Evolution of an open terrace into a closed one: glazing and insulation

Provide an open terrace at the project stage, rejoice at how beautiful and original it is. For a couple of years you will suffer from the inability to use it one hundred percent due to rain, wind and snow. Glaze the terrace. It takes a long time to get rid of the thought that such a beautiful room is empty most of the year - but you can receive guests there, have dinner, drink coffee and generally do something functional. Insulate the terrace.

Familiar algorithm, right? We have collected several terraces from FORUMHOUSE, which were open in a previous life and offer you to look at their before and after photos.

Open-closed terrace. First stage of evolution

It happens that family members cannot agree on one decision, and then a compromise has to be sought. A member of our portal with the nickname Pavel Again lived in an old house with an old veranda, the lower part of which was covered with boards, and the upper part consisted of frames with many pieces of glass of different shapes.

When they started modernizing the terrace, some family members insisted on an open version, while others dreamed of a closed one. We agreed on removable windows. Here is the technology used:

Pavel Again

We screw threaded rods into the wall and hang sheets of transparent plexiglass on them from the floor to the roof (this is about 2.5 meters).

This is how this terrace lives: in autumn and winter it is closed.

And in the summer it is open.

Useful link for those who want to repeat something similar: A little practice on working with light-transmitting materials .

Style directions

There are many styles in which curtains for gazebos are decorated:

• country;
• Roman;
• roll;
• roller blinds;
• thread;
• sliding

The rustic country style will delight you with its bright patterns and cheerful mood.

A practical option is roller blinds for the terrace; they have another name – fabric roller blinds. The roll is opened automatically by remote control or manually. Acrylic fabric or blackout is often used. Roller blinds have the same design principle; they are mounted indoors, and roller blinds are mounted outside.

There are fans of thread curtains - fabric strands on a common basis. They can be made from natural jute threads, fishing line, plastic, wire. They often serve as an element of terrace decor; they do not absorb the sun's rays.

For verandas, sliding panels with a rigid frame in the Japanese style are often chosen; they are attached to the eaves.

Unheated terrace. Second stage of evolution

The next stage in the evolution of the terrace is a glazed unheated terrace. At this stage, terrace owners often have doubts about why they should cut off an unscorched terrace at all. But it usually turns out that there is a sense in this, and a considerable one.

A member of our portal with the nickname igestor built a beautiful house with a large open terrace, and in the very first winters he encountered all the disadvantages of such a structure on a hill and in an open place. This room, open to all winds, was uncomfortable even in summer.

Digestor

But I am mainly tormented by the question of the feasibility of solid glazing of the terrace.

Like all owners of unheated terraces, our user was afraid of condensation and the fact that the double-glazed windows would not withstand frost. But he still decided on glazing: in the far side opening it is solid, and in the rest, including the door, sliding frameless.

Our other participant with the nickname Vit070476 came to the same decision, and after the very first winter.

Vit070476

The result exceeded expectations; we essentially got a gazebo, but without the snow and dirt.

His advice: be sure to provide opening doors, otherwise in the heat it will simply be unbearable to stay in such a room.

Vit070476

I was advised to do this at the construction stage, but I’m the smartest... In the end I did it and I’m very happy about it.

The double-glazed window serves without incident, there are no distortions, no condensation forms - apparently, the room is cooled evenly. In winter, the terrace is 10 degrees warmer than outside.

Here is a version of a member of our portal with the nickname Sintetik. The experience of operating an open terrace quickly showed that it is impossible to live like this any longer, it needs to be glazed.

Sintetik

The unheated terrace will be used only in warm weather; the rest of the time it is just a vestibule in front of the entrance to the house, protection from bad weather.

The terrace area is small, 16 meters, so instead of a simple double door that would eat up space, they decided to install sliding structures.

Sintetik

Aluminum profile with one glass. All three glasses move, height 2.8, width 60-85 cm, paired rollers, 4 rollers per sash.

Roof sealing

One of the most common problems when using a translucent roof is a violation of the seal. Leaks can occur immediately after installation of the coating or after several years. In the first case, they are a consequence of poor-quality installation. Roof depressurization after a long service life is a frequent and almost inevitable process. Under the influence of wind, snow and temperature gradients, the coating is deformed, which entails an increase in the gaps between the joints. Sealing elements made of synthetic rubber are subject to aging and destruction.

Purposes of sealing:

• prevent moisture from entering from outside;
• improve the thermal insulation of the room by getting rid of “cold bridges”;
• prevent corrosion of metal elements and hardware;
• extend the life of the roof.

For sealing, 2 groups of materials are used: tapes and sealants. Let's look at sealing issues using a polycarbonate roof as an example.

Ribbons

To protect the ends of the fabric, solid (sealing) and perforated tapes are used.

The adhesive layer of the tapes quickly and reliably adheres to surfaces; secondary plywood is allowed

These are self-adhesive accessories that can withstand humidity and frequent temperature changes.

Both types of tapes have their own characteristics. For pitched roofs, hermetic tapes are used to cover the upper end of the sheet from precipitation (rain, snow). Perforated tapes protect the sheets from below. They have air filters with microscopic holes to drain condensate. If the translucent roof is made in the form of an arch, then only punched tape is used.

Sealants

The joints of roofing materials are coated with sealants. Depending on the type of filler, they are divided into acrylic, silicone, bitumen and polyurethane compounds. Rubber-based silicone sealants are suitable for translucent roofs.

The sealant not only insulates the roof from moisture, but also prevents the panels from moving out of place

Physical and mechanical properties of silicone sealants:

• elasticity that compensates for material shifts during operation;
• excellent adhesion to the roof surface;
• resistance to temperature changes and mechanical damage.

Converting a summer terrace into a dining terrace with transparent walls. Third stage of evolution

Our forum member with the nickname crystalik has a 6x6 meter bath house at his dacha near Novosibirsk, but the third part of this room is an open terrace.

This distribution of space seemed non-functional to him, and he decided to expand it into a larger space, which would include a kitchen, a dining room and a solid fuel boiler. The following project was born:

The terrace stands on 5 thick-walled stilts. The frame from the side of the house was attached to the protruding heads of the piles on which it stands. From the side of the house, the frame was placed on the heads of the piles on which the house stands, and in two places I additionally screwed in the beam fasteners.

The craftsman covered the closed part of the terrace (where the boiler is planned) with OSB sheets. I installed large windows “warm, not country.”

To avoid condensation on the windows with such a glazing area, low radiators are planned along the perimeter.

To avoid large heat losses, the owner of the house insulated the ceiling well.

And the floor.

Crystalik

We arrived at two o'clock in the afternoon. It was -24 on the veranda after a cold night. They turned on a two-kilowatt convector. The next morning at 11 o’clock it was +12 there, and -10 outside. We warmed up to +22 with a fan heater in an hour, drank tea and relaxed in the warmth.

Design

The construction of a terrace or veranda allows you to connect the enclosed space of your home and nature into a single whole and opens up wide possibilities for the design of these buildings.

Fencing. They can be made protective or decorative, for example, in the form of a low, elegant fence or pergolas - canopies of several arches, decorated with vines or potted compositions of bright hanging plants. It is good to decorate the perimeter with ornamental shrubs and flowers.

• Instead of a standard roof, you can use a removable awning, retractable awnings, or a portable umbrella.
• When a terrace or veranda is not attached to the house, but is located separately in the yard, then a path is used as a connecting link between the buildings. To decorate the path, spotlights built into niches on the ground cover or LED lighting plus one or more openwork arches to create the effect of a luminous tunnel are suitable.

For a summer veranda or open terrace, it is advisable to choose plastic in muted dark colors - smoky, tobacco shade, bottle glass color with a grayish or bluish undertone. Being in red, blue or bright green on your porch can be irritating.

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When the frame is made of wood, then after antiseptic treatment and varnishing the wood acquires a reddish color. In this case, brownish or orange polycarbonate is selected for the roof. Such tones help create a relaxing atmosphere and increase the color temperature of the veranda interior.

How to insulate a terrace or veranda

Heating devices

A member of our portal with the nickname chicken-A uses a veranda of 18 m2 with a ceiling height of 275 cm all year round. The veranda is glazed with single-chamber double-glazed windows and heated with liquid warm baseboards.

Our craftsman made them himself from copper sheets, similar to industrial ones; the same ones are also produced in an electric version. They warm up any vertical surface by one and a half meters, as a result, condensation does not form on the windows and it is comfortable on the veranda in any weather. But it is important here that this terrace faces south, and in sunny weather it is warm without heating.

High-quality glazing

With a large area of ​​translucent structures, the quality of the terrace glazing is especially important. For such cases, members of our portal recommend: - energy-saving double-glazed windows with a spacer frame; — wide double-glazed window: the wider it is, the warmer it will be on the terrace; “You can actually go crazy and make an “inlay” into the existing frames from a thicker profile with a wide joint joint.” — Installation of heated double-glazed windows. — On the outside there are insulated blinds, equipped with an electric drive with a light sensor and a temperature sensor.

Good insulation

With good insulation of the floor, ceiling and walls of the terrace, the room would be warm even with single-chamber double-glazed windows. Therefore, first of all, it is necessary to resolve the issue with the cold floor and ceiling, and if the walls are blown through, eliminate this drawback. A warm floor on the terrace will not make any sense if the base of the floor is not properly insulated.

Leo060147

If the floor is cold, then the floor heating system will heat the outside air. And if you insulate the floor and ceiling, then the veranda will be warm even without a heated floor system.

Required materials and tools

To cut honeycomb material, you will need a sharp knife, but when working with a monolith, an electric jigsaw or circular saw will be useful. In both cases, you should also stock up on a screwdriver or screwdriver, drill, level, tape measure and, of course, a ladder. In this case, it is better to create the necessary holes with metal drills.

As you know, sheathing is the main structure for installing roofing material. You always need to start by creating supports, a frame and sheathing. For complex and intricate structures, huge metal beams and pillars (made of wood, reinforced concrete, brick) are used; It is recommended to install them on a closed foundation; for simpler and lighter ones - an aluminum profile or steel supports. At the same time, to securely fix the profile, it must be walled up.

Plexiglas

At first glance, this is the least suitable material for making a transparent roof over a terrace, but this is not entirely true. Polyacrylate has sufficient transparency and strength to equip a full-fledged canopy over the terrace.

The transparency and gloss of the plexiglass surface is lower than that of polycarbonate, so visually roofing or finishing with plexiglass looks less impressive.

Products made from polyacrylate are perfectly processed, bent, and glued, so it is very easy to make custom decorative details from plexiglass for individual design of a transparent roof. For example, transparent gutters, canopies for flashlights.

What to make a transparent roof on the veranda from

The idea of ​​building a light-transmitting roof over a recreation area has been on the minds of summer residents and private homeowners for quite some time.

There are several ways to make a roof permeable to light:

• Using a decorative lattice made of wooden slats as a roof is the simplest and cheapest way; half the light flux enters the veranda room at any position of the sun in the sky;
• Installation of a removable roof in the form of a grid with an awning made of punched geotextile. This scheme is used when arranging green interiors with partial weaving of the surface with climbing plants;
• Lay a roofing covering made of modern polymer transparent materials on the frame. This scheme will be the most durable and resistant to gusts of wind and rain.

For your information! The construction of a veranda with glazed walls and a transparent roof is often criticized due to the enormous amount of light and poor ventilation. The model is called an “aquarium” or “pressure cooker”.

In fact, the stationary scheme turns out to be much safer and more comfortable to use, and ventilation and the amount of light can be easily organized using opening ceiling hatches and blinds.

It is only important to choose the right material for glazing the roof over the veranda.

Glazing a veranda with your own hands: practical tips

In order to save money, you can try to glaze the veranda or terrace yourself. The following professional recommendations may be useful for this:

1. Consider how the room will be ventilated. You should not make the glazing dull, even if it is cold.
2. If the doors open inward, ventilation will become faster and more efficient.
3. Consider the strength of the window sill. Plastic has a lot of weight, aluminum is much lighter.
4. If you are just designing a veranda, it is better to place it on the northwest side: this will help avoid the heat in the middle of a summer day.