How to insulate the balcony with your own hands?

Combining a room or kitchen with a balcony is a good way to expand a small apartment a bit. The balcony is equipped with cabinets or dining rooms. But the most important thing remains the question - how can you insulate the balcony. It is clear that the first thing to do is to install quality windows, but what material can you insulate the balcony itself?

How to insulate the balcony by yourself?

The best way to warm the walls of the balcony is to hire a team and do it from the outside. But most often this method is not suitable for every home. Sometimes you have to do it from the inside. In fact, this is quite a feasible task.

1. How to insulate the ceiling on the balcony? The ceiling of your balcony is simultaneously the underside of the reinforced concrete slab that serves as a floor for your neighbors from the top. If your neighbor has insulated the floor, then you can and do not spend at this time. But it's better to do everything properly and to warm your part of the plate. To do this, the boards are stuffed with ribs down. The width of the boards should be equal to 100 mm - this is the width of the heater. Quite enough boards with a thickness of 30-40 mm. Nail the board at a distance equal to the width of the heater. The best material for insulation is mineral wool. It is laid in the spaces between the boards. Further, all the sheeting is waterproofed, then fixed with racks. You can trim the ceiling with wood or plastic.
2. How to insulate the walls of the balcony with your own hands? Most of the walls are occupied by windows. When choosing a double-glazed window, it is better not to save and get a really high-quality option. Everything must be completely sealed. The lower part of the wall, as a rule, consists of iron sheets or a concrete wall. If you insulate the loggia, most likely it's a concrete wall. In this case, the principle of insulation is no different from working with the ceiling. The only difference is in the fastenings: instead of racks it is better to use dowels with wide hats.
3. If the lower part as such does not exist, you must first prepare it. How can I insulate the balcony from scratch? This can be done using the profile used to mount the drywall. The first layer of the profile is mounted over the outer part and is lined with plastic lining. Next, a second row is formed on the inner part. All voids should be filled with mineral wool. The next layer is waterproofing. The lining can be made of plasterboard or plastic. When working, make sure that all joints are even and there are no blows.

How to insulate the balcony with foam plastic?

There is another way how to insulate the balcony with your own hands. To do this, instead of gypsum board and profile, you can use foam plastic. The thickness of the sheets should be at least 30 mm and the width 40 cm. Install the heater from the inside. The work is quite painstaking. Keep in mind: even the smallest gap can seriously affect the final result. If the cold air passes through even one tiny slit, all the work will go wrong. Try to select each sheet foam so that it fits perfectly into the frame. It is clear that without minor shortcomings will not work. To do this, use a mounting foam. To improve the quality of insulation, you can use a small cunning: first, we pass through the foam around the perimeter of one cavity in the frame, and then insert a piece of insulation. Then, from the outside, we pass the foam again.

Before you decide to insulate the balcony with polystyrene, carefully calculate the number of necessary insulation and think over the frame. Take care that the pieces of insulation do not go beyond the plane of the future finish. By this point, all the cracks need to go through the foam.