The arrangement of a wooden floor on a balcony has many advantages, and the most important of them is the ability to perform a thorough insulation of this part of the structure. Usually the floors on the balcony or loggia in modern new buildings are made of faceless ceramic tiles laid on a concrete slab. Moreover, the wooden floor structure is so simple that it is easy to build it with your own hands. Our step-by-step guide and video instructions will help you do everything quickly and correctly.
Features of the floors on the balcony
An open balcony or an unglazed loggia is not a reason to give up beauty and convenience. At the same time, the flooring from the boards is suitable both for the floors of an unglazed room, and for arranging a loggia or balcony with glazing. In the latter case, it will be necessary to insulate the base concrete slab well.
However, arranging the floor on a balcony without glazing requires the choice of a special moisture-resistant material as a coating. If these are floors made of boards, then only a special decking board made of moisture-resistant wood species that has undergone special processing will do.
To lay the floor on a glazed loggia, you can use any board. It is better to choose well-dried, tongue-and-groove and polished coniferous wood products (pine, spruce, larch, fir, cedar). They are affordable, practical and durable. However, in any case, do-it-yourself flooring requires careful preparation of the base.
Foundation preparation
Sealing gaps on the balcony with mounting foam
First of all, the floor on the balcony or loggia must be cleaned of debris and dust. Further preparatory work is carried out in the following order:
- For effective insulation, we close up all the cracks, holes and cracks on the concrete slab with a cement-sand mortar. And the sealing of vertical and horizontal joints of building structures is carried out using mounting foam.
- Further, all protruding mounting loops, pieces of mortar or concrete must be cut off to level the surface.
- After that, the floors are primed on the balcony or loggia. For these purposes, it is better to use penetrating primer solutions. They should also be applied to the lower part of the walls.
Tip: even if you lay the floor from the boards on the open balcony, it is worthwhile to carry out measures to seal holes and crevices, as well as a primer. They will insulate the room and save the concrete slab from destruction.
Foundation waterproofing
Waterproofing can be done with paint, special impregnation, roll materials, waterproof plaster, liquid glass or rubber. Balcony waterproofing will protect your floor from fungus, mold and dampness.
To make waterproofing using different materials, you should use our tips:
- The easiest way is to lay a plastic film. The main condition is compliance with the tightness of the joints. For this, laying is done with an overlap. It is better to use two layers of material and bring it to the walls to a height of 10-15 cm.
- Ruberoid should be laid on bituminous mastic. It is pre-applied to the surface, and then the material is rolled out. Roofing material with a layer of mastic already applied to it is heated before laying.
- The easiest way is to do the painting waterproofing with your own hands. To do this, it is enough to buy a special composition (latex-acrylic) and apply it with a wide brush on the floor and the lower part of the walls.
- Penetrating waterproofing compounds are also easy to use. They are applied in several layers on the floor and walls. At the same time, the substance penetrates deep into the pores of concrete and, crystallizing there, reliably protects against moisture.
- Special moisture-resistant plaster compositions are applied with a spatula or brush.
- The most reliable waterproofing is liquid glass and liquid rubber. When applied to the surface, they form a strong thick film that reliably protects against moisture.
Floor device
There are two ways to build a floor on a closed balcony with your own hands. The floor from the board is laid on the logs. At the same time, it can be raised to the level of the balcony door or made lower.
The lower floor device option is simpler. It is suitable for balconies and loggias, which are not planned to be insulated and attached to the room in the future. The design is done in the following sequence:
- Before laying the log, it is necessary to perform the insulation of the concrete slab. For the summer version, a thin foil heat-insulating material is suitable. It rolls out and lays on the floor with a call to the walls. Also, to increase the comfort of the room, you can use this material to insulate walls and parapets.
- Low logs can be installed on top of the heat-insulating material. They are mounted longitudinally.
- Sometimes, to improve the thermal insulation characteristics of the floor, extruded polystyrene foam is laid between the lags. This is the most effective insulating material, so thermal insulation can be made with small thickness plates. This will be enough to warm the balcony or loggia.
- After that, you can lay edged tongue-and-groove boards. At the same time, a gap of 15 mm is left between the floorboards and the walls for ventilation of the lower part of the structure. Then this gap is closed with a plinth. Boards are laid across the log and fixed to them with nails driven into the end.
The second option for installing a wooden floor on a balcony is shown in the video proposed at the end of the article. It is more suitable for insulated closed balconies, which are planned to be attached to the room in the future, and is carried out in this order:
- First, as in the first case, you can make the floor insulation with foil roll material.
- After that, the lags are mounted. However, to raise them to the desired level, special brackets or racks are used. You can use metal U-shaped products. If you want to adjust the height and position of the lag during installation, it is better to choose steel studs. All holders and supports are attached to the concrete slab with anchors.
- To insulate the floor, the space between the boards and the base is covered with expanded clay or mineral wool is laid there. To evenly cover the floor with mineral wool, it is better to do this before fixing the log, but after installing the racks. Then you can cut holes in the insulation and lay it exactly between the racks, and then install the logs.
