How and what to insulate the balcony and loggia from the inside with your own hands

If we consider the balcony as an additional living space, it is necessary to do its insulation. With a simple finishing with clapboard, the cost of repairs will cost about 45 thousand rubles, and with the use of heaters - 60 thousand. It is more profitable to fully insulate the balcony with your own hands, so as not to pay the masters and make it a recreation room or a working room.

Preparation for the insulation of the balcony

Before the start of the insulation work, the balcony or loggia is glazed. You also need to decide whether to combine the balcony with the room. Then you can proceed either to the insulation measures themselves, or to breaking the wall and removing the finishing materials.

Immediately you need to prepare construction garbage bags. They will need at least 10 pieces - for tiles, plaster, so that later nothing falls off in the process. Everything must be thoroughly cleaned and taken out so as not to interfere.

From the walls you need to pull out all nails and sharp objects that can damage the insulation. Beat off various convexities of concrete with a hammer, cover the cracks with concrete mortar until they are even, so that there is no blowing from the outside. The corners are leveled with the help of printed wooden slats - then this will affect the appearance of the loggia.

After all the preparatory work, it is necessary to coat all surfaces with an antifungal agent - you can buy it at a construction supermarket. Depending on what material the insulation will be carried out, you may have to treat the wall with a primer. For example, before gluing polystyrene foam, such an event is mandatory.

Tools for the job

In order not to interrupt the process of doing the insulation of the loggia with your own hands, it is recommended to prepare all the necessary tools:

• building level;
• a hammer;
• drill;
• perforator - for removing plaster and unevenly frozen concrete from the walls;
• a knife for cutting insulation - it is recommended to buy a special one with a long nose according to the thickness of the material;
• stairs.

For some types of insulation, the wall should be leveled as much as possible in order to glue them to the surface with high quality without the formation of air pockets. For this, a building level is needed. A bag of cement and sand can also come in handy, as well as a trowel for applying mortar to walls if they are not level.

When installing panels of insulation on dowels, it is necessary to prepare several sets, depending on the size of the sheets. If you don't want to punch holes in the materials, tile adhesive will do, but only for hard slabs.

Tape suspensions or a frame for insulation are rarely done, since you do not want to part with the usable area. But if this option is chosen, you need to purchase wooden or aluminum slats.

Warming restrictions

It is impossible to carry out the following manipulations when insulating a balcony or loggia:

• Demolishing the load-bearing walls - this can result in the collapse of the structure.
• Install heating on the balcony.
• Equip a bathroom in the loggia, since there are no sewer pipes in this room.
• Change the height of the ceiling by applying an additional layer of concrete - this can cause the upper balcony to collapse.

It is possible to make a kitchen on the balcony, but only with the permission of construction organizations, after calculating the load.

If the building is classified as an architectural monument, all glazing and exterior upgrades are prohibited by law.

Basic materials for insulation

There is a huge amount of materials that can be used to insulate a balcony from the inside. You should choose according to the following parameters:

• Cost. The most expensive, but really working material is extruded polystyrene foam.
• Climatic features of the region. What kind of insulation will be most effective in winter.
• The building material from which the building is made. Brick and foam concrete hold heat better than concrete panels, so the insulation layer can be made smaller.
• Resistance of the heat insulator to environmental conditions - ultraviolet rays, frost, rain.

Personal preference can ignore all of the above options. If a person has heard a lot of good things about foam, it will be impossible to convince him to put polystyrene foam, even if there is money for expensive and durable material.

Expanded clay

Expanded clay is a specially processed clay. It is heated to 1000 degrees, after which empty spaces are formed inside. This air acts as a barrier that does not allow cold or heat to pass through. Clay is one of the most environmentally friendly and durable materials. It is used to insulate the floor on the balcony, as well as in private buildings for the foundation and walls.

In addition to thermal insulation, expanded clay reduces the speed of sound waves, which are retained by the porous structure of the substance.

Mineral wool

Mineral wool is of several types - glass wool, basalt stone, slag wool. To work on the insulation of the balcony, it is recommended to use medium density stone wool, between the fibers of which there is air. This will solve two problems at once - sound insulation and heat leakage, since there is little air in the plates of higher density and they serve only for thermal insulation. Stone wool is a non-combustible material, it does not accumulate moisture, but it allows water molecules to pass well in the form of steam from the room. Basalt wool serves up to 50 years with proper installation and operation.

Glass wool has slightly worse moisture-repellent characteristics. The same goes for slag. These materials melt at 300 degrees.

It is imperative to work with glass wool in equipment, as the fibers crumble and get into the eyes, on the skin, causing itching and redness.

Styrofoam

Polyfoam is 90% air. This explains its low cost and popularity as insulation for balconies. You can choose in any form - tiled, loose, liquid. Plates come in different thicknesses and densities. Styrofoam is suitable for walls and floors, as well as for ceiling insulation. It is necessary to take care of the evenness of the walls in order to glue the plates, or knock down the wooden frame along the thickness of the plates and lay them there. In the future, the entire formwork will need to be covered with plaster.

Extruded polystyrene foam

Extruded polystyrene foam is a modified polystyrene, but its structure is finer - the delimited air bubbles are less than that of foam. Therefore, the material retains heat better and transmits less sound. For him, you do not need to equip a vapor barrier, since polystyrene foam does not allow moisture to pass through.

The density of expanded polystyrene allows you to glue it in the form of plates, and then cover up the joints. You can make a lock at the junction of the slabs so as not to violate the heat-preserving properties.The material serves for a long time, not responding to changes in temperature outside the window, humidity, but it is expensive.

Polyurethane foam

This is a modified foam rubber with slightly different properties - it is more durable and dense. Suitable as insulation for balconies. It is most often used in the form of foam for spraying on surfaces that need to be insulated. The foam layer will depend on the material of the walls, as well as on the climate of the place of residence. The plus is that the polyurethane foam creates a monolithic frame through which cold air masses do not penetrate.

Penofol

One of the new materials that has proven itself well in the insulation market. The plus is that you need a thin layer to create a barrier to cold masses or hot air in summer. On the one hand, it is foamed polyethylene with closed air capsules. On the other side, a foil is glued, sanded and reflective of heat.

When installing penofol, the foil side should be directed into the room in order to retain the heat coming from radiation sources or batteries.

Minus - the material is soft and not suitable in cases where it is planned to apply plaster over the insulation. On top of the foam foam, you can install drywall or some kind of solid insulation, for example, basalt wool, on which the plaster mix fits well.

Do-it-yourself balcony and loggia insulation

It is recommended to start the insulation of a loggia or balcony from the ceiling and move in the lower direction. It is easier if the balcony is located under someone, then there will be fewer activities. If the apartment is on the top floor, the procedure is as follows:

1. Apply soundproofing tape or spray.
2. Waterproof the ceiling with a PVC membrane. There are the same, but made of polyester.
3. This is followed by a membrane that protects from the wind. It is a vapor-permeable material, but it traps air masses that can penetrate when cement mortar cracks between bricks or seams of concrete slabs.
4. Anti-condensation material. This is necessary so that the glass wool insulation does not absorb moisture. It is not installed only if hydrophobic insulation is used.
5. This is followed by a frame, but it is not necessary to do it if the insulation is planted on glue.
6. A layer of insulation to choose from.
7. Vapor barrier.

After the ceiling, it is necessary to do floor insulation. How to insulate the balcony from below:

1. First of all, waterproofing is laid on the floor. Soft materials are suitable - polyethylene, penofol. Penofol for the floor is better to choose two-sided. With one-sided, the reflective surface must face down. To connect penofol, aluminum tape is used. All joints of polyethylene sheets are connected with plumbing tape to be sure of tightness. If you use bitumen mastic as a waterproofing, after applying it, you need to wait a day before proceeding with further work.
2. Next, you need to knock down logs from a tree. The timber must be well dried and treated with antiseptics against fungus. The distance between the lags should be equal to the size of the insulation plates so that they fit snugly. The height may be slightly higher. The cracks that sometimes arise between the logs and the walls of the balcony are filled with polyurethane foam.
3. The last is the insulation. It is important that there are no gaps between the boards and slabs.

How to insulate a loggia along the walls:

1. The first is a layer of waterproofing, which is laid along the entire perimeter.
2. If the insulation is fixed with glue, no wooden beams are needed.
3. Insulation plates are laid along the entire perimeter in a frame or on tile adhesive. It is recommended to use several types of materials, for example mineral wool and foam.
4. If cracks have formed due to an unevenly knocked down frame, they are blown out with polyurethane foam.
5. The last is the vapor barrier layer.

External walls are subject to more serious insulation. It is recommended to install at least 2 layers of thermal insulation material.

If there are old wooden windows on the balcony, they also need to be insulated for the winter to avoid heat loss. Special harnesses made of foam rubber or foamed polyethylene, which are laid between the window structures, are suitable here.

Additional insulation methods

In regions with a cold climate, one insulation in the walls will not be enough. On the balcony, you can install a conventional electric heater - oil, infrared, which is directed to the wall, or a fan heater.

If possible, you can buy a warm underlay by equipping a warm floor. For example, the Caleo system made in Korea. Turn it on as needed.

An air conditioner with the function of supplying warm air will help to heat a large balcony. In the summer, it can be switched to cooling mode. The downside is that this will entail additional energy costs, while the floor will not warm up. According to the laws of physics, warm air from the floor will rise up, heating the entire room, so a one-time financial investment in the floor is still more profitable than an air conditioner.

Another negative aspect of the hermetically sealed balcony is the lack of ventilation. This can be solved by installing a Breezer system, which supplies fresh air from the street, preheating it to the desired temperature.

Common mistakes when insulating

Most people begin work on the insulation of balconies and loggias just before the colds, so all activities are done in a hurry. Often, the process is limited to blowing in the cracks with polyurethane foam. Concrete, brick and other brands of building materials do not insulate heat as effectively as special heaters do, so warm air will continue to evaporate into nowhere.

Saving on your own home can only be justified in the case of discounts on quality materials in the store, for example, product leftovers. For the rest, it is not recommended to buy cheap heaters - they will cease to perform their functions in a couple of seasons.

The lack of an action plan for the modernization of the balcony leads to the fact that important points are released, and the work is performed poorly. It is necessary to think over and calculate how much is required for the installation of thermal insulation, how long it will take, only after all the calculations to get down to work.