Finishing balconies with plastic panels in accordance with all the rules

Gusevsky Andrey Anatolyevich

This photo shows what a balcony looks like, trimmed with plastic panels

Most residents of apartment buildings lack additional housing. There is a simple method to change your own home.
To do this, it is enough to connect the balcony (or loggia) to the quadrature of your apartment, insulating it, where the balcony can be very well decorated with plastic panels. However, the work of connecting the balcony to the living area is quite serious, which means that you need to relate to it with full responsibility.
And since the room is not so big, a design project is not needed to be developed, but everything can be decided on the spot. A video showing how to finish the loggia with plastic panels can be found on the Internet and in considerable numbers.

The advantages of plastic panels

The positive qualities of these panels include the following:

• environmental cleanliness of the material;
• ease of installation;
• good cleanability;
• fire safety of panels;
• long service life (up to 25 years);
• the quality-price ratio of this material is pretty good, which means that there is no need to compare it with other types of materials;
• the gamut of colors of the panels is very wide, in addition, the material can copy materials such as stone, wood and others;
• This material is self-leveling, so you do not need to smooth the surface under it.

Plastic panels can be of various colors.

We start the finishing process

How to start interior decoration of the balcony using plastic panels?

• To begin this process, it is necessary to mount the crate. For this, usually, wooden bars are used. Although most masters prefer to use metal profiles for this purpose (intended for the installation of drywall), or special plastic strips.

But, in the case of a decision to carry out these works on their own, it is best to use wooden bars. They are pretty easy to mount.
In addition, the panels can be attached to them with an ordinary stapler with metal brackets, and yet this method is the simplest, fastest and easiest.
However, before starting the installation of the crate, it is necessary to solve the problem with the method of laying plastic panels. There are three types of stacking: vertical, horizontal and diagonal.

Attention!!! With vertical installation, the visual height will increase and the width will decrease. When laying in a horizontal way, the width will increase, and the height will decrease.
The diagonal laying method will look very original, but this method is not recommended by specialists for execution in small rooms. In addition, this method is difficult to implement with his own hand.

To carry out a process review, we choose a vertical installation method. This suggests that the bars that make up the crate must be mounted in a horizontal position.
The distance between the bars should not exceed 0.5 meters for walls and 0.4 meters for the ceiling. The bars should be fixed to the surface with screws or self-tapping screws.
A prerequisite is the need to accurately expose the entire structure on one plane.Now in stages.
All work can be divided into several stages. We will analyze them in more detail.

We prepare the balcony for the finishing procedure

Before finishing the balcony, it is required to perform its sealing and warming and glazing (seeGlazing and decoration of balconies and loggias: types of structures) Otherwise, all the work will be meaningless.
To perform glazing, you need special skills and considerable caution: you need to work at height. To carry out the preparatory work, you can invite the masters, or you can do it all yourself.
Decide, in any case, the owner.

We perform glazing

It is necessary to perform glazing with PVC bags. This option will not be very expensive, because you need the cheapest packages that do not have slots for ventilation.
It should be remembered that there is a fitting of the balcony to the living room. How exactly to carry out the glazing, it is up to you to decide, but the installation of drainage profiles is required in any case.

We carry out sealing and warming

If the balcony has fences made of metal bars, it is best to try to change the external decorative panels. This is most relevant if they are available since the time of the Union.

So:

• Before carrying out the insulation, it is necessary to seal all the slots going out. To do this, you can use silicone, cement mortar, or BR sealant.
  This must be done very carefully. Before finishing, the balcony should become a deaf box that does not have any unintended air exchange places with the street.
• Primary insulation should be carried out with foam, pushing it between the rods of the fence. It is also desirable to insulate the ceiling.
  For this purpose, ceiling profiles CD should be hung on the ceiling (it has a U-shaped section). Then it can also be used as a crate.
  You do not need to take the UD section profile (perimeter), it will not be useful (in addition, the price will decrease slightly from this).

When all these works are completed, you can begin to perform the facing work.

Mount panels

So:

• Before you start mounting panels made of plastic, first you need to fix the so-called starting angle. This is the point at which the entire styling process begins.
• Then the first panel is inserted into it. The panel must be inserted with a narrow shelf, while the wide one should be fixed to the crate element using small nails, screws or staples.
• Then, in the same way, the second panel is inserted (the narrow side is in the first, and the wide is attached to the crate)
• This continues to the end (except for the last panel)
• The last element is inserted narrowly into the penultimate one, and its wide side enters the final corner.

Now more and more often special glue is used for panel installation, but it is applicable only to dry rooms (a balcony fits this category).
That's about how the loggia is finished with plastic panels with your own hands. This method is very simple and almost any man who is slightly familiar with the principles of construction work will be able to use it.
It is enough to have a little skill, theoretical knowledge, the required tool to turn a balcony (or loggia) into a living room. The essence of all these updates is to change the temperature and humidity conditions of the room from "outdoor" to "indoor".
In this case, the following will turn out:

• The materials will not undergo warpage and will last their time, or maybe longer.
• The newly acquired premises will be suitable for housing. If you prepare a balcony for plastic trim in the right way, then at a street temperature of -20 degrees, the new room will be up to +16 without artificial heating.
  This is how the loggia is decorated with plastic panels.

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