If you decide to increase the area of a country house by attaching a veranda to it, then you can do it yourself. And even if this space is glazed, it will be possible to observe nature even in bad weather. In addition, the veranda can be an excellent solution to improve the insulating qualities of the house, because it acts as a vestibule between the front door and the street, eliminating the direct entry of cold air inside.
Material selection
For the reason that the veranda is part of the main building, its style must match the exterior of the house itself. Therefore, it is better to use the same materials from which the walls of the main house are built. Only in this way will the building look harmonious.
Materials can be combined using a brick at the base of the walls of the house, as well as wood for the construction of the extension. Exterior finish can be done with plaster, which can be faced and the foundation of the main building. If you have a wooden house, then the veranda should definitely be made of wood.
Layout and design
If you decide to attach a veranda with plastic windows to the house, then it is better to first carry out the layout. The dimensions of the structure are selected taking into account the preferences of the owners and the number of people who can be inside at the same time. If a family of 6 people lives in the house, an extension of 3x4 m will be enough. However, the view from the street should be taken into account here.
If the porch is small, and the cottage is two-story, then the architectural ensemble will not look harmonious. But to the small house you can attach a veranda to the entire width of the wall, this will increase the usable area, and from the side the structure will look attractive. However, any veranda attached to the house with plastic windows should be legalized. It is necessary to begin these works before construction.
After you come up with a design and determine the general view, you will need to go to the department engaged in the design of buildings. You can order projects of the veranda to the house with plastic windows there, and then you should contact the city’s architectural department to get permission to build and make changes to the project. This must be done in advance, because the approval of the project is carried out within 2 months. It is better if this time falls on the winter, when the construction season has not yet begun.
Marking and site preparation
Before starting construction work, it is necessary to prepare the site. To do this, remove the fertile soil layer, deepening by 15 cm. The soil can be left in the garden or used for flower beds. The territory is leveled, only after you can start marking. According to the plan, you can mark the borders of the veranda. To do this, install iron pins or pegs at future angles, and then pull the twine between them.
Foundation construction
Before starting construction, you should consider a photo of the verandas to the house, perhaps this visualization will allow you to decide on the project. Most often, for such extensions, a columnar or strip foundation is made, which is buried as much as the base of the main house.
You should not connect the structures into a single monolith, because the house and the veranda have different masses, which means they will sit in their own way. In order for the building not to attract an easy extension, the veranda must be installed on a separate foundation. To do this, a 4-cm gap should be left between the base of the house and the veranda.
Before you attach a veranda to the house, a photo of such structures is recommended to be considered. However, it is also important to analyze the characteristics of the soil in your area and evaluate the weight of the extension. If we are talking about heaving soils, then on the lightweight foundation the extension can “play”, then it will move away from the wall of the building. Among other things, such soil is not designed for heavy brick walls, so their pressure can contribute to shrinkage.
The construction of the strip foundation
For a large veranda of blocks or bricks, it is better to erect a tape base, which is suitable for walls covered with a heavy roof, for example, metal tile or slate. If the house is built of concrete, then the foundation for the veranda should be tape. At the first stage, it is necessary to prepare a trench, its dimensions are determined by the foundation of the house. Next, the formwork is installed at a height that is equal to the height of the base or a little more. Knock it down from the boards.
Concrete is prepared at the next stage; for this, 3 parts of sand, a part of cement and 6 parts of crushed stone should be used. The first layer of concrete is poured to the bottom and strengthened with stones, in the end you should get a layer of 10 cm. The next step is to fill in another portion of the mortar, to which you also need to add stones. For the top layer, reinforcement is not required, the surface is compared with a trowel and left for 4 days until solidification. If the weather is hot outside, then twice a day the surface of the base must be moistened with water to prevent cracking of the foundation.
The construction of the column foundation
Do you want to attach a cozy room to the house? For the veranda with plastic windows, a photo of which you can see in the article, you can build a columnar foundation. If the annex is wooden or frame, then such a base will do just fine. In order to be safe from soil heaving, pits need to be dug to a depth below the freezing of the soil, which is more than a meter.
For a light and small veranda, pillars in 2 corners will be enough, but if the extension is quite large, it is better to put several supports, the distance between which should be 60 cm. First you need to prepare the pits, each layer of sand is filled with a 20 cm thick sand bottom Then concrete is poured, while it is necessary to reach the surface of the earth and leave it to cool.
The finished pillar is coated with bitumen, and the gaps between it and the ground must be filled with sand. The aboveground part of the support is created from block or brickwork, it must be brought to the height of the main foundation or slightly lower. It is important that approximately 30 cm is left to the finishing floor of the extension.
The device of rough floors
The veranda attached to the house with plastic windows will have rough floors, for this, the space under the floor should be filled with expanded clay, which will provide insulation. The base is covered with roofing material in 2 layers. Logs are fixed on the foundation, they must be treated with an antiseptic in advance. Then you can proceed to the flooring of edged boards, their thickness should be 5 cm. If you use concrete, then this will require additional thermal insulation work, because it will pull from the base with cold, and the floor will be uncomfortable to operate.
The construction of frame walls
The walls of the veranda can be frame, for this a square beam with a side of 10 cm is used. Bars for the lower trim are laid on the draft floor, they are connected with a direct lock in the corners. Every 0.5 m in the bars, grooves for vertical posts should be cut. They are installed, and then fastened with brackets and nails. A bar for the upper harness is fixed on top. Near the slope of the roof of the house, it is necessary to install a beam-run, on which the rafters will lie. It should be fixed to the anchor bolts, like all racks to the building. Next, you can proceed to install the rafter system. Wood is treated with an antiseptic.
Roof cake design
The veranda attached to the house with plastic windows will have a sloping roof structure . The roof should be more sloping than the one on the house. The roofing cake will look the same as in the case with the main building. If the house has an attic, then one of the layers there is vapor barrier. In the veranda it is not needed, because the under-roof space will not be used.
If the insulation of the floor and walls is performed qualitatively, then the vapor barrier is completely contraindicated, because the couple will need to leave the room, it will seep through the ceiling to the attic, and from there to the outside. To do this, it is necessary to lay a special diffusion membrane as a waterproofing layer, it will not let moisture in from the outside, and the steam from the inside will go outside.
For metal and steel coatings, the membrane is not used, because they rust from condensate. For metal, a condensate film should be used.
Wall cladding and window installation recommendations
How to attach a porch with plastic windows to your home with your own hands? At the next stage, you can proceed to wall cladding. In those places where the windows are located, it is necessary to mount the window sill, it should be removed from the floor by 0.5 m. The board is attached to vertical racks. The frame can be sheathed with materials that will retain heat and fit the look of the main building.
Inside, you can use plywood, on top of which the lining is fixed, while outside it is recommended to install wood or siding. But between them, insulation and waterproofing film should be laid, the latter will be located on both sides of the insulation so that moisture from the street and steam from the inside does not penetrate it.
Glazing of the veranda with plastic windows
Glazing of the veranda in a wooden house with plastic windows begins with a pigtail, which is a special structure that takes on the load of the load-bearing walls. Thanks to these manipulations, plastic windows will not deform when the wood shrinks at the base of the walls. The pigtail can be simple, for this, grooves are prepared at the ends of the openings, into which the bars are clogged.
For a complicated pigtail in the window opening, it is necessary to cut out the comb, on which the carriage is then put on. The second option is most reliable, because when the structure shrinks, the ridge will slide into the groove without pressing the window or deviating from the vertical. If you decide to attach a veranda with plastic windows in the village to your house, then for a small window it is better to use a beam with dimensions equal to 100 x 150 mm.
For carriages in the middle of the beam, you need to choose a groove of 50 mm with an ax, a chisel or a hand circular saw. With the help of a chainsaw in the next stage, you can start cutting the comb at the ends. Now you can begin the installation of the central pillars and the formation of the opening between them. Risers must be level. If we are talking about the old extension, the installation of plastic windows requires a gap between the riser and the wall elements. This is required for ease of installation and the upper bars that underlie the central opening.
In order to get an insulated veranda attached to the house with plastic windows, you need to do the installation of double-glazed windows. To do this, use special mounts that are installed to the end of the frame. To facilitate installation, the sash is removed from it, for this it is necessary to remove the pin. Bottom of the installed frame should leave space for mounting foam, for this a chip is placed under the frame, which is then removed. When plastic windows are installed for the veranda in a wooden house, after installing the frame in a pigtail, you can hang the sashes and foam the window with mounting foam around the perimeter.