Balcony

Balcony   

What is a balcony?

Balcony is an outdoor structure, an extension of the house or buildings upper floor. A house can have more than one balcony in each floor. These are platforms that jut out from the walls of the building, enclosed by walls, supported with columns, railings or balustrades with at least one meter in height.

Balconies are considerably small in terms of width and length, a single elevation can have more than one balcony. Although they do not serve much purpose in terms of recreation, balconies are constructed in houses and apartments as it visually enlarges the indoor space, provides ventilation, sun and shelter (with an overhead roof). The feeling that you lack a personal patio or a backyard is omitted with the concept of a balcony.

Typically you can place outdoor furniture or a freestanding swing in a small balcony or use a wider balcony for socializing and entertainment as well.

Construction of balconies do not require regulations and codes in many countries and the plus factor is that you can be versatile in designing balconies with the choice of railing and balustrade materials, design and flooring options to choose from ranging from tiles, wood flooring, vinyl etc.

You can chose from one of the three options when constructing a balcony depending on the functionality.

- Cantilevered balconies

Cantilevered balconies project from the main building without any visible support. The weight and load is supported by cantilevering the structure off the wall. The most common and aesthetically appropriate solution.

- Stacked balconies

Sometimes called balconies on pillars, although these balconies do not have much aesthetic value, they reduce the weight and load on the main structure, by using metal columns and pillars to vertically support the balcony structure or structures (if stacked one below the other).

- Hung balconies

A less common option, where stainless steel cable fixed to walls support the balcony in a ‘hanging’ position connected at 45 degrees.