How to make a three-story balcony

Expansion of living space is a topical issue of our days, it remains to decide how to do it and at what expense. I offer a small guide to such an expansion, available not only to residents of the private sector, but also to apartment owners up to the third floor, in multi-storey buildings.

“It’s great to go out and have a smoke especially on a large and spacious balcony” such dreams can come true, it is worth reading and doing.

Standard apartments during the Soviet Union were built on the principle of a lot and quickly. There was no talk about convenience and comfort, there was a standard Gost of 10 square meters per person and they put a big point on this. Times have changed, and besides the desire to get precious square meters, people have a desire to make their lives more comfortable. In the case of an apartment, size matters, the larger the housing, the more comfortable, a fairly simple but working axiom.

The problem of expanding an apartment is solved in three main ways

The first purchase of a new home with a larger area, but this option has, in addition to obvious advantages and a huge disadvantage, namely, you need to have large financial resources.

The second, the purchase of a neighboring apartment, having the same drawback as the first, has a number of additional drawbacks, such as the desire of neighbors to sell, permits and the technical capabilities of such a refurbishment. Often, after such an acquisition, the owners are faced with the impossibility of a normal merger.

And the third, the extension of the balcony, this option is less expensive, but the usable area added during such construction can also be different, ranging from 3 square meters to 15 square meters. Considering the latter option, how to build a balcony? We can say that the technology itself is simple and following a small guidebook such a construction can be carried out in a month, maximum two.

If you live on the lower floors and think that extra space will not hurt, then you should think about adding a balcony. It is necessary to start such an event by determining the size and desire of neighbors for the construction of such a balcony. In a specific example, the construction of a balcony for 4 owners and a three-storey building is directed. The organization of neighbors above the apartment and below, if there are such neighbors, will allow significant savings on the construction site, because such costs are evenly distributed to everyone and ultimately will be cheaper.

The first stage is the coordination of such construction with neighbors, both in connection with the above, and due to the mandatory receipt of permission for such construction from all interested parties. The most optimal option when obtaining such consent is to immediately fix it on paper, in any case it will come in handy further and will be calmer.

The second stage is to obtain permission from the organization serving the house and further “run” through other state institutions with obtaining all permits from them. As an option, it is best to take the permission from the calculation of one floor, which does not require design, budgeting. If you go exactly by issuing a permit for the entire balcony at once, most likely the permits will cost a tidy sum. In such cases, it is most optimal to involve a design organization, and order from them exactly a permit without design, perhaps the services will be expensive, but they will allow you to get the coveted “paper” without much hassle. Another option could be construction with subsequent legalization through the court. The last option is quite painstaking and there are several options for the development of events, both positive and not very.

The third stage in the construction of a balcony is the construction itself. After agreement with the neighbors, the overall dimensions of the balcony itself have already been determined. There are several factors to consider when determining them. The first one needs to be built to the maximum, so that there is no longer any desire to complete it and taking into account those materials that are on the market. The main starting material is floor slabs, it is they that greatly affect the dimensions. It should be remembered that buying a new stove is very expensive and it is better to buy a used stove of old standards.

One of the widespread and at the same time “large” floor slabs is a slab measuring 6 meters by 1.5 meters, giving a relatively large usable area at the exit, it is the most optimal option. After purchasing the slab, we proceed to purchase materials for the entire construction, we need a shell stone, as the most optimal ratio of price and quality, granite for laying the foundation, sand and cement. Determination of the amount of materials is carried out according to the formula – first of all, consider the volume of laying granite (height * length * width), the same scheme is used when determining the amount of stone.

Construction begins with laying the foundation, based on the size of the slab, we begin construction with earthworks. Our foundation will consist of two parts, each of which will have such dimensions in a length of 160 cm (determined based on the size of the slab itself 150 cm, plus a tolerance of 10 cm), width 60 cm (determined based on the size of the wall 40 cm. plus tolerances on both sides of 10 cm), and a depth of 120 cm, while the foundations of the building and the balcony must be leveled, which increases the height of the foundation by another 30 cm – the height of the underground and above-ground parts will be 150 cm. Based on the dimensions, it can be determined as the quantity granite (160 * 60 * 150) which is equal to 1.44 cubic meters per one part, multiplied by 2 and we get the total amount of granite in the amount of 2.88 cubic meters. As a rule, builders take for a robot also on the basis of volume, so that such information is useful and as a kind of check. Further work is reduced to excavation according to the required dimensions, followed by the laying of granite and pouring with mortar.

To be sure, it is worth checking the filling itself, which is done in stages. That is, we throw in large pieces of granite 20-30 cm high and fill it with a liquid solution in the ratio of one bucket of cement to three buckets of sand, of course such a solution is “strong”, but the balcony should also serve for more than one year. After the end of the underground part, the upper part is laid out from the same granite. After finishing laying the foundation, he needs to be given time to “settle down”, which means a break in construction for at least 4-5 days, and, if possible, a week.

The next stage is the construction of retaining walls, the manufacturing technology is no different from laying shell stone on ordinary walls. One of the main nuances is that the wall of the first floor of the balcony is built based on a width of 40 cm, which means laying in two stones. When laying, it is obligatory to link the stones to each other by laying stones either along the wall or in width, which will ensure a reliable bond and stability of the wall itself in the future. It must be remembered that at the beginning of the masonry, between the granite foundation and the future wall, it is necessary to install a waterproof material, in our cases, an ordinary roofing material is suitable. After laying the first 5-6 rows of stones, we install the “mortgages”. Embedments are made from the usual 14 rods, which are inserted into a pre-made hole in the wall of the building, through holes.

On one side of the mortgage, we immediately weld the “heel”, that is, a piece of iron measuring 15 cm by 15 cm and insert it from the side of the building, such a manipulation will avoid unnecessary welding inside the apartments. For mortgages in the apartment, we remove the plaster to the wall, and after installation we seal it with putty. We install two such mortgages on each wall at approximately equal intervals. From the side of the street the mortgages are also closed with “heels” This reinforcement will serve as a tie for the future balcony and will not allow the balcony to “move away” from the building wall, plus it serves as an additional stiffener for the entire structure.

The final stage in the construction of the support wall is the filling of the armopoyas, it is made from concrete with mandatory reinforcement. That is, at the top of the wall, we expose the formwork (a form of boards) to fit the dimensions of the wall itself 40 cm high. We lay the reinforcement and fill it with concrete. Directly on the armopoyas itself, the floor slab is laid, in this case it is undesirable to use shell rock. The wall needs to be given a couple of days to dry completely and only after that the floor slab is installed. When installing the slab, the main feature is that it is undesirable to install the slab itself to the wall of the building. It is necessary to leave a gap of 7-10 cm between the slab and the wall, which is subsequently filled with stone and poured with concrete. This is where the construction of the first floor is over..

The next stage will be the construction of the second floor, the manufacturing technology is the same as on the first with a slight change, namely, during construction, not the entire wall is laid 40 cm wide. To save material and reduce the weight of the entire structure, the wall is built as follows, the first three stones from the walls of the building are placed in one, that is, the wall turns out to be 20 cm. and on the last in two, that is, 40 cm, we actually form a pillar. We install the mortgages according to the principle of the first floor, place the armopoyas on the second floor and lay two rows of white bricks. This is due to lower loads and, as a consequence, the possibility of using a lighter material. And the completion of the laying of the second floor slab.

During the construction of the third floor, the procedure is repeated, that is, the walls, embedded similar to those previously built, the main feature on the third floor is the installation of the roof. But in order to minimize costs, the simplest materials were used. A 60X60 wooden beam was installed as the beams, which was “frozen” into the wall, while, for safety reasons, loops with thin reinforcement were installed and pulled along the wall, which gave additional stability to the beams. After that, install the slate and nail it down. Laying the slate should be started from the edge of the balcony, and the half should lie under the wall of the building itself. When laying slate, do not forget to leave a visor that will not let rain fall on the balcony.

The final stage is the construction of partitions between the balconies, and railings on the balconies themselves. It all depends on the desire of the owner and his imagination. It is advisable to build the partitions themselves of brick, which will give reliability, although options for using drywall are also possible. We lay the brick in a “quarter”, with the formation of an additional screed in the form of a steel wire between the rows of bricks, such a wall is lightweight and strong enough.

The railing for the balcony can also be made in several variations:

• the first is more standard and simple, laid out of brick, the height of such a railing depends on the owner’s desire and can vary from 80 cm to 1 meter, although other options are possible;
• the second manufacture of the frame from a metal corner 40X40 and the installation of flat slate inside the frame, with the latter being fastened with metal bolts.

Both the first and second options are approximately equal in cost, the difference consists of personal wishes.

On this, the construction of the balcony was completed, in general, it took a month and a half well, and the amount of money depends on the region and the high cost of materials (including the purchase of new or used slabs, shell rock, brick, slate and even iron) and the desires of the owners themselves.

The old proverb says “The eyes are afraid, but the hands are doing” so in the case of the construction of such balconies, all these are quite realizable ideas that have already been implemented.