Many apartment owners in urban apartment buildings today prefer to glaze their balconies. Loggias, closed from the influence of external adverse weather factors, become much more convenient in operation and functional. Balconies of city apartments or country cottages can be glazed in a cold or warm way. The latest technology at the same time among property owners, despite its relative high cost, is very popular.
What is technology and key features?
They call warm glazing a procedure in which, by installing sealed double-glazed windows and installing special insulators, the balcony is transformed, in fact, into another living room in an apartment or house. After performing such an operation, the loggia can be fully operated not only in winter, but also in summer.
Where can be used
Most often, the technology of warm glazing is used, of course, when arranging balconies and loggias. But this is still far from the only sphere of using such a technique. Such glazing can also be an excellent solution when arranging, for example:
- terraces and verandas of country houses;
- facades of various kinds of shopping centers, kiosks, public buildings.
In all these cases, airtight bags with a special type of profile are used for glazing, which can retain heat well.
Benefits of using
This type of decoration of balconies and facades actually has a lot of advantages. The main advantages of warm glazing are:
- low heat loss and, consequently, lower heating costs (in private homes);
- lack of drafts in the main rooms;
- lack of condensation on glasses;
- excellent level of sound insulation;
- aesthetic appearance.
Balconies and loggias furnished in this way can be designed using absolutely any modern finishing materials.
disadvantages
Significant disadvantages of warm glazing are practically nonexistent. The main disadvantage of this technology, the owners of apartments and country houses consider its rather high cost. Also the disadvantages of such glazing include:
- decrease in the useful area of the balcony or veranda;
- decrease in light intensity;
- complexity of installation work.
Independently, such a glazing from the owner of an apartment or a country house is unlikely to succeed, of course. And the services of masters specializing in the production of works of this type are usually expensive.
When performing warm glazing on the balcony, the parapet is additionally sheathed with insulating materials, which are often of considerable thickness. This becomes the reason for the decrease in the usable area of the loggia.
Installation Rules
When installing warm glazing, it is important to pay attention to the following points.
- Sealing the loggia should be as reliable as possible. The presence of "cold bridges" in such structures is unacceptable.
- Measurements before glazing should be done as carefully as possible. No "add-ons" can be mounted during the assembly of warm glazing.
- To use in order to equip a balcony in this way, only high-quality double-glazed windows with gaskets should be used.
- The warm facade, among other things, should also be well ventilated. This is ensured by the installation of ventilation valves in wooden profiles, and special dampers in metal-plastic profiles.
Main stages
Remaking a balcony or a loggia into a living room, which can be exploited even in winter, masters usually perform the following types of work:
- a parapet is prepared - metal is strengthened if necessary, cracks and holes are closed in concrete;
- fasten special support brackets to the parapet;
- mount a frame for fastening double-glazed windows;
- mount the windowsill;
- double-glazed windows are installed;
- blow out all the cracks.
Then proceed to warming the parapet, floor and ceiling of the loggia. Then mount the finish. The wiring to the loggia is stretched before the start of the insulation work. After installation of the fine finish, the lamp and switch are mounted, and also, if necessary, the outlet is installed. The last procedure is usually performed when they want to additionally equip the insulated balcony with an electric heater.
Stages of installation of front glazing
At the moment, the following types of similar structures can be equipped:
- rack-mount and crossbar;
- semi-structural and structural;
- modular;
- frameless spider and cable-stayed.
The most popular way of installing warm facade glazing is rack-mount and crossbar. In this case, the assembly of the structure is carried out approximately according to this technology:
- The side of the dominant winds is calculated and the location of the facade is determined with this in mind.
- Install vertical racks. Such structures are mounted practically using the same technology as, for example, the frame in plasterboard partitions.
- Produce insulation frame. For this, a waterproofing is first installed between the beams, and then a heater.
- Sealed double-glazed windows are mounted on the frame. For their fastening using special rubber glazing beads, providing a snug fit.
How is glazing replaced with warm
Owners of apartments or country houses can perform this procedure on their own. After all double-glazed windows in this case on a loggia or a balcony are already initially installed. The owner of the loggia only needs to insulate its parapet, floor and ceiling.
Cold glazing is replaced with warm glazing in most cases as follows:
- the loggia is covered with a waterproofing film (concrete structures can also simply be smeared with two layers of bitumen mastic);
- a wooden frame is installed;
- between the racks of the frame, mineral wool slabs are mounted;
- a vapor insulator is stuffed on rails of small thickness;
- mounted finish.
Using the same technology, the loggia ceiling is also insulated, which is usually the base plate of the balcony of the apartment on the top floor. Mineral wool plates in this case can be additionally fixed on plastic “fungi”.
The floors on the loggias are insulated with the following technology:
- remove old boards;
- clean the base plate from dirt and grease it if necessary with mastic;
- between the lags they lay mineral wool slabs or expanded clay is poured;
- Mount the floor boards back.
In some cases, not only mineral wool, but expanded polystyrene can be used as a heater when covering the balconies. Such material is considered suitable for finishing, for example, loggias with a concrete parapet that does not have gaps. Expanded polystyrene on such balconies is glued directly to the surface of the fence, and the ceiling.
A variety of materials can be used as decorative cladding for warming loggias with mineral wool. But most often the glazed balconies of apartments and cottages are finished with clapboard or PVC panels. When using loggia as a polystyrene foam insulation at the final stage, in most cases they are plastered using decorative compositions.
Facade replacement
This procedure in various kinds of public buildings is also performed according to a rather simple technology. In this case, at first they simply remove the usual cold double-glazed windows, then the frame is insulated, and at the final stage they install new sealed windows with special profiles. In this way, warm glazing of the facades is obtained.