Do not know how to fill the floor on the balcony? This article will help you understand all the features and subtleties of this interesting work.
How to fill the floor on the balcony
Self-repair is possible if you follow the step-by-step instructions that can be obtained from professional builders or people who have extensive experience in some form of repair. Especially it concerns such an uneasy and demanding exercise, like pouring the floor on the balcony.
To ensure that the repair in the room looked good and neat, you need to take good care of the floor covering. You can create a cosiness and comfort on the balcony with the help of a flooded floor. Such a method makes it possible to make the floor surface level, stable and reliable to any impacts, characteristic balcony space - temperature, humidity, etc. change.
As a rule, the balcony is poured using concrete. This is the most optimal option, which will help to achieve the maximum result.
Measurement of the balcony area
As with any other type of repair, it is necessary to perform measurements before starting construction and repair work. From literacy measurements depends on whether you buy the right amount of building materials. So, how to make correct calculations? First, you should measure the balcony area. For this purpose, the width and length of the balcony is measured, then the results obtained are multiplied by one another.
Fig.2 Measuring the floor on the balcony
The resulting number in turn is multiplied by the desired height of the floor covering. The final result is your benchmark for the future amount of the mortar to be mixed.
Preparing the working area
Before you begin to mix material for floor pouring on the balcony, you need to carefully prepare the surface for future activities. Of course, you should take out all the extra things that were stored on the balcony. Then you should start the dismantling works, that is, get rid of the previous cover. As a rule, dismantling is a fairly dusty and dirty occupation, so it is worth taking care of your safety beforehand - putting on glasses and a respirator.
Preparation of the working area
Construction dust can seriously affect your health, therefore, take care of the issue of protection responsibly. After preparation, you can proceed to destroy and eliminate the old coating. To do this, you need to prepare a number of the following tools, without which dismantling is simply impossible:
- scrap;
- hammer;
- nail driver;
- chisel;
- and iron scoop or shovel.
It should be noted that the dismantling can be complete or partial. It depends on the quality of the old coating. If it is in a more or less decent condition, then it can be safely used as a basis for a new coating. But professional builders recommend getting rid of the consequences of previous repairs in order to achieve a spectacular desired result, which will last for many years.
Useful advice for more comfortable dismantling: before starting work, moisten the floor and walls of the balcony with water. This will help the dust settle down and the dismantling process will be much more convenient.
Prepared surface for pouring screed
- Linoleum on the balcony is cut with a knife into strips. Each of them is removed from the floor with a scraper or spatula.
- Ceramic floor tiles are dismantled by a perforator.
- Old floor lags are dismantled using a nailer.
- If you have a dry screed laid on your balcony, then all the screws are wrung out of the slabs, after which the slabs are dismantled, and the shovel is poured into the buckets with a shovel.
- All available paintwork and primers are removed with solvents.
After the completion of the elimination of the old covering, it is mandatory to remove the territory being repaired. This is not done for aesthetic reasons, but to ensure that the floor is poured efficiently. The fact is that if you pour a concrete solution on a dusty foundation, this will lead to the fact that the building material can not reliably secure a foothold. Therefore, it is worthwhile to carefully prepare the space for the next stage of the repair work.
Waterproofing
On the foundation slab of the balcony, it is necessary to lay a layer of film with overlap on the walls of at least 10 cm. If the area of the balcony is large, you can lay a metal grid with a shallow cell under the roofing material.
Drawing of conditional boundaries
When all necessary surfaces are clean, it is necessary to put conventional marks on the walls - boundary points of the concrete pouring. To do this, it is worth considering in advance what floor height you would like to see on your balcony. This parameter can be influenced by many factors: the total height of the balcony, its planned occupancy, the availability of furniture, etc. Having thought all these questions, and having determined the desired height, you can proceed to labeling. This is done in several places on each wall of the balcony.
As a rule, the balcony floor is reinforced concrete slabs, so it is relatively flat and does not require additional alignment measures. But, if you want to get the perfect result of your work, then it is recommended to take advantage of such a popular tool among the responsible builders as the level. By connecting with it all the marks made on the walls, you can determine whether they are at the same distance from the floor.
Installation of Beacon Guides
According to the layout, guide beacons must be installed to fill the screed, which are perforated metal( or wooden) profiles fixed on small heaps of cement mortar. The distance between the guides is assumed equal to the length of the rule( the rails for leveling the screed).Profiles are leveled horizontally with the help of a construction level and a rubber hammer. When the cement under the beacons grabs, you can proceed to knead the mortar and pour.
Solution preparation
Mixing of concrete solution can be carried out in two ways: by means of an electric drill with a "mixer" or a conventional shovel.
Mixing the solution
Preparing the solution
Mixing of the concrete solution can be done in two ways: by means of an electric drill with a "mixer" or a conventional shovel.
Balconies are a small space, so you can mix the necessary means for filling it, you can without the help of electrical appliances.
An important issue with proportions. In order to mix a solution of the correct composition and consistency, it is necessary to carry out this work in the following proportions: 2 parts of sand, 1 part of cement and 1 part of crushed stone.
Application of cement mortar to balcony
Also used for mixing is water. It is added after the combination of all the ingredients. Add it in small portions, as by negligence it is possible to make the solution too liquid and not suitable for the planned works.
Surface reinforcement for improving the quality of
Filling the screed
After mixing the mortar, you can start pouring. Note that it's worth starting from the far corner so that by the end of the work you are near the front door and could safely exit without damaging the new hardening surface.
- Fill the solution between the beacons.
- Take the rule( the bar) and shift the surplus cement, without taking the rules from the lighthouses.
- So fill the entire area of the balcony, moving the solution towards the door and achieving a perfectly smooth surface.
- For three days, we constantly moisturize the surface of the screed to prevent cracking( you can sprinkle screed with sawdust or sand, and a week later, sweep them off the screed surface).
- After about 5-7 days from the screed, you can remove the beacons and fill the grooves with grout. But this procedure remains only at the discretion of the owners of the balcony.
Since the balcony slabs are not designed for excessive loads, it is recommended to replace the standard cement mortar with modern lightweight quick-drying mixtures with a high content of gypsum or foam inserts.
If you perform all stages of work correctly and according to instructions, the result of your work will please you for many years.
