How to insulate the floor on the balcony with your own hands (video)

Many residents of apartment buildings expand the useful area of ​​their apartment through a balcony or loggia. But any balcony decoration will bring little benefit if you do not take care of its thermal insulation. Only then will the loggia become a full-fledged living space that can be used at any time of the year. Thermal insulation must be carried out comprehensively and start from the floor. How to insulate the floor on the balcony with your own hands? What modern materials and how is it recommended to use?

We take into account the features of the balcony

How to insulate the balcony from the inside? The market offers many different thermal insulation materials, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages. Choosing the material with which it is supposed to insulate the floors on the balcony, do not forget about the features of this room:

• The balcony is a portable construction.
  Its complex finish, installation of double-glazed windows and installation of thermal insulation significantly increase the weight of the structure. In order not to risk collapse, it is necessary not only to preliminary assess the condition of the base of the balcony, but also to choose the most lightweight materials.
• Any insulation material to one degree or another will increase the floor level on the balcony. This is usually not a problem, since a balcony stove is usually located below the floor level in a room. Ideally, after laying the insulation, you should get a single floor horizon in the entire apartment.

Choose a heater

How to insulate the floor on the balcony? For these purposes, you can use one of the following materials.

• Styrofoam. This material has gained popularity due to its availability and low cost. Its shortcomings are also well known: it is quite brittle, due to which many small crumbs are formed during operation, and also releases toxic substances during combustion.

• Penoplex. It is more rigid and durable compared to polystyrene, so floor logs can be laid directly on the plates of this insulation. It has excellent thermal insulation characteristics, is resistant to moisture and microorganisms, does not burn.

Even a novice builder can make thermal insulation on the balcony with foam foam.

• Penofol. Available in rolls. This foamed polyethylene typically has an aluminum foil coating on one side. There are varieties with double-sided coating. It is convenient in work, does not pass water, has good sound insulation.

Note! The small thickness of penofol reduces the insulating properties, so it is used in combination with other materials.

• Mineral wool. It is easy to stack and process, it has excellent thermal insulation characteristics. Disadvantages: in case of moisture or severe deformation, it partially loses its properties. For safety reasons, it is recommended to use basalt-based mineral wool in a residential area.

Preparatory work

In the question, how to warm the floor on the balconyDo not ignore the preliminary training. The quality and service life of the entire thermal insulation of the balcony will depend on the thoroughness of these works.

• The old flooring is dismantled right up to the concrete slab of the base of the balcony.

If the tile is qualitatively laid on the balcony, you can not remove it and lay the insulation on top.

• A thorough inspection of the base on the balcony is carried out. It is possible that there are cracks or ridges on the surface that will need to be repaired. The protrusions cleave to the general floor level. Cracks must be expanded with a chisel and hammer. Thoroughly remove all dust from them with a brush and vacuum cleaner, and then close up with cement mortar, pre-primed.

• At this stage, you should also carefully examine the entire structure of the balcony, eliminate all the deficiencies found, and also close the cracks between the balcony and the wall. Foam or sealants can be used.
• Waterproofing works are carried out. Their importance increases if the balcony below is open for moisture. This happens if the apartment is located on the lower floor or the neighbors from below did not consider it necessary to improve their balcony.

You can use coating waterproofing on a bitumen basis or roll material. Penetrating waterproofing solutions, such as Hydrotex, are popular with builders. It is difficult to say which method is the best, but the general rules are the same: the waterproofing should form a single layer and go on the walls to a height of at least 10 cm.

After completion of the preparatory work, you can choose how to insulate the floor on the balcony. The most popular is warming with foam and mineral wool. Laying insulation on the balcony for tiles is rarely used, as this significantly increases the weight of the structure. You can make a warm floor on the balcony with the help of heating infrared elements, but such work will require specific skills. Therefore, we consider the most common options.

Lag system device

Whatever option we come to, deciding the question of whether it is better to insulate the floors on the balcony or loggia, it is necessary to erect a structure from the lag. The properties of the foam allow you to stack lags directly onto the insulating material, and insert the latter into the cells of the lag structure. The second option is preferable, as it minimizes the load on the insulation.

If penofol is used as the first layer of insulation, then it is spread with the foil side up, and the logs are mounted on top of it. Penofol in this case will also play the role of a waterproofing membrane. The joints between the foam foil strips are glued with aluminum tape.

If the lags are installed directly on the foam, it is better to attach it to the base, resorting to the help of mounting glue. Fungi should not be used: when drilling holes for them, it is easy to overdo and spoil the ceiling decoration of the neighbors.

The log system is assembled from a bar with a cross section of no less than 40 × 40 mm. Typically, a balcony requires three longitudinal beams: two close to the walls and one in the middle. Transverse jumpers are made of the same material. It is advisable to correlate the size of the cells with the dimensions of the insulation to avoid unnecessary work on cutting it, as well as unnecessary waste. All bars are pre-treated with an antiseptic.

In order to compensate for possible changes in the geometry of the lag under the influence of temperature and moisture, it is necessary to leave a gap between the bars and the wall of at least 5 cm. Otherwise, there is a risk that the floors on the balcony “swell”.

The entire lag system should be located in one plane. Control is done using a level. You can even it out by placing rails and wedges under the bars, but it is better to use U-shaped brackets. With their help, aligning the lags is not difficult.

If mineral wool is used as insulation, the formation of cold bridges under the lags can be prevented. For this, strips with holes for brackets are cut from the insulation. These strips are laid before fixing the lag in the brackets with screws.

Insulation

In the formed honeycomb between the lags in one or two layers insulation is laid. It is necessary to remember the following points:

• Between the insulation and the floor surface, an air layer is required.
• Strong deformation of the insulation material is unacceptable.

• Hygroscopic material, such as mineral wool, must be closed on top with a waterproofing membrane.
• After laying the insulation, all cracks and joints should be filled with mounting foam.

In more detail, the entire process of laying thermal insulation on the balcony is shown in the video.

At the final stage, plywood, playing the role of the rough floor, is laid on the logs, and the finishing coating spreads. A balcony insulated in this way can be used throughout the year.