Adding a balcony to a house.

railwayman

I am thinking about adding a balcony to the extension on my house.

Currently the extension is a breakfast room on the ground floor and a bedroom above with one window overlooking the back garden.

I would like to take out the window in the bedroom and replace it with double doors and have a balcony outside it.

The extension was built using hollow cavity (breeze) blocks.

Has anyone had any experience in this situation.

Ideally I would like to fix the balcony without having to put ground supporting in for it but I'm not sure if the wall type could take the loads involved.

Any advice is welcome and appreciated. Ball park figures are most welcome if anyone has ever dealt with good companies

RKQ

Do you live in an urban area / housing estate? If so you may require planning permission, even when the balcony is to the rear.

The size of the balcony will be very important, as without a gound support you will need to bolt it to the wall - so its self weight plus people numbers.
Hollow breeze blocks are quite thin. The bolts could split the blocks!

If the extension hasn't been built yet, then it might be possible to cantilever the balcony floor out from the first floor joists, to 3 or 4 ft in width.
You might need professional advice, from a Structural Engineer.

DOCARCH

I would suggest whether or not it is in an urban area or not - the addition of a balcony (at first floor) needs planning permission - it's certainly not an exempted development!

If you got planning permission, check with your agent. Alternatively i suggest you call the planning department of your Council to check.

reilig

railwayman wrote: »

I am thinking about adding a balcony to the extension on my house.

Currently the extension is a breakfast room on the ground floor and a bedroom above with one window overlooking the back garden.

I would like to take out the window in the bedroom and replace it with double doors and have a balcony outside it.

The extension was built using hollow cavity (breeze) blocks.

Has anyone had any experience in this situation.

Ideally I would like to fix the balcony without having to put ground supporting in for it but I'm not sure if the wall type could take the loads involved.

Any advice is welcome and appreciated. Ball park figures are most welcome if anyone has ever dealt with good companies

I put a balcony in my new build. I was worried how I was going to do it, but in the end it worked out fine. I have double doors coming out from my master bedroom and an L shaped wall. I got steel beams manufactured to turn the L into a square and I bought a dipped steel tubular upright as a ground support on the one side that needed it. I set in the steel along with the blocks as they were being built and I bought concrete T beams and fitted them into the steel too. I placed 4 inch blocks between the t beams and I will be pouring a concrete slab on top of them and bolting a guard rail around it. My balcony is 10ft by 5ft. The steel cost €600. The t-beams cost €400. I don't know anything about breeze blocks, you might need to talk to an engineer about it.

Best of Luck

Dan

railwayman

Thanks for the advice guys. Much appreciated. I'll get an engineer on the case when the finances are better