Joining a loggia: how to attach a balcony and legalize redevelopment

Recommendation points

• The advantages of combining a loggia
• Combination options and permits
• All about dismantling
• Insulation of the connected area
• Floor level and insulation
• Carrying out the necessary communications
• Finishing work in the combined room
• Zoning or expanding space: possible interior options

Rational use of all living space resources allows you to create additional comfort. An attached loggia can solve the problem of insufficient lighting in a room, increase the usable area or be used to create a conceived interior. You can also take advantage of this opportunity.

House designers invariably provide almost every apartment with a loggia, very often not even one, but two. The extent to which such a solution is appropriate depends primarily on the specific needs of the direct homeowners. For many, a loggia is nothing more than a useless area, which also increases the cooling of adjacent rooms and significantly reduces the access of sunlight to them..

The advantages of combining a loggia

Joining the loggia to the living space gives several main advantages at once:

• a significant increase in living space;
• creating an additional zone that can be used for a variety of purposes;
• an important advantage when combining is the creation of a common temperature regime and a decrease in heat loss in the apartment;
• the combination has a positive effect on the illumination of the room adjacent to the loggia.

Such a task as attaching a loggia is definitely not the easiest process. Each stage requires responsible compliance with all technological requirements.

Combination options and permits

The first thing to do is to determine what design changes will be required to implement the planned redevelopment. So, to create a single space, it will be necessary to completely dismantle the partition, and to combine with the preservation of zoning, it will be enough to dismantle the balcony block. Such changes cannot be made without prior permission, so you will need to:

• drawing up a project in specialized design offices with an appropriate license. Competent employees evaluate the possibility of combining and calculate the conditions that must be met, for example, strengthening the structure;
• agreement. The approval procedure needs to be clarified, since it is regulated by local acts.

An unlawful change in the layout threatens not only with a substantial fine, but also with more serious consequences. Dismantling load-bearing and retaining walls can cause both a slow collapse of a building and its collapse. In addition, the availability of permits eliminates the problems when making any real estate transactions.

All about dismantling

When all the necessary documents are received, you can safely proceed to the most difficult, without any doubt, stage – dismantling of old structures.

Contrary to the popular belief “to break, not to build,” in fact, dismantling is a whole art that requires knowledge and the right approach. To make everything work out quickly, simply and efficiently, you should make sure that you have the appropriate tools at hand. You will need:

1. A hammer drill with which you can remove excess concrete in places where it is completely unnecessary.
2. Grinder and hacksaw for metal. These tools will be required to remove any external metal structures present..
3. Jigsaw or hacksaw. They will be needed to cope with old window frames and cut them quickly, since they are too bulky and significantly complicate the work if they are completely dismantled.
4. A set of screwdrivers (at least a regular and a Phillips screwdriver), a hammer and an assembly knife.

If the walls in your house are brick, you will also need a regular scrap. A special construction vacuum cleaner will also be useful, which will allow you to at least partially get rid of the dust that inevitably arises during dismantling..

First of all, you need to remove:

1. Old balcony structures (gratings, dryers, cladding metal structures, etc.).
2. Old windows and doors.
3. Window sills, thresholds, low tides and all other reminders of the old loggia.
4. That part of the partition wall, the dismantling of which is provided for by the redevelopment plan. The fastening of the resulting opening is immediately carried out in accordance with the previously compiled technical documentation. Usually it is on this wall that the heating radiator is located, so it also needs to be dismantled (cut off the water and cut off with a grinder), and then installed in a new place.

The ideal dismantling can be considered a process, at the end of which you have a loggia in its original form – concrete slabs and empty window openings. All slopes need to be leveled and plastered.

Please note that in order to complete the receipt of the redevelopment documents, you will need to confirm the compliance of the changes made with the project requirements. Such confirmation is an act of work performed, issued by a construction organization that has an appropriate license..

Insulation of the connected area

After all the unnecessary is dismantled and the loggia is ready to be turned into part of the living space, you can proceed to the next stage – its insulation.

To insulate a loggia combined with a room, it makes sense to shift the parapet with foam blocks, which are laid like bricks along the perimeter of the loggia and fastened with special glue.

For insulation along the outer border of the loggia in contact with the street, guides for foam blocks are installed. They are attached directly to the slab using dowels and self-tapping screws. A good hammer drill will come in handy here, since floor slabs are often made of high-strength concrete grades, which may be too tough for a low-power impact drill..

After laying the parapet, you need to take care of high-quality glazing. It makes sense to give preference to a profile and double-glazed windows that provide maximum noise and heat insulation..

After installation, it is recommended to blow out all joints with foam in order to avoid possible drafts..

Further, all surfaces are covered with a layer of waterproofing and additional insulation. For this, you can use Penoplex and Penofol. These materials have the best heat-saving and fire-fighting properties, moreover, they reduce the space of the attached loggia less than others. Penofol is best used foil. It has a very high heat reflectance and has a vapor barrier..

The loggia, sheathed with such material, will definitely be warm, and your home will always be reliably protected from any vagaries of the weather.

Floor level and insulation

In many houses, the loggia is slightly lower than the floor in the main part of the apartment. Sometimes the drops reach 15–20 cm, which causes the owners a lot of inconvenience even when the loggia and the adjacent room are visually divided into different rooms, not to mention how sad such a drop will look in the combined space. However, with a competent approach, this flaw may even be useful, since a significant difference allows you to carry out the most effective insulation. Making the floor warm is a very important task, because under the loggia there is exactly the same neighbor’s one, and in it the temperature regime can be very far from ideal.

Raising the floor is an extremely simple task, but it is important to correctly calculate the required lift height. If you want to create a single-level floor, then you just need to measure the existing drop and subtract from it:

1. The height of the planned flooring (carpet, laminate, linoleum or tiles).
2. Height of the backing or tile adhesive.
3. Leave the required clearance for the underfloor heating system if planned.
4. Add 15-25mm for OSB boards, which will be laid on joists and create a flat surface.

The dimensions that will be obtained as a result of the calculations will be the height at which the logs need to be laid in order for the floor in the combined room to turn out to be solid.

Insulation, for example, mineral wool, is laid in niches and gaps between the lags. Due to this, the cold air rising from the concrete slab will not cool the floor surface and, on the contrary, the warm air will not heat the external structures.

Once the mineral wool has been installed, you can proceed with waterproofing and installing OSB sheets or other similar material. The joints of the sheets are carefully blown out with polyurethane foam. After it hardens, all excess must be carefully cut off with a knife. Next, a special underlay and a clean floor covering are laid, however, a warm floor system can also be installed between them, which will certainly provide warmth and comfort in the room.

Today this technology is already quite widespread and is not unrealistic. There are 3 most common technologies:

1. Cable.
2. Infrared.
3. Water.

For a loggia, the use of a cable or infrared underfloor heating will be optimal, since to connect it, you only need to supply electricity. If you do not want to gouge the walls, you can make a layering from the nearest outlet and lay it in the cable channel. A water-heated floor is more difficult to arrange, it is immersed in a concrete screed, which makes it significantly heavier. On the loggia, such a decision is unlikely to be correct, so it is better to refuse this technology.

Carrying out the necessary communications

Any room has a purpose. In any case, no matter what the resulting space is intended for, you need to think about communicating with it, such as electricity, television and Internet cables, if necessary. It is best to solve this problem even at the earliest stages of repair work, having laid the wiring in advance and outlining the locations of all future outlets. Due to the fact that all kinds of heaters will be used in abundance on the loggia attached to the room, you need to make sure in advance that the cables are designed for the maximum possible load and under any circumstances do not start to warm up and do not cause a fire. In order for the wiring to be as safe and reliable as possible, in addition to the quality of the cable itself, you need to pay attention to how it is laid. Special cable channels or corrugations made of non-combustible materials are optimal..

Finishing work in the combined room

Having finished all the rough work, it’s time to start finishing finishing. This includes finishing putty, wallpapering, painting and flooring. It is important to remember that the former loggia, even if the zoning is preserved, will be visually perceived as part of a single space of the room. Don’t mix too different styles. In order to emphasize the transition from one zone to another, it is enough to use different colors, styles and textures of the finishing materials. For example, you can safely use different types of flooring..

Zoning or expanding space: possible interior options

How the added space can be used? Additional square meters are never superfluous, but each case has its own priorities for their use..

For example, in a small kitchen, they can be used to create a cozy dining room where the whole family can gather and even receive guests. You can do it differently: on the former loggia, equip a cooking area, and place the dining room in a room that used to be a kitchen. Both options have their own advantages and will create additional comfort and coziness..

Very often in small apartments there are not very large rooms, therefore, by attaching a loggia, it may make sense to combine the space and equip a large modern living room, in which you can even receive a large company without hesitation.

Attaching a loggia also allows you to solve the problem of personal space. For a schoolchild’s child, you can create a study area in which no one will interfere with him, and he will have his own table, shelves and lockers.

Personal space will not interfere with other family members: an office, a workshop or just a place to relax, where you can do what you love, without disturbing the rest.

There are many options, you just have to dream a little. As you can see, there is nothing super complicated in this, so if a desire arises, you can safely proceed to the implementation of your plan.