Floor installation on a balcony slab, its types, preparation of the base and manufacturing technologies for tile, wood and bulk coatings.
Laying tiles on the balcony
Tile is considered to be the best floor covering for balconies. It perfectly tolerates temperature changes, is not afraid of sunlight, has high durability, beautiful appearance and does not create problems with cleaning.
Such tiles can have a matte or glazed surface. If the floor on the balcony is not planned to be covered with a rug or some other soft material, it is better to choose matte tiles for it, since they are less slippery than glazed ones.
Due to the fact that the tile has a somewhat porous structure, it is desirable to use it for cladding the floors of closed-type balconies. For outdoor work, its variety is used - ceramic granite, which is much denser. If for ordinary tiles the hydrophobicity has an indicator of up to 20%, then the same value for porcelain stoneware is less than 0.05%.
The consequence of low moisture absorption is the increased frost resistance of such tiles. Ceramic granite is devoid of all the disadvantages of tiles, therefore it can withstand significant mechanical loads for a long time, frost down to -50 ° C and heat + 50 ° C, without losing its functional and aesthetic properties at all.
For laying tiles on the floor on the balcony, you will need: frost-resistant or ordinary tile glue, a primer, grout and crosses for joints, a tile cutting machine, a grinder, a mallet, a notched and rubber spatula, a building level, water and a sponge.
The work should be performed in the following sequence:
- First, you need to soak the tiles in water for 1-2 hours so that during installation it does not draw moisture from the glue, thus ensuring maximum adhesion. During this time, the screed must be treated with a primer, this will remove dust from it and increase the adhesion to the binding material.
- Then you should prepare an adhesive composition from a dry mixture according to the instructions located on its packaging. This procedure must be performed using an electric drill-mixer, stirring the mixture, mixed with water, until a homogeneous plastic state.
- It is recommended to start laying tiles from the corner of the balcony farthest from the threshold. The adhesive should be applied to the screed in small toothed areas up to 1 m.2 area. Applying tiles to it, each product needs to be rubbed a little, check its position with a level and upset as necessary with a rubber mallet. The surface of the cladding should be a single plane without protrusions, this can be checked using a rule or a flat wooden strip.
- To ensure the same seams of the coating, dividing plastic crosses are inserted into the gaps between the tiles, two for each of the gaps. The cross-sectional dimensions of these products can be 2x2, 3x3, 4x4 mm and more. By selecting the appropriate crosses, you can obtain the desired width of the facing seams.
- After finishing the laying of all the tiles, the coating must be temporarily left to cure the glue under it. After a day, the crosses can be removed and grouting performed. This will require a special mixture, which can be of any color. It is recommended to select it to match the tile. A contrasting color will clearly delineate the boundaries of the tiles and can emphasize the shortcomings made when laying the material. The color of the grout, which matches the background of the cladding, will give the impression of its solidity.
- Grouting is done with a rubber trowel. Its excess must be immediately removed from the tile surface with the same tool. After partial drying of the composition, its traces from the lining should be removed with a hard sponge, and after a while the coating should be washed with warm water.
The tiled floor is cold. Therefore, when using a glazed balcony as a full-fledged living space, an electrical heating system can be placed under the cladding. The installation of a warm floor on the balcony is carried out immediately after the manufacture of the screed, before laying the tiled covering. Facing with ceramic granite with an open version of the room does not require insulation.
The device on the balcony wooden floor
Wooden covering on logs is the best option for a balcony covered with glazing. Most often, the floor in the apartment is located at a higher level in relation to the balcony slab. Using such a structure made of wood, you can significantly reduce this height difference for comfortable movement from room to balcony and back.
Before starting the installation of a wooden floor, you need to immediately decide what will serve as its topcoat. If a plank floor is planned, then only grooved edged boards will be needed. When using other materials for finishing, it will be better to lay thick plywood on the logs, and then fix the linoleum, parquet or tiles directly on it.
The work on the flooring includes the following stages: waterproofing, installation of the frame, insulation and flooring of the coating. To complete it, you will need consumables: a bar with a section of 50x50 or 70x70 mm for the manufacture of logs, hydro and vapor barrier films, insulation, screws, metal corners and dowels, tongue-and-groove boards or plywood.
Installation of a wooden floor should be done in the following sequence:
- First, the floor screed must be covered with a layer of waterproofing membrane in order to prevent the insulation from absorbing moisture coming from the concrete slab.
- Then a thin layer of rolled insulation must be laid on the waterproofing. Better if it is a foil material. Its heat-reflecting layer must face outward.
- After that, along the perimeter of the balcony, build a frame from a bar previously impregnated with an antiseptic. Its internal cavity should be filled in 50 cm increments with transverse wooden bridges made of the same material. All frame elements are fastened to each other with screws, and to the base - with metal corners using dowels. If the balcony is wide, you can additionally install another longitudinal beam in the middle of the frame. All logs must be located in one strictly horizontal plane. To adjust their level, pieces of plywood, tiles, etc. can be placed on the insulation under the bars.
- When the installation of the frame is completed, slabs of mineral wool should be laid in its cells, which will serve as the main floor insulation. There should be no gaps between the slabs and the frame bars.
- On top of the insulation, it is necessary to lay a vapor barrier film and fix it to the frame with staple staples. The joints of the insulation sheets must be glued with metallized tape.
- After that, tongue-and-groove boards or plywood can be attached to the logs of the wooden floor on the balcony, which will act as a rough covering. You can limit yourself to varnishing or painting it, or lay linoleum on top or perform other finishing.
At the final stage of work along the perimeter of the balcony, the protruding edges of the insulation and waterproofing should be cut off, all the gaps at the joints should be filled with polyurethane foam and the skirting boards should be fixed. On the open balcony, you can also make a wooden floor. But this requires a special material called "decking" (English decking - deck covering). In another way it is called "garden parquet" or "decking". Unlike any wooden floor, it is not particularly picky about high humidity and does not have a rigid attachment to the base.
The reliability of the garden parquet flooring is due to the biological resistance of its wood. The front part of each module consists of wooden lamellas, which are arranged in the form of patterns. The base of the module, if it is made of plastic, has a lock, with the help of which the decking elements are connected to each other.
The decking can also be simply laid on the floor joists. Atmospheric precipitation, summer heat and frost in winter do not affect its original quality. The material, having a low weight, does not load the balcony slab, in contrast to the tile covering, which, together with the glue, forms a rather weighty layer.
Self-leveling floor on the balcony with your own hands
This coating is the most durable. It is elastic, moisture-proof, has excellent wear resistance and is resistant to temperature changes. The self-leveling floor can be given any color and even a 3D effect.
It is a polymer liquid coating that, spreading evenly, forms a decorative super-strong film with a thickness of more than 2 mm on the surface of the base.
Before covering the floor on the balcony with such a compound, it is necessary to prime the screed abundantly and repeatedly to ensure good adhesion of the materials used. When treating the base, each previous layer of primer must dry before applying the next one.
After a day, you can start pouring the floor. Epoxy, organic or polyurethane compounds are used as materials for it. For the manufacture of any of these mixtures and their use, there are special instructions developed by the manufacturers that should be followed.
Such coatings are quite expensive. In case of financial difficulties, you can use budget options for arranging the floor on the balcony: just paint the screed or cover it with linoleum.
How to make a floor on a balcony - watch the video:
In any case, a self-made floor will provide the necessary comfort during the operation of the home and will bring moral satisfaction to its creator. Good luck!
