is produced in rolls with a thickness of 3-10 mm.
The main advantages of the material:
Experts say that penofol is one of the best and most reliable heaters at the moment... But some disadvantages are inherent in him. So, the material is soft enough, and when installing it, it is better not to use nails, so as not to violate the integrity and basic properties of the material. Despite the excellent properties of penofol, today it is usually used not as an independent insulation, but in a set with other materials.
No. 5. Foam glass
For loggias and balconies, the number of possible heaters is greatly reduced due to specific conditions. You have to give up, for example, from, but can be used. By its composition, the material is ordinary silicate glass, but the production method allows you to add unique properties. Glass waste is crushed into powder, melted, and due to the action of a gas generator in the form of coke or coal, the mass increases tenfold and acquires a porous structure. Not only is such a material much lighter than glass, so it has many other advantages:
Due to its high cost, foam glass is not often used to insulate residential buildings and, moreover, loggias and balconies. In terms of the aggregate performance, this is an ideal insulation.
In Russia, few can boast of spacious apartments, most of the city's residents live in small cars. Therefore, our people value every piece of their home so much and strive to make it as functional as possible. And the loggia, if desired, can become a wonderful and comfortable corner in which a work area, a children's corner for games or a relaxation area with a cozy armchair and a coffee table will be harmoniously arranged. Organizing additional living space in a small apartment allows you to simply insulate the balcony with your own hands.
For this transformation, it is first necessary to carry out thermal insulation measures. And, first of all, spend floor insulation on the loggia because the concrete slab under your feet does nothing to create a cozy corner. The heat from the inside of the loggia will not persist and your work will be in vain. And the better to insulate the loggia, the more comfortable and cozy it will be.
With this publication, we want to help everyone who wants to find the right solution to how to insulate the floor on the balcony with their own hands. Because hiring specialists for this is not always and is not beneficial for everyone.
There is an opinion that the insulation of square meters is an expensive procedure with the obligatory involvement of specialists - builders. This is fundamentally wrong. Today, construction technologies are so developed that it has become quite easy to do it yourself even for a person who is very far from construction to insulate the floor on the loggia with his own hands. In addition, it is quite possible to select materials, taking into account the capabilities of your wallet, and repairs will be affordable for everyone.
Asking the question of how to properly insulate the floor on the balcony from the inside, you first need to prepare the surface. Since we are planning to deal with the insulation of the balcony floor, the balcony floor must be thoroughly cleaned.
And you should take these works very seriously, because often the durability of the coating and the laboriousness of the rest of the work depend on them. At the preparatory stage, you need to perform the following work in this sequence:
The first thing that needs to be done is to glaze the loggia, because without this, all the work on insulating the loggia does not make sense. 2- and 3-chamber double-glazed windows retain heat best of all.
Options such as sliding frames, wooden or aluminum frames with one glass do not retain heat well and are not suitable for creating a full-fledged additional section of an apartment.
Before insulating the floor on the loggia with your own hands, you need to remove all types of coating from it, be it tiles, ceramic tiles, wood flooring or linoleum, as well as glue residues and other building materials. This is done using a puncher.
The main thing when removing old materials is not to damage the base plate and its overlap.
Remove dust and debris from the floor. If there are irregularities, they should be primed with cement mortar with the addition of sand and gypsum to reduce the drying and hardening time. The evenness of the slab can be checked with an aluminum screed. You can get rid of large gaps with the help of crushed stone or broken bricks mixed in a cement mortar.
It is advisable to think over and install all electrical outlets and lighting system already at the stage of floor preparation, so that later you do not puzzle over the problem of where to hide the wires.
All work should be carried out only on a glazed loggia, otherwise they do not make sense. The floor must be perfectly dry.
The choice of thermal insulation material
The choice of materials for thermal insulation on the modern market is huge. And you don't really have to worry about thinking about how to insulate the floor on a balcony or loggia. However, it is not possible to insulate the loggia from the inside with any material. The most suitable materials for this are:
- mineral wool;
- polystyrene or penoplex (expanded polystyrene);
- expanded clay;
- pefonol.
Let's consider the features of working with each of the floor insulation materials separately.
Mineral wool
This insulation is made of fiberglass, which is melted, pulled, cooled, and then crushed. It has good thermal insulation properties and is not afraid of moisture at all.
Before insulating the floor on the balcony with mineral wool, you need to put a waterproofing layer on the floor, on which a wooden crate is laid so that the cotton mat fits tightly between the beams. The insulation is located inside the resulting cells and, if necessary, several layers are placed to form a flat surface. For reliable thermal insulation, the wool layer should not be less than 5 cm. There is no need to tamp mineral wool, as its thermal insulation properties are impaired by this.
Mats should be covered with plastic wrap, attaching it to the crate with a construction stapler to avoid getting the material wet. A wooden floor and floor covering are laid on it.
It is not very convenient to work with this material, as it is prickly. But on the other hand, they can insulate any gap, which is an advantage over others.
Styrofoam or penoplex
It is used in construction due to its low cost and ease of use. Styrofoam sheets should be placed and glued all over the floor, the gaps between the sheets should be foamed and the floor covering should be laid. Pieces of polystyrene are glued with tile adhesive to the floor and joint to joint. After gluing the material, it needs time to dry.
Insulation with expanded polystyrene is considered the best. With a relative high cost, it has a number of advantages over others. It is very lightweight, easy to use, moisture-tight and absolutely chemical inert.
Expanded clay
This material is chosen for its low cost and environmental friendliness. Insulating the floors on the balcony with expanded clay means saving money without losing quality. A crate is laid on the floor covered with a waterproofer. Then expanded clay is poured into cells and leveled. It is important that the material does not go beyond the boundaries of the beams. A vapor barrier layer is laid on top, on which plywood and cladding are laid.
Expanded clay can be laid on the floor without lathing, filling from above with a screed with preliminary reinforcement with a metal mesh. But it should be remembered that this option increases the weight of the structure, which is not always possible on a loggia.
In order for the floor on the loggia to acquire the necessary thermal insulation properties, it is necessary to lay at least 10-15 cm of expanded clay.
Pefonol
This modern material is made of polyethylene foam and aluminum foil. In addition to its excellent thermal insulation properties, it copes well with humidity and extraneous noise, which is important if you decide to insulate the loggia. Another advantage of this material is its very small thickness, which will save space. Aluminum tape is used to fix the pefonol sheets.
The best results when insulating a loggia can be achieved by combining pefonol with polystyrene.
Getting started
Many people consider such a process as insulating the floor on the balcony with their own hands a difficult task. And meanwhile, doing this work with your own hands is not so difficult, every adult can handle it. For convenience, we will divide all actions into several stages:
First, on the prepared plate, it is necessary to lay insulation with a thickness of about 5 mm, while trying to reduce the number of joints by laying solid pieces. Then we process all the joints and seams inside the loggia with polyurethane foam. Another layer of insulation is laid.
We make the bars of the required length using an electric jigsaw. When performing the lathing, we lay the beams at a distance of up to half a meter between themselves, the extreme ones are laid 5-10 cm from the wall. They are fixed with four screws each. Leveling at this stage does not make sense.
Now we insulate the cells between the beams with polystyrene with a thickness of 3-5 cm. depending on the bar used, with which the material must be flush. The insulation should fit into the openings as tightly as possible, leaving a minimum of gaps. The resulting voids must be filled with polyurethane foam.
Cut the pefonol so that it lies on the entire surface of the balcony floor and rises by 20cm. from every edge. If it is not possible to lay it in one sheet, overlap the pieces of pefonol.
The work on the thermal insulation of the floor inside the balcony ends there. After them, you should level the floor and install plywood or chipboard on it, and then put the floor covering.
Underfloor heating system
It is strictly forbidden to bring central heating batteries to balconies and loggias... An alternative to this can be the installation of a warm floor system on your loggia.
This is done as follows. Insulation boards must be glued to the concrete base using special glue. The same glue can be used to cover the insulation or install a welded metal mesh on it. For heating loggias, as a rule, a system with a capacity of 150 W / m2 is quite enough.
The underfloor heating system is mounted using mounting tape, which will ensure an even cable pitch. When installing a thin warm floor, it is placed on mats with a self-adhesive base, which greatly simplifies installation work. In addition, such a system will allow you to avoid raising the floor level, and the insulation of the balcony will become even more effective.
The cable laying step can be from 7 to 12 cm, depending on what temperatures you want to achieve on your loggia.
The tape is laid out on the insulation, covered with a layer of glue, and fixed with self-tapping screws. There should be no more than 50cm distance between the rows of tape. The temperature sensor is located between the branches and is enclosed in a corrugation. The end of the heating cable and the wire of the temperature sensor are led to the thermostat, which must be installed by a specialist.
A screed is poured onto the cable, up to 5o mm thick. This work is not required for a thin underfloor heating system when it is necessary to insulate the floors on the balcony under the tiles. In this case, the system is placed directly into the tile adhesive layer. The system can be connected only after the screed has completely hardened.
It is important that all the materials that you will use when installing underfloor heating are suitable for joint use with this system.
There is no definite decision when choosing a method to insulate the floor of your loggia. Everyone who decides to use the additional space of his apartment with benefit, having completed the insulation of the loggia, must independently choose the thermal insulation materials and the method of insulation of this site, based on its purpose, design features, financial capabilities and his level of skill.
Thanks to modern finishing materials, an ordinary cold loggia from a banal smoking room, a storage room and a place for drying clothes can be turned into a warm and cozy continuation of the living space - a study, a workshop, an extension to the kitchen or a comfortable recreation area. An important stage in this transformation is floor insulation on the balcony.
Features and Benefits
Considering a warm balcony an unnecessary luxury means losing not only additional square meters of your home, but also its thermal insulation, and the possibility of more rational improvement. After all, usually the base of the loggia consists of concrete slabs, which freeze strongly in winter and quickly collect condensation in summer. Therefore, in order to achieve the maximum effect when changing the functionality of the balcony space, it is necessary to combine the construction of a warm floor there with wall insulation and high-quality glazing.
The advantages of this arrangement are quite obvious:
- a significant increase in useful square meters, which is valuable for small-sized housing; - a change in the microclimate in an adjacent room for the better;
- excellent soundproofing device;
- significant reduction in heat loss of the entire area of the apartment.
The main feature of the balcony insulation is that it is unlikely to connect the central heating of the apartment to it, but it is possible to arrange it with electric radiators and a convenient "warm floor" system. The thermal insulation material optimal for such work should be selected especially carefully.
Insulation types
Balcony - the structure is portable, usually located on one concrete slab, which connects it to the house. This means that you cannot overload it with heavy finishing materials. Therefore, for thermal insulation, you should select those insulation options that are lightweight, easy to cut and simply assembled.
Styrofoam - the cheapest version of the material for insulating the floor on the balcony. However, all its indisputable advantages in the form of a low price, excellent thermal insulation properties, lightness, hygroscopicity, bactericidal, frost resistance, long-term operation and simple installation more than outweigh the disadvantages: complete vapor tightness, high flammability and toxicity. Therefore, it is better to lay the foam only under the screed - so its vapor permeability will not be so important, and it will no longer be able to catch fire. Typically, the foam is produced in white sheets with a thickness of 2 to 10 centimeters. The thickest sheets are most often used to insulate the floor on the balcony.
Extruded polystyrene - an inexpensive material for insulating a floor on a balcony with a chemical composition similar to foam plastic and positive properties, but with fewer negative characteristics. Extruded polystyrene is capable of transmitting light, is quite resistant to negative environmental influences and temperature extremes, is not prone to decay, retains compressive strength and does not need to use additional heaters for high-quality thermal insulation. Available in slabs 60x120 and 60x240 centimeters in size. The main disadvantage of polystyrene is its flammability.
Penoplex (expanded polystyrene) - belongs to the new generation of heat insulators. It, like polystyrene, is lightweight, has low vapor permeability, is easy to install, is very effective as a heater and is also available in the form of plates with a thickness of 2 to 10 centimeters. At the same time, the thinnest slab is sufficient to insulate the balcony floor with penoplex - after all, it compares favorably with polystyrene with a denser, moisture and heat-resistant structure, excellent sound insulation, strong and durable in operation. The only significant drawback of penoplex is its significant cost. Although some manufacturers note that styrene that is part of the styrene foam is poisonous and volatile, and therefore it is advised to close it with plaster or drywall very tightly, without leaving gaps.
Minvata is considered the most optimal material for insulating a balcony floor. It is made from porphyrite, slag, gabbro, diabase and other minerals and is produced in the form of rolls or mats with a thickness of 5 to 10 centimeters.
Mineral wool is used most often not only because of its low cost, but also due to the abundance of its positive properties:
- high refractoriness (does not burn even at + 1000 ° С);
- minimum thermal conductivity;
- excellent sound insulation;
- breathability;
- resistance to negative bio-effects;
- environmental friendliness.
Minor shortcomings of mineral wool include fear of moisture (eliminated during installation of the film), intolerance to tamping, and therefore to laying under a screed (with the exception of high-density basalt mineral slabs) and an increased content of formaldehyde in low-quality samples. It is better to insulate the wooden flooring on the balcony floor with a "stone" (basalt) mineral wool laid under it.
System " warm floor"- the most comfortable solution for the insulation of the balcony. Its main advantages are the establishment and uniform distribution of the desired temperature throughout the room (allows you to save the balcony from settling dust and regulate the air humidity there), resistance to corrosion (thin aluminum tubes of the structure are covered with plastic outside and inside ), safety, compactness and aesthetics (all heating devices are hidden in the screed), as well as ease of installation, ease of use and further maintenance.
At the same time, equipping a balcony with a warm floor can bring some inconveniences:
- it slowly heats up and cools down due to the need to warm up the concrete screed;
- during major repairs, it is easy to damage and difficult to restore;
- not all finishing materials are combined with a warm floor;
- the furniture installed on it should not restrict free air circulation.
Expanded clay - although inexpensive, it is far from the best material for insulating the floor on the balcony. Firstly, it is not able to retain heat as well as mineral wool or foam. And secondly, the creation of a reliable heat-insulating layer will require a lot of expanded clay, which will significantly increase the weight of the balcony, which is undesirable. But expanded clay is completely environmentally friendly. And it is sometimes mixed with a concrete solution of a leveling screed or used in the "dry" technology of its device.
Which material is better
Usually, we need thermal insulation of a balcony to save us from the winter cold and summer heat, as well as to protect its facade and supporting structures from temperature extremes and precipitation. Conventionally, all heaters can be divided into traditional (expanded clay, polystyrene, mineral wool) and innovative (polystyrene, polystyrene, foam, underfloor heating, etc.), or according to the composition of the raw materials used for their manufacture (organic, inorganic and mixed).
By the way, all thermal insulation materials with similar characteristics cost about the same, so you should not consider the price as a determining factor for their choice. But before you buy insulation for the floor on the balcony, decide what its final coating will be and who will be engaged in the installation - you yourself or the master. And also remember that insulation should not greatly increase the weight of the balcony, otherwise it may collapse.
If your balcony is reliably protected from moisture from the street, and the base floor is sufficiently flat and dry, then it is cheaper to refine and insulate it with wood at the same time. Planks can be laid directly on a concrete base or fixed on specially installed joists. In this version of insulation, it is preferable to use a coniferous tree (its natural resinousness will increase moisture resistance) and it is necessary to arrange a slope in the flooring to drain accidentally moisture. If it is necessary to insulate the wooden flooring itself, then with good waterproofing, ordinary mineral wool will do, and with high-quality sealing of joints - foam plastic.
As a heater for tiles or tiles, it is better to choose one that is not afraid of laying under a screed (polystyrene, polystyrene, polystyrene foam, basalt mineral wool or "warm floor"). However, the construction of a concrete screed together with the laying of tiles on the floor of the balcony will ultimately significantly increase its weight, and this, as you know, is unsafe. For thermal insulation of the floor under linoleum, a sufficiently strong, springy and having good water-repellent properties insulation is needed - such as penoplex. It is possible to insulate the floor under the laminate on the balcony with expanded clay, and foam, and mineral wool, and plywood, and even foil - depending on whether it will be laid on a concrete or wooden base. Well, the most environmentally friendly, the most durable and at the same time the most expensive insulation option is cork panels.
As for the installation of insulation, the easiest to install are heat-insulating plates made of polystyrene, polystyrene foam, polystyrene and mineral wool. It will be more difficult to equip active floor heating, which is recommended to be insulated with polypropylene, expanded polystyrene, cork panels and metallized lavsan film.
How to insulate a balcony: step by step instructions
To make the floor on the balcony warm, but not to glaze it and not to insulate the walls with the ceiling, is like throwing money down the drain. Especially if it has a sunroof or panoramic windows. Only competent thermal insulation of all balcony surfaces without exception and the connection with their further high-quality finishing will allow you to stably keep the room temperature level there even in winter and even without heating. And by inserting the second glass into the window frame, you can make the balcony habitable, and this will increase its chances of joining the room legally, which is especially valuable in a small-sized "Khrushchev" building. By the way, the balcony will look especially advantageous if the space of it and the adjacent room is combined with the help of a stained-glass window or a partition - so the play of light, color and shadows can decorate and diversify both of these rooms
Insulation should be installed on the balcony floor only after installing high-quality glazing, sealing all cracks, removing the previous floor covering and thoroughly cleaning the room from debris and dust. If it is necessary to wash the floor, then work on its thermal insulation is possible only after the concrete of the balcony base is completely dry.
In addition to insulation, you may need a hammer, a construction knife, a jigsaw (preferably electric), a construction gun, dowels, a drill, self-tapping screws, a puncher and, of course, a tape measure with a pencil for marking.
Having prepared all the necessary materials and tools, you can start laying insulation for the floor on the balcony without heating:
- fill all irregularities in the base with epoxy resin or sand-cement mortar;
- the joints of the floor and walls are filled with polyurethane foam or a solution of cement with sand;
- we primer the area prepared for insulation and let the primer dry;
- we waterproof the balcony base (prevents moisture drops from condensation);
- we install wooden logs (to the height of the door threshold - for easy connection to a room adjacent to the balcony);
- we lay out the required number of layers of the selected insulation between the lags;
- we fix a vapor-permeable diffuse waterproofing membrane;
- we lay plywood or boardwalk for installing the topcoat;
- we mount boards, linoleum, tiles, laminate or other selected material as a topcoat and fix the skirting boards.
For an active insulation device (such as a warm floor), the procedure after installing the insulation will be different.
All insulation plates must be tightly joined with each other (to cover the entire floor), and with waterproofing covering them. We put reinforcing elements on top (strengthen the outer part of the balcony), fill in the screed along the exposed beacons, carefully level it and dry it for at least 6 hours (you can safely walk on it in a day). Then we fasten the mounting tape with the dowel-nails (we use the pre-marked and drilled holes) and place the heating cable of the "warm floor" on it with a snake.
By the way, it is more convenient to start laying the cable from the final section, putting a plug there, and end it by connecting it to the power supply network using a thermostat. After securely fixing the heating cable to the mounting tape, install the beacons again, fill in one more level of the subfloor screed and let it dry completely.
Cover " warm floor"The balcony can be finished with laminate, tiles or other material only after the screed is completely dry - this will avoid deformation and do without mold. Usually the process of drying a cement screed takes about 7 days - provided that the beacons have been set correctly. If at this time it is warm outside, you can open the windows - this way the floor will dry out faster and gain the necessary strength, but in winter the screed should be dried only with the shutters closed.
We warm inside
Without meticulous hermetic sealing of all the cracks at the joints of literally all surfaces of the balcony, its further internal thermal insulation is meaningless. But its competent device allows you to avoid the occurrence " cold bridges"and helps to shift the freezing points of the balcony from the inside to the outside.
No less important is the high-quality waterproofing of concrete elements of the walls, ceiling and floor of the balcony, with the installation of the ebb and the processing of the window frame hydrophobic antiseptics- especially if you don't want to find fungus or mold in some corner of it and at the same time safely maintain a comfortable temperature and ventilation on the balcony. Therefore, you should not ignore the vapor barrier of the insulation - the vapor barrier placed in front of it will prevent unwanted moisture accumulation and will provide the required degree of air circulation. In addition, good internal thermal insulation helps to get rid of extraneous street noise.
When choosing insulation for the inner space of the balcony, you need to pay attention to the coefficient of its thermal conductivity. For modern materials for thermal insulation, its average indicator is 0.03-0.04 W / mS, and the higher this value, the lower the thermal insulation qualities will be. This means that for insulation of the balcony it is worth choosing materials with a minimum value of thermal conductivity, but high cost, or simply increasing the thickness of the insulation, which will inevitably lead to a loss of the usable area of the balcony.
We insulate outside
It is believed that the external insulation of the balcony not only allows you to save its usable area due to the use of thin insulation on the inside, but also helps to save almost 30% of the cost of heating the apartment. However, residents of high-rise buildings will be able to use such external insulation only with the help of industrial climbers. But using various materials in the decoration of the balcony, the owners will be able to significantly change its appearance and even its configuration.
After insulating the balcony structures, there are ample opportunities for changing its functionality and interesting solutions in the design of its interior. By connecting an insulated balcony to the living area of the apartment, you can arrange a cozy office, a hookah room, a corner for children's activities, a dining area or even a small spa. When the balcony is warm, dry and comfortable, the development of its space depends only on the imagination and capabilities of its owners.
Our video will tell you how to cut, lay and fix the insulation made of polythene foam. We wish you a pleasant renovation!
Tsugunov Anton Valerievich
Reading time: 5 minutes
The loggia is a place that can be easily converted into an additional room. A cozy office or a winter garden will perfectly fit here. To turn this area into a residential area, it is necessary to carry out work on its insulation. Given the fact that about a quarter of the heat loss falls on the floor, you need to correctly approach the solution of the question of how to insulate the floor on the loggia.
Preparing the floor for insulation
The insulated loggia requires preparatory work, which is a very important stage. High-quality surface preparation will help extend the life of the coating, as well as reduce the labor intensity of the work performed. You can prepare the floor for insulation in several stages:
- If tiles or other flooring is present, it must be dismantled. It is important to remove any adhesive or other adhesive without leaving any residue. At this stage, the use of a punch is not excluded. But care should be taken during work so as not to damage the overlap.
- At the next stage, the base is cleaned of dust and debris.
- The existing irregularities are covered with a cement mixture. You can fill the base with a cement screed.
- At the next stage, waterproofing is carried out. With the help of polyurethane foam or bitumen-based sealant, they eliminate the places of possible access of air and moisture to the loggia. Particular attention is paid to the corners. Then you need to apply a layer of coating waterproofing to the surface, lay roofing material or a dense film.
Important! It is highly desirable to start work on insulating the loggia after it has been glazed.
Options for floor insulation on the loggia
The insulated floor on the loggia allows you to use the additional area as efficiently as possible. After the preparatory work carried out, the question certainly arises of what is better to insulate the floor on the loggia, which base is more suitable for laminate, which is for tiles or parquet. Your answer can be one of the following:
- Using polystyrene or polystyrene foam.
- Thermal insulation with mineral wool.
- Warming with expanded clay.
Each owner can choose his own version of insulation, depending on the working conditions.
Using Styrofoam or Styrofoam
Both materials are representatives of expanded polystyrene. But penoplex has a denser structure, therefore it is characterized by high rigidity and hardness. The following photo demonstrates their external differences.
Warming the floor on the loggia with expanded polystyrene is possible in two ways.
Bonding to prepared substrate
This option is used for screed insulation.
- Foam or foam boards are glued joint to joint using tile adhesive or a special adhesive for foam, which is evenly applied to the surface of the boards using a notched trowel.
- The glued material is left to dry for two days.
- Then the polyurethane foam joints are filled with the walls.
- The finished base can be poured with a cement-sand screed. In the future, such floors are used as a base or tile.
Laying insulation along the logs
As a lag, you can use bars with a section of 50 × 50 or 50 × 70 mm, carefully treated with an antiseptic solution against decay.
- The beams are laid in accordance with the width of the insulation plate.
- It is necessary to leave a gap along the walls, since the tree is able to change its shape under the influence of temperature and humidity changes.
- Insulation can be glued onto foam. The resulting cracks and joints are filled with polyurethane foam.
Instead of a waterproofing film, you can use penofol with a foil layer, which will make the thermal insulation even more effective.
- Boards or sheet material - plywood or OSB - are laid on the logs, which will become the basis for laminate or linoleum.
More information about floor insulation with penoplex can be seen in the video.
Mineral wool is the most popular and inexpensive insulation material most often used to keep warm indoors.
- The marking of the level of the future floor is being carried out. In this case, it is important that the finished floor does not exceed the floor level of the rooms adjacent to the loggia. For marking, use a water or laser level.
- Then a layer of waterproofing is laid. Roofing material is most often used for this. Waterproofing sheets should be laid with an overlap of 10-15 cm, the overlap on the walls should not be less than 5 cm.
- On top of roofing material or wooden frame. It is recommended to use only dry pine material. The bars are attached to the base with self-tapping screws. During the installation of the frame, it is necessary to maintain a distance from the wall to the bars of at least 5 cm so that the bars are not saturated with moisture. A wet frame can deform, which over time will lead to damage to the finish coating on the loggia.
- After completing the installation of the frame, you can start laying the mineral wool. Insulation mats are laid in the gaps of the crate, making sure that the material fits snugly against the beams. If it is not possible to avoid the formation of gaps, then you can use polyurethane foam. It will glue the insulation to the frame, preserving the thermal insulation properties of the coating.
- Laying moisture resistant plywood is the final stage. This material will serve as a subfloor for any topcoat, including laminate flooring.
Warming with expanded clay
You can also insulate the floor on the loggia with your own hands using expanded clay. The popularity of this material is due to its low cost and its absolute environmental friendliness. To insulate the floor in this way, it is necessary to form a crate of beams, which must first be dried and treated with an antiseptic.
- Before laying the lathing, the surface is covered with roofing material or plastic wrap for waterproofing.
- It is necessary to fill up expanded clay so that it does not protrude above the beams.
- A vapor barrier layer must be made on top of the insulation, then a rough coating is laid. In this capacity, plywood or OSB-board can be used, which will serve as an excellent base for laminate or tile.
USEFUL INFORMATION: How and what to insulate the floors on the balcony with your own hands (video)
In the photo you can see what the floor on the loggia looks like, insulated with expanded clay.
If the apartment has a balcony, then it would probably be unwise not to take advantage of this opportunity to slightly expand the usable area of housing. With the right approach to business, you can equip a small workshop there, partially bring the kitchen into this room, or even convert the balcony into a small office or resting place. - this is one of the most important stages of its transformation into a living room.
This is all the more relevant since the process of warming and the associated re-equipment is not so complicated, so it can be done on our own. However, it will be useless without preparatory measures. And the first thing that needs to be done before proceeding with the insulation is to strengthen or re-fold the outer wall and install the frames.
Preparatory work
- You need to start with an audit - you may need to take certain steps to strengthen it.
This largely depends, of course, on the very design of the balcony. If it does not have a bottom support, then it may make sense to reinforce the plate with brackets-supports. However, this process is far from always possible - you will have to coordinate with the neighbors living in the apartment located below. And some additional structures on their own territory will please very few people.
Sometimes an additional metal frame is placed on top of the concrete slab, which is securely fixed to the wall of the house. In this case, a significant part of the load is removed from the concrete floor slab.
If the balcony slab rests on both sides on concrete supports (walls), then there should be no further problems.
- An important point is what material the outer wall of the balcony is made of. If it is just a metal lattice sheathed with some kind of thin sheet material, then, most likely, you will have to lay out a wall made of lightweight foam concrete. It must not be forgotten that this is only possible if the floor slab is supported by vertical concrete walls on both sides. In any case, such work should not be carried out without the consent of the architectural services - the margin of safety at the balcony may simply not be enough.
If the outer partition is concrete, then it is certainly not necessary to strengthen it.
- Any further work on it will be meaningless if this room is not glazed. This means that the next step should be the installation of balcony frames. What they will be - ordinary wooden, or modern metal-plastic with double-glazed windows - for the owner of the apartment to decide, based on his own preferences and financial capabilities.
- Having installed the balcony frames, you can start sealing cracks and cracks - this process is necessary to protect the balcony room from moisture penetration. It is no secret that even at the joints of the capital slabs, quite large gaps are sometimes observed - and this is a direct path to the penetration of dampness, soaking of insulation materials, the appearance of mold, and the development of further erosion of building materials.
If the gaps between the plates are wide enough, then long round rollers of various diameters, made of polyethylene foam, can be used to seal them. They are pushed tightly into the gaps, and then the joint is sealed from above with a sealant.
Such insulating rollers are also used in order to save polyurethane foam. For embedding in this way, a small amount of foam is applied in the gap and then immediately laid polyethylene foam roller. When expanding, the polyurethane foam tightly "seals" all small cracks and at the same time adheres well to the sealing material.
If there are small gaps, they are filled with ordinary sealant.
In addition to sealing the cracks at the joints of the balcony, it is necessary to get rid of all cracks and potholes that can be found on the floor and in the lower part of the wall.
These flaws must be thoroughly cleaned of dust, dirt, small solid fragments, be sure to cover with a primer for better adhesion. Then, they are filled with a sealant or a special cement-adhesive mortar. If the slots are narrow, then they must be widened using a drill with a perforator or a grinder with a circle on a stone - this is necessary for deeper penetration of the repair compound into the slot of the slab or wall.
After the repair compounds have dried, they start priming the entire surface of the slab and the lower part of the walls (to a height of 150 ÷ 200 mm), if the walls are all concrete. If the outer wall is made of foam blocks, it should be primed completely, to its full height.
Waterproofing works
In any case, the next step is to arrange reliable waterproofing on the entire floor area of the balcony and on the lower part of the walls. Some owners, probably in order to save money or time, prefer to do without this preparatory stage. It is necessary to warn them - by abandoning waterproofing measures, they significantly increase the risk of moisture penetration under the insulation. This will lead to a sharp loss of thermal insulation qualities - the balcony will become cold. And besides, this is the likely appearance of fungus and mold, which can spread to the walls and flooring. Better not to risk it - waterproofing will not take much time and money!
Waterproofing can be done in several ways. There are many options, and the most affordable and simple ones will be given below.
Cast waterproofing
Such waterproofing is performed using various compounds - it can be "liquid glass", foam epoxy, bitumen perlite and many others. All of these formulations are poured onto the surface and spread using a squeegee or roller. Methods for applying cast waterproofing may vary slightly - some formulations are applied hot and others cold.
Cast waterproofing is usually applied in several layers, and its thickness can reach 2 ÷ 3 mm. The next layer is applied only after the previous one has completely dried.
Before installing this waterproofing, the floor is well dried, bumpers with a height of 200 ÷ 250 mm are installed along the walls from a special thin waterproofing material or from an ordinary polyethylene film.
If such a waterproofing is arranged in a "hot" way, then the composition is heated to the desired temperature, gently puddles on the floor surface and quickly smoothed with a squeegee. Reinforcing mesh or fiberglass can be laid between the layers, then the waterproofing will be stronger.
When applying the compositions in a cold form, the process is carried out in the same way, but the composition is not preheated. In this case, the drying of each of the layers will take much longer than with the hot method.
Coating waterproofing
Coating or painting waterproofing can be carried out using bitumen mastics, polymer varnishes, "liquid rubber" and other compounds specially designed for this. This process is quite simple, but such insulation perfectly protects concrete surfaces from dampness.
The compositions are applied to a necessarily degreased and primed surface with a brush or brush. After complete solidification, they form a dense film on the concrete slab.
This type of waterproofing can also be applied hot and cold:
- cold applied "", made on the basis of artificial rubber, as well as waterproofing on an epoxy basis;
- polymer-bitumen and bitumen compositions are applied hot.
The surface is always covered with these compounds in at least two layers.
Such waterproofing fully complies with the characteristics necessary to protect the floor. It is important to note that a pure bitumen coating will last only five to seven years, since it does not tolerate low temperatures and will surely crack. Therefore, for balconies, it is better to choose waterproofing on a rubber or polymer-bitumen basis - these compounds are quite elastic and will last much longer.
Film waterproofing
This method is the simplest, as plastic wrap is affordable and easy to install. A dense material is chosen and a solid sheet is laid on the floor surface, lifting it to the walls above the height of the future floor by 50 ÷ 100 mm. Fix the film on the wall with masking tape.
However, there is one "but" - this material can be used only if the insulation or the crate under it will not be attached through the film, that is, the film should not be damaged under any circumstances.
When laying at the corners, it must be very carefully rolled up - you cannot cut the film.
Wrapping (roll) waterproofing
Waterproofing materials are produced in rolls or sheets. They are glued to the floor surface and on the walls on a height of 150 ÷ 200 cm. Such insulation can be based on bitumen or polymer-bitumen. It is not difficult to lay this option, however, you will need to heat the adhesive layer using a gas burner or a building hair dryer.
It is preliminarily applied to the concrete surface with a layer of 1.5-2 mm, which is then warmed up, and a waterproofing material is glued to the hot composition.
If necessary, then several layers of material are laid, which are coated with mastic. In this case, the canvases of the second layer are recommended to be positioned perpendicular to the first.
After laying the top, last layer, the edges of the waterproofing material are treated with a polymer-based putty.
Another option for waterproofing is a roll material made using modern technologies and having a special adhesive strip.
When laying overlapping strips of this roll material, a protective film is first removed from the back of the cloths. The canvas is applied with an adhesive layer to the surface and is well pressed.
When the base is ready, you can proceed to the heating work.
The choice of insulation
It is very important to choose the right one from a wide variety of materials for insulation the most optimal.
One of the main operational parameters of any thermal insulator is the thermal conductivity coefficient - the lower this value, the better the material in terms of keeping heat in the premises:
Expanded clay
In three different flavors:
- Large-fraction option - for backfilling between the joists before covering the floors with boards or plywood.
- Medium fractional expanded clay - for cooking expanded clay concrete, which can also be laid between the joists, on which boards or plywood sheets will later be fixed. In addition, expanded clay concrete can, after pouring, and simply level out along the beacons - in this case, it will be suitable as a basis for laying ceramic tiles.
Fine-graded expanded clay - an ideal material for "dry" screed - Fine-grained expanded clay is used most often for a bulk floor, which is covered gypsum fiber plates (GVL).
Expanded clay prices
Expanded clay
Penoflex
Penoflex is a rolled polyethylene foam. It is produced both with a foil surface and without it. Usually, when insulating a balcony, this material is used as an auxiliary material, fixing it on the walls and floor over the waterproofing. First, it is attached to double-sided tape, and then a crate is laid on top of it.
The foil surface of the insulation does not allow heat to escape into the walls - it is reflected back towards the room.
Penoflex canvases are fastened together with foil tape, which makes the coating a single web.
Any insulation can be laid on top of this reflective material between the logs - it can be polystyrene, mineral wool, ecowool or dry expanded clay.
Mineral wool
Mineral wool is the most common and often used insulation, since it has all the necessary qualities for use in a balcony - low thermal conductivity, light weight, ease of installation, and most importantly, the environmental friendliness of the material.
Mineral wool is probably the best material for floor insulation Mineral wool mats, straightening out during installation, close all the gaps, so they do not need to be additionally sealed with polyurethane foam.
The general definition of "mineral wool" includes: glass wool, stone wool and slag wool. All of them have excellent insulating and soundproofing qualities. Ca = my easy-to-use is probably basalt stone wool - it is harmless to the skin of the hands.
If desired, this insulation can be used in combination with other materials, which will give an increased thermal insulation effect.
Expanded polystyrene
Everyone probably knows what styrofoam (expanded polystyrene) looks like, since it is often used to insulate buildings from the outside and from the inside.
Insulation is produced with different indicators of density and thickness. The lower the density, the higher the insulating effect, but the more fragile and crumbling the material becomes - this must be remembered when choosing it to insulate the balcony.
Polyfoam is very light in weight and quite easy to install. It can be easily cut with a regular utility knife, which makes it easy to adjust the slabs to the desired size. Another advantage of this insulation is its low price.
When installing the material between the lag bars, gaps may form, which must be sealed with polyurethane foam, otherwise the insulating effect will be significantly reduced.
Polyfoam can also be used in combination with any of the existing heaters.
Vapor barrier
If the insulation was carried out with mineral wool, it is recommended to lay a vapor barrier film on top of it, which will not allow moisture to penetrate into the insulation, but will facilitate its evaporation from the inside, that is, it will enable the material to "breathe".
The film is stretched and attached to the logs with staples clogged with a stapler. In the above diagram, the vapor barrier film is shown under No. 5.
Prices for thermal insulation materials
Thermal insulation materials
Carrying out floor insulation on the balcony
Today, there are a considerable number of insulation methods for turning a cold balcony into a small, but cozy room.
Insulation of a floor with a crate
The process of warming with the use of various insulation materials can be carried out according to the same principle. For example, when using expanded clay, polystyrene foam or mineral wool, it is recommended to make a lathing of bars or boards with a thickness of 20 ÷ 25 mm.
First you need to figure out how to install it correctly, how to fasten it and how to raise the crate elements to the desired height.
- The first step is to determine the height to which the floor will be raised, minus the thickness of the coating (floorboards or plywood). Usually, the floor is raised to the height of the threshold of the doorway.
- Next, you need to decide in what way the floor will be raised to the desired height:
- due to the width of the boards;
- by installing the bars in two layers;
- the bars will be raised to the level of the threshold using special metal or plastic holders-stands, or wooden pads.
- Having chosen one of the installation methods, it is necessary to prepare all the elements of the lathing by marking and sawing boards or bars.
- Then, the parts must be treated with an antiseptic compound, which will protect the wood from biodegradation and the influence of moisture.
- After the tree has been prepared and dried, you can proceed to the installation of the sheathing on the floor.
Option number 1
Special U-shaped elements made of a bent metal strip are used as racks. In the interval between the two shelves, a bar is fixed, raised to the desired height - for this, holes for self-tapping screws are provided.
Such racks are installed at a distance of 500 ÷ 600 mm from each other, first along the walls, and then one or two more rows, depending on the width of the balcony, in the center. The holders are fixed to the concrete floor with anchors.
Then, cuts are made in the insulation mats (if mineral wool is used) at the same distance as the shelves of the holder are divorced, and then they are "put on" on a metal element and pressed to the floor. When the insulation is put on all the racks, the remaining open floor between the rows is also densely filled with insulation material.
If necessary, the second layer is laid in the same way.
Option number 2
Another option for raising the lathing to the desired height is the studs. They are screwed into the inserts installed in the concrete floors. The convenience of this mounting method is that the protruding upper part has a thread, with which the lags can be adjusted and set to the desired height. They are also displayed according to the building level. The excess part of the stud, which remains on top, is cut off using grinders.
In this version, the insulation is easy to lay up to the upper level of the log and after installing the studs.
Instead of metal pins, PVC stands are often used, which are screwed into the holes in the logs. However, in order to use such stands, you need to use sufficiently wide bars for the manufacture of logs, since the plastic stands have a much larger diameter than the pins.
On the outside of the tubes of such supports, there is a thread with which they are screwed in and adjusted in the bars.
Option number 3
In the absence of the desire or ability to tinker with the above-described stands, you can use a structure made yourself from bars. However, in order for the floor raised with this lathing to be even, it is necessary to have a perfectly horizontal surface of the concrete slab, since it will not be possible to adjust its individual elements. The fastening of the bars in this structure is carried out using metal corners. In addition, the bars along the walls are anchored to them.
If the floor is not very level, then you can level the floor along the top of the battens. To do this, you need to beat off a perfectly flat line on the wall and fix the side bars along it. If one of the legs on which the crate rests rises above the surface of the floor slab, then a piece of plywood or a thin board must be placed under it.
Option number 4
If the floor is not planned to be raised too high, then a crate of two layers of bars, laid perpendicular to each other, will do. The first row is fixed to the prepared surface, and the second is attached to the bars of the first row.
Lags of the first row are often glued to the surface of a concrete slab using polyurethane foam. It is recommended to fasten the second row to the first one only after laying the insulation between the guides,
Option number 5
The easiest way to arrange a crate for raising the floor on the balcony is the option using wide, flat and thick boards, which are attached to the balcony slab, as well as to each other, using a metal corner. The main thing is to find a suitable dried material and set the finished crate according to the level.
When installing the structure, the boards are installed on the edge with an indent from the walls of 50 ÷ 70 mm. Insulation must be installed in these gaps - this is necessary to create a warm layer between the walls and the floor lathing.
Between the guides of the crate, for any method of its arrangement, an insulating material is poured or laid. In the case of using expanded polystyrene, the remaining gaps are either sealed with polyurethane foam, or tightly caulked with mineral wool.
After the insulation between the lags is completely laid, it is recommended to lay a layer of film on top - it will not allow dust or small particles of insulation material to penetrate into the room from below. After that, you can proceed to the subfloor flooring or immediately - the "clean" floorboards.
Prices for various types of building boards
Construction boards
Floor insulation without lathing
This type of floor insulation includes a bulk floor made using the "" technology. Recently, this approach has been increasingly used to insulate floors in private houses and apartments. It is also quite suitable for the conditions of the balcony.
When deciding to arrange a bulk floor, a polyethylene waterproofing layer will be required. It can be used in addition to other types of waterproofing.
A layer of film - required for backfilling dry insulation The film along the entire perimeter of the balcony is fixed to the wall with double-sided tape, and then a damper tape is glued, which compensates for everything fluctuations in the size of the floor covering with temperature changes when the material can expand.
In addition, you need to install beacons on the walls, according to which, using the rule, the bulk material will be equal.
After the base for the "dry screed" is arranged, you can pour out expanded clay in parts just above the level of the installed beacons.
Leveling the surface when backfilling "dry screed" Then, the poured mass is leveled, and special gypsum fiber panels are placed on top of it, on which there are special locking parts for mutual connection.
For fixing between themselves, the joints of the plates are glued with "liquid nails" or other polymer adhesives.
On top of such an insulated floor, you can put almost any topcoat that would be appropriate on the balcony.
Finishing floor covering
The floor covering, laid on the insulated balcony floor, will become another layer that will help maintain a comfortable temperature in the room.
The covering of the insulated floor can be chosen according to the taste of the owner of the apartment, but it is better to use a material that can create a comfortable feeling when walking on it, even without shoes.
A wood floor will be especially effective, since wood has a natural warmth due to its multi-layered structure. Therefore, such a coating is most often found on insulated balconies.
Plywood is also well suited for covering, which, after laying, is covered with carpet, laminate or warm linoleum.
Video: work on floor insulation on a balcony or loggia
It is quite possible to carry out work on the insulation of the floor on the balcony on your own. Slowly, following the step-by-step guidance within the chosen option, even in the absence of experience, you can cope with this work in 3 ÷ 5 days.