Combining a balcony with a kitchen: design, coordination, options, insulation

Combining a loggia with a kitchen

Practice shows that home owners are not always satisfied with the architectural solutions embodied in them. Many owners of small, including modern, apartments are willing to part with a balcony or loggia, connecting them with the footage of the interior premises. Combining a kitchen with a balcony becomes very relevant when the area of the latter is comparable to the kitchen square meters. The material brought to your attention is intended to help those interested in how to combine a kitchen and a loggia.

Content
Redevelopment with the combination of a balcony (loggia) and a kitchen
How not to combine a balcony with a kitchen
Possible consequences of illegally moving the dining area onto the balcony
How to combine a balcony and a kitchen without breaking the law
Options for connecting the kitchen area with different types of balcony areas
Conclusion

Methods of designing and arranging an opening

The design begins, of course, with the design of the balcony door itself, or rather, with its choice. For aesthetes who love beautiful panoramas, we should recommend a swing door without a frame (like in airports, for example). This will not only be beautiful from an aesthetic point of view, but will also visually increase the space (exit from the room).

Diagram of vertical blinds

Another important detail that will help decorate the interior of the loggia is blinds. There are some nuances here:

Horizontal ones are suitable for those rooms that are small in width and where the decoration of a studio or room involves the use of patterns with horizontal lines. Why? The fact is that they will visually expand the space. But this also has its drawbacks: horizontal blinds, while visually expanding the area of a studio or ordinary room, at the same time reduce the height of its ceilings. So it’s a matter of the owner’s taste—he can come up with ideas himself. The option with a mirror in this case will also be relevant;
With vertical blinds, everything is exactly the opposite: they increase the height of the ceilings (visually, of course), but at the same time they narrow the overall width of the room. For rooms of 12 square meters. meters, the best option would be to use horizontal blinds. The human eye is simply immune to the level of height relative to the person himself, but to the width and length of the surrounding space - yes. But the option with a mirror would no longer be appropriate here.

The process of assembling horizontal blinds with your own hands

If the owner of a studio or room wants something delicate, even a little aristocratic, then there is a good way to transform the interior of the loggia in this way: install plasterboard columns.

The plasterboard sheet bends perfectly, so it is very easy to organize a column from it; it can be painted in any color.

By the way, you can also play with contrasts, but only in moderation (even a common balcony is hardly worth decorating in very “eye-popping” colors).

After all, sometimes you can even see things that are terrible from the point of view of color perception. For example, there are such “brilliant ideas” from designers when the decoration of a studio or room involves the use of bright red columns, while the walls are painted in a thick green shade.

This is not the embassy of Portugal or Belarus, in fact! In general, it’s better not to take ideas from your head, but to consult with designers. It is only desirable that the latter offer not just one interior (design option), but several at once.

Redevelopment with the combination of a balcony (loggia) and a kitchen

The idea of combining a room or kitchen with adjoining balconies (loggias) more often arises among creative tenants (owners) and in growing families who have small apartments. The first is usually driven by desire:

Diversify housing;
Divide the kitchen into working and dining areas;
Decorate the kitchen interior in a unique design and style;
Install a fashionable bar counter.

For the second, combining a kitchen with a balcony is an opportunity:

Make a cramped space spacious;
Move some of the kitchen furniture (cabinets, dining table) outside the kitchen;
Arrange additional space, for example, for children to relax (study, play).

The additional footage obtained as a result of the combination can be used by home craftsmen and craftswomen to place small greenhouses, micro-workshops, handicraft corners, places for photography, amateur radio, etc. To implement the above, knowledge of laws, building codes and regulations, even strength of materials may be required. You cannot do without obtaining permission for redevelopment.

Keep in mind that the law does not encourage self-will in remodeling your home. This is due to at least three reasons!

Reasons for the special attitude towards redevelopment of living space:

A non-specialist planning to combine a loggia with a kitchen may confuse load-bearing and non-load-bearing walls, the supporting elements of the house;
Violation of the load distribution scheme due to unprofessional intervention in the structure of the house worsens the operational and technical properties of load-bearing walls, creating a threat to the health and life of the inhabitants;
Attaching a loggia to an apartment, which has the status of non-residential space, raises legal conflicts that must be resolved immediately with the BTI.

In order for the combination of a balcony and a kitchen to comply with the letter of the law, it must be done after obtaining permits. This procedure is provided for by the relevant provisions of the three codes of the Russian Federation:

Housing (Articles 25, 26 and 44) as amended in 2020;
Urban Planning (Article 1);
Civil (Article 222).

They cover in detail the main issues relating to modification of the layout, outline the range of work requiring approval, prescribe the procedure for obtaining permits and legalization after arbitrary redevelopment, etc. These legal acts also define operations that are strictly prohibited. Let us remind them to owners and responsible tenants who are planning to connect spaces for different purposes during the redevelopment of the balcony in the kitchen.

How not to combine a balcony with a kitchen

The desire of Russians to make their own home better and more spacious is understandable and understandable. But in order to avoid improving the living conditions of an individual family from turning into a tragedy for neighbors, you need to clearly present a list of what cannot be done. When planning to connect a kitchen with a balcony or loggia and combine two different spaces into one, you cannot:

It is reckless to load the floor slab by erecting heavy brickwork on its outer edge (to construct the frame of an insulated balcony, you can use a metal profile, fill it with mineral wool, and cover it with siding from the outside);
Place heating radiators on a balcony or loggia (it is permissible to install an electric “warm floor” there in compliance with safety regulations);
Partially or completely destroy the lintel above the door or window opening in the load-bearing wall;
Completely connect the kitchen with the balcony (the remaining partition under the disassembled window sill can be used to create a bar counter);
Pull out the external wall on the attached balcony (loggia) beyond the conventional boundary of the building facade;
Construct an additional loggia, recklessly overloading the balcony slab.

In houses that are unsafe and have cultural and historical value, connecting types of balconies with kitchens (rooms) is prohibited!

When bypassing permitting authorities, you need to be prepared that some will refuse your request to attach a balcony or loggia. Typical justifications for refusals:

The house has historical and architectural value; its façade cannot be altered;
A combined loggia with a kitchen will result in large heat losses, which is unacceptable;
The neighbors have already combined, the load-bearing capacity of the wall excludes the possibility of another reconstruction, etc.

In this case, the right to attach a balcony (loggia) to your own premises will have to be restored through the court. For those who, bypassing the refusal, decide to resort to unauthorized redevelopment, we consider it appropriate to remind you of the consequences of neglecting to complete the necessary documents.

What is a rework?

What concerns changes to the loggia: what can be done and what cannot be done?

Redevelopment is considered to be dismantling or changing everything related to its technical plan.

Glazing is included here - yes, it's exactly the same, along with eliminating walls or window sills, and installing new doors.

If the question arises about “redrawing” a balcony, you should under no circumstances take on this task yourself or turn to an amateur designer - there are quite a lot of nuances in this issue.

Many people prefer to simply make changes and remain silent, but, firstly, this will not achieve much: such a change will definitely be noticed - for example, when moving a heating radiator, you will definitely need to call an engineer from the BTI, and the neighbors usually become aware of it quite quickly.

Illegal work threatens with legal proceedings, a fine, an order to return the housing to its previous form, and in especially severe cases, the living space may be seized and put up for auction. Is it worth the effort?

But even if a miracle happens and no one finds out anything, it will no longer be possible to perform legal actions - for example, sell, exchange or mortgage.

Therefore, be sure to contact a licensed design organization and order a work project . Then, along with other documents, you will have to submit it to the Housing Inspectorate.

You can learn how issues of buying or selling an apartment with redevelopment are resolved from our articles.

Possible consequences of illegally moving the dining area onto the balcony

The procedure for performing redevelopment work, which consists of connecting a loggia and a balcony to the kitchen, is determined by the rules and regulations for the technical operation of the housing stock. The latter were put into effect by the Decree of the State Construction Committee of Russia under registration number 170 dated September 27, 2003. The canons of registration of changes in the layout of a building, ignored by re-planners, will manifest themselves in several “typical” cases:

During the purchase and sale of an apartment, house;
When registering a deed of gift with a change of owner;
During the legalization of the housing exchange operation;
When citizens enter into the right of inheritance.

In the listed basic and some other cases of registration of property rights, a technical passport with a layout that corresponds to the actual one will be required. Otherwise, you will have to go through the approval required by law for connecting the loggia to the kitchen or return the apartment configuration to its original state.

According to the law, the footage of all types of balconies is not included in the living area. When connected to the kitchen, the space of the latter increases. The discrepancy between the actual area and the one recorded in Rosreestr is a legal conflict. It prevents the correct execution of technical documentation. To prevent this from happening, the balcony and kitchen must be connected in compliance with the rules. We will introduce them to visitors to the site pereplanhome.RU.

How to combine a balcony and a kitchen without breaking the law

In order for the connection of a balcony (loggia) to a kitchen or other living space to be legal, the reconstruction must not violate the integrity of the outer wall. For partial or complete demolition of a partition with a dismantled window, you must obtain permission. There are two ways to connect a balcony area to a living space. You can combine a balcony with a kitchen:

Having dismantled the window and window sill, completely dismantle the remaining partition, unite the spaces with a common floor arranged on one level;
Having removed the window and balcony door, get rid of the window frame with the door frame, finish the opening, turn the remaining partition into a comfortable bar counter, use it as a stand for flowers and a base for attaching a heating radiator.

Regardless of the method of connecting the loggia (balcony) to the kitchen, the issue of glazing and high-quality insulation of the newly formed external wall of the combined space will become important. Let's look at a few common methods.

Balcony block according to opening dimensions

To order a new balcony block to replace an existing one or for a new house, you need to measure the product along the opening. Call a measurer to draw up a production order.

What is included in the glazing project

Dimensions of the product;
Type of opening and number of doors;
Type of components, accessories and sizes;
Product color.

Based on the measurements taken, you can calculate the cost of the glazing. What else needs to be taken into account to calculate the cost of windows and doors.

Options for connecting the kitchen area with different types of balcony areas

Practice has developed many options for combining a kitchen and a loggia. Their listing and description with photos are beyond the scope of this article. If you decide to change the configuration of the kitchen space, contact the PereplanHome redevelopment design and approval bureau. We will offer several rational projects for arranging the kitchen space, repair options and finishing works that are suitable for your case, and we will show you what each one looks like. The bureau’s database includes more than fifty ready-made projects:

Making large modern kitchens more spacious, some of the old partitions are retained for future use;
Providing for the reconstruction of small balconies with the dismantling of thresholds and the installation of common floors on one level;
Allowing you to place work surfaces outside the kitchen by removing and installing part of the kitchen furniture on an insulated balcony (loggia), etc.

Carrying out finishing

When the glazing of the loggias is completed, you can begin finishing work. There should be no heavy furniture there. You can level the floor using foam concrete; it is not only lightweight, but also absorbs very little water. Among its main features are thermal insulation characteristics. You can do it yourself by adding polystyrene foam to a cement-sand mortar; however, it should be used in a ratio of 2 to 1. If the floor area is small, you can use a mixture of mortar as usual.

As for wall cladding, it is usually strengthened after leveling the surfaces with putty. If the finishing materials will be installed on the sheathing, then in addition to the wall it must be strengthened with glue, which is applied before installing each next slats. A more labor-intensive and cheaper repair method is leveling with plaster. This applies to the load-bearing wall. The sidewalls and parapet can be insulated using EPS, and a reinforcing fiberglass mesh is laid over it. Insulate

The walls can also be made of polystyrene foam; not only profile boards, but also clay tiles can be installed on such a base.