How to finish a balcony with a tile: original and durable facing

Gusevsky Andrey Anatolyevich

The perfect solution is to trim the balcony with brick tiles

Considering that the loggias and balconies are not heated and freeze strongly enough in winter, materials should be selected for their decoration that can easily withstand temperature extremes, high humidity, and ultraviolet radiation.

Ceramic and stone tiles, as well as facade tiles - for decorating balconies can be considered the most successful choice. How to make the cladding not only high-quality, but also make the room cozy? We will talk about this with the help of video in this article.

Which option to give preference

Classic types of ceramic glazed tiles that are mounted in bathrooms (see Facing with ceramic tiles in the bathroom: a classic of the genre), will not look harmonious on the balcony. You don’t want it to look like a bathroom - all the more if you have a desire to make it a “paradise” or a study. Therefore, you need to think about the design and choose the right lining option.

So:

• The invoices of natural materials: stone, wood, brick - always out of competition. Do not forget about this and manufacturers of ceramic tiles. The coating, stylized as a parquet board, looks equally good on the floor and on the wall. Brick tile it is possible to clad all surfaces from floor to ceiling, thereby simulating the texture of masonry.

Emphasis on stone

Regarding the texture of the stone (see Stone Tile: Features and Applications), then it looks better as an accent: you can only wall piers, the end wall or trim the window with tiles. And, by the way, it is not at all necessary that the tile was exactly ceramic. There are other options - for example, gypsum and cork tiles, decorative and flexible stone, various types of 3D panels.

Front materials for a balcony

For interior decoration of the balcony many types of facade materials can be used: both glued and glued to the frame. The most suitable option for the balcony is thermal panels, consisting of a rigid base, insulation and a decorative layer of natural stone or clinker tiles. You can see them in the decoration of the loggia in the photo below.

Thermal panels: stylized stone

• This material is the only one of its kind, which with the same success can be used to clad walls and on the crate, and on glue. For a small loggia, and especially a balcony, this means a lot, because frame cladding will greatly reduce the already small area. On the loggias, only the parapet is usually insulated, on the balconies - also the end walls.
• Despite the fact that this type of panel has a heat-insulating layer, additional insulation to the balcony, and even more so to the unheated one, never hurts. And therefore, on the freezing walls of the balcony, you can install a crate, put a heater in it, and then hang thermal panels. The supporting wall does not need insulation - on it the panels can be installed on glue.

Slabs of stone in the design of the loggia

The installation technology of this material is so simple that any beginner can do the work on their own - especially since instructions from the manufacturer are attached to the products. For our part, we will try to highlight in detail the process of finishing the balcony.

What to face in work

Facing the premises of the loggia or balcony with tiles is, in fact, the final part of the work. The initial stage is insulation.

After all, even if you conduct heating there or equip a warm floor, you still need to keep the heat. And therefore, it is necessary to start precisely with thermal insulation works, focusing on the initial state of the structures.

Parapet lining base

If this is an open unglazed balcony with a metal parapet, then before it can be called a room, you will first have to lay out a wall of brick or aerated concrete blocks, and make glazing. A capital parapet is an excellent base for facing, but this is not the only option that is possible in this situation.

• Now many people make balconies “with extension”, when their internal space expands due to the metal frame installed around the balcony slab. Outside, it is sheathed, for example, with professional flooring or siding (see Siding balcony decoration: types of material and installation), and inside a wooden crate is made, into which a thick layer of insulation is laid.

Remote balcony frame

• Further, it all depends on the finish option for this design. If you want it to be a tile, you need to make a rigid base for it. In a situation with a remote balcony, the best option is cement-bonded particleboards. This is a durable and moisture resistant material, the price of which depends on the size of the sheet.
• The DSP varies mainly in thickness. The standard sheet width is 1250 mm. The length is most often in two sizes 2700 mm and 3200 mm. To cover the parapet of a small balcony, one sheet is enough, which with a thickness of 10 mm will cost no more than 900 rubles.

Cement bonded particleboard with decorative trim

• And, by the way, many manufacturers of this material offer sheets with a decorative finish: marbled plaster or brick. In the picture that we gave as an example, we see a sheet imitating the very thermal panels that we talked about above. If you want to save, use them.

Finishing with thermal panels will cost more, but will be more effective in terms of thermal insulation. In general, what to choose, you decide, focusing on your taste and finances.

If you still decide to use ceramic tiles, then after sheathing the parapet with a simple DSP, you need to do the flooring. Glue the tile will be the last.

Floor on the balcony

At the base of the floor is a fairly flat balcony slab, and if it is a loggia, then a slab. Such a base is quite suitable for laying ceramic flooring, but it is still necessary to prepare it.

So:

• First of all, it is necessary to hermetically seal the joints of the floor with the walls, as well as the seams formed between the cladding and the supporting wall, using a self-adhesive waterproofing tape for this purpose.

Joint sealing tape

• If you will glue the tile directly to the base, then it must first be primed with a concrete contact (see Concrete contact - primer for surface preparation) But most often, due to the significant difference in the marks of the clean floor in the apartment and the surface of the balcony slab, the floor has to be raised higher, and at the same time insulated.

And there are two options:

• The first. A concrete base can be made using coarse-grained expanded clay or polymer fiber as a filler. In this case, in addition to sealing joints, the floor should be waterproofed over the entire area - for example, polyethylene can be laid. Then the beacons are installed, the filler is filled up and all this is poured with a cement mortar of a liquid consistency.

Pouring expanded clay concrete screed: scheme

• Second. On the basis of the bars, logs are mounted, insulation is poured into the cells: polystyrene chips, expanded vermiculite or expanded clay can be crushed, only smaller - and they are covered with the same cement-bonded tiles.Just keep in mind that the thickness of the sheets used for sheathing the floor should be at least 18-20 mm, then, as for walls, 10 mm is enough.
• It is better to prefer this method if the floor needs to be raised more than 5 cm. Gluing tiles on a finished, leveled base is not difficult. And if you put core mats or an infrared film in the adhesive layer, your balcony or loggia will turn out to be almost a living room.

Ceramic flooring on the loggia

• As for the aesthetics of the flooring, the choice of tiles in shape, color and design is practically unlimited. Here a lot depends on the size of the area to be tiled, and on the option of wall decoration. It can be an imitation of parquet, marble flooring or, as in the picture above, stylized carpet.

Such a coating looks great, but bad if it is slippery. Therefore, polished tiles for the balcony is not suitable. A good option for the floor, from all points of view, is a ceramic mosaic.

Wall decoration

Traditional ceramic tiles just like porcelain, it is a fairly versatile material. With its help, you can finish not only the floor and walls, but also to revet the windowsills, slopes, sills, make floor skirtings.

• Quite often, apartment owners combine a loggia with a room in which there is access to it. Accordingly, the design of such a room is already being considered differently. It should be combined with the design of the room, including not inferior to it and in the quality of the materials used in the decoration.

Interior ceramic tile 3D design

• Facade materials are good for unheated balconies. In those cases when the loggia or balcony is turned into a full-fledged living room, you can use everything to finish it. As for tiles, in addition to facade options, you can use interior ones as well.
• Today, its selection is so wide that there are options that are even suitable for the design of a living room, and not just a loggia. We think that the above example convinces you of this.

By the way, on the floor of the room depicted in this picture, there is also ceramic tile, only stylized as parquet. Why not take this interior as the basis for the design of your balcony?

Tile Sticker Tips

The aesthetics of ceramic cladding depends not only on the beauty of the tile - it is very important to make its high-quality installation. First of all, I want to immediately draw your attention to this.

Do not try to glue the tile on an unprepared wall, thinking that you can easily level it by increasing or decreasing the thickness of the adhesive layer. Even if such a cladding turns out to be durable, then you definitely cannot call it aesthetic.

• The differences between the surface of the tiles and the uneven width of the seams will be striking. And even more so, you should not save on a screed if you bought expensive tiles with a beautiful relief. He not only does not hide the irregularities, but, on the contrary, emphasizes them. Therefore, before proceeding with the cladding, the walls must be pre-aligned.

Mosaic tile for a balcony parapet

• If you will do this in a “wet” way, then under the ceramic wall cladding you need to level it with cement-based mixtures. Gypsum screed or plasterboard sheathing (GVL) will also go under the gypsum stone. Decide which method to give preference to, based on the degree of roughness of the base surface.
• If the base of the floor has not yet been lined, marking the walls, do not forget that you also need to take into account the thickness of the flooring, as well as the height of the ceramic baseboard, if any.
• The marking for the tiling involves breaking the line of the lower perimeter and the central axes of the wall. If the sticker will be made in any non-standard version, then the marking is done in accordance with the layout of the tile, for example, diagonally.

Profile for ceramic cladding

• So that the tiles of the first row could not change their position before setting the glue, the starting bar is mounted on the wall along the marking line. This can be an ordinary wooden rail, if it is, of course, flat, or a metal corner.
• For this purpose, you can purchase here such a profile made of plastic or stainless steel, which you see in the photo. He not only fixes the tile, but also decorates the corner joints. Therefore, unlike the starting bar, you will not have to dismantle it.
• They start facing from the center of the wall and lead to the corners, or from the nearest corner to the far wall - so that the cut tile is in the least visible place. The uniformity of the thickness of the joints is ensured by inserts in the form of plastic wedges, but the thickness of the adhesive layer is regulated by its manufacturer - on average, it is 3 mm. The better the surface is leveled, the lower the glue consumption.

Tile Laying Options

• A non-standard way of laying tiles can make an original coating even from a simple monophonic tile. The choice of the most suitable option is usually dictated by the format of the tile and the pattern on it. If this is a small rectangle, then brickwork will look best like a brick - with offset joints.
• If the tile is similar to a plank, then the layout of the “Christmas tree” and “deck” will be the most harmonious. From small squares and multi-format tiles, it is good to lay out “mazes”.

The main thing to remember is that for such a small room as an average loggia, and even more so, a balcony, large-format tiles - the most inappropriate option. Unless, you use such a tile only to create a panel that contrasts in color and shape, highlighting the bottom of the wall.