Combining a balcony with a room

Combining a balcony with a room is a procedure that allows you to increase “useful meters” in Brezhnevka, Khrushchev or new buildings.
But immediately questions arise related to the coordination of work and implementation. Is it possible to demolish part of the wall? What about connecting a loggia to a kitchen, bedroom or living room?

Will it be possible to insulate part of the room? Will there be any problems with selling real estate later?

Combining a loggia with a room: disadvantages

The need for additional thermal insulation.
Complex construction work.
Material costs.
A long process of collecting documents and project approvals from supervisory authorities (about 6 months).

There are two options for connecting a loggia to an apartment:

Partial, includes dismantling the window and balcony door. The wall, window sill and threshold remain in place. This option is the simplest and does not require numerous permits and approvals. If necessary, you can relatively easily return to the original look by simply inserting the window and door into place.
Complete , all double-glazed windows with frames, walls, window sill and threshold are removed. The owner of the apartment must have permission for redevelopment.

What is redevelopment?

Remodeling the loggia can be carried out in different volumes and types of work, and also differ in results. Which interventions are considered redevelopment and which are not?

Glazing

If the glazing was included in the original project and was carried out during the construction of the house, then nothing needs to be agreed upon .

At first glance, it seems that there is nothing special about glazing. But experts rightfully believe that when installing glazed frames, the load on the wall, floor slab and, ultimately, on the foundations of the building increases.

If each apartment decides to arbitrarily load the wall structures and loggia floor slabs with glazed frames, this could cause serious damage to the load-bearing capacity of the entire building.

In addition, glazing changes the architectural appearance of the entire building. Judicial practice shows that glazing is also classified as redevelopment and is called reconstruction, but in any case, work cannot begin without obtaining permits.

Demolition of window sill wall

Demolition of a window sill wall is, of course, part of the reconstruction and requires permits and approvals.

Complete combination of a loggia with another room, be it a kitchen or a room, is not permitted for reasons of minimizing heat loss ; doors are needed, at least made of glass, possibly sliding ones.

Since the demolition of a window sill wall requires the attention of specialists, it is simply unreasonable to begin before obtaining permission to demolish it.

Removing the window unit

The elimination of a window unit, as well as its expansion or addition, requires approval, since it is a redevelopment requiring adjustment of the apartment plans on the technical passport.

Read more: When to contact a notary regarding an inheritance

Connecting to a kitchen or room

Is it a redevelopment to add a loggia to a room or to add a loggia to a kitchen? The answer to this question is clear: this is a reconstruction, permitting documents and approvals are required.

How to legalize the redevelopment of an apartment - connecting to a loggia?

Is it possible to combine a balcony with a room: legal issues

If you decide to combine a balcony with a room, you must obtain permission to carry out redevelopment work. First of all, you need to call an engineer from the Bureau of Technical Inventory (BTI). He will take measurements and issue a technical passport. To develop a reconstruction project, contact a licensed design bureau or the research institute that designed your house. You also need to get the go-ahead from the Ministry of Emergency Situations, SES, and the Committee for the Protection and Protection of Historical Monuments. You will definitely need a heat calculation and a cadastral extract; this is obtained from Rosriest. Then the collected package of documents is sent to the Housing Inspectorate. And already there a decision is made to allow the connection in accordance with Articles 25 and 26 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation. After construction work is completed, it is necessary to call an employee of the Housing Inspectorate and draw up a report. After this, the BTI issues a technical passport taking into account the redevelopment of the housing facility.

Remember that illegal alterations may result in litigation, fines, and a court decision to return the apartment to its original appearance. In addition, without a new technical passport, you cannot perform legal actions with the apartment (exchange, sell, mortgage, etc.).

Prices for coordinating the combination of a balcony and a room

Prices for approval of redevelopment

Brief history of the issue

Legislation in our country changes frequently and with enviable regularity. If you feel like you bought an apartment “just yesterday,” but in reality at least six years have passed, here is a list of important changes in bylaws that have occurred during this time.

Until December 2012, combining a balcony with a room or kitchen was not regulated. Clause 2.2.9 of Appendix 1 to Moscow Government Decree No. 508 stated that the connection of a balcony is carried out on the basis of a redevelopment project.
On December 26, 2012, the Moscow authorities made changes to the above document, which were formalized in the form of Moscow government decree No. 840-PP. Clause 2.2.9 was removed from the resolution (it would be more correct to say that now this clause concerns partitions in houses with wooden coverings), which allowed officials to classify the addition of a balcony as reconstruction and refuse to approve the project.
Now this issue is regulated by GD No. 1104 of 12/29/2017 and GD No. 1572 of 12/17/18. Clause 10.19 of Appendix No. 1 to these regulations prohibits attaching a balcony or loggia to a room or kitchen.

Balcony redevelopment: main stages of reconstruction

How to insulate a loggia when combined with a room

The air temperature on the balcony in the cold season is much lower than in a living room. Therefore, it is necessary to make thermal insulation and interior finishing of the attached extension. The difficulty is that it is impossible to install central heating radiators here. If you are still living in an apartment at the time of work, it is better to start the renovation by insulating the loggia and installing plastic windows on the balcony.

First, pay attention to the parapet sheathing. If it is very old, completely dismantle it down to the concrete surface. Then make a new cladding with a secure frame.

There are two methods of insulation:

External or external. This is rarely done because additional permits are required from organizations monitoring the facades of buildings. In addition, when insulating a balcony from the outside, it is necessary to install a thermal fur coat made of mineral wool or polystyrene foam on the walls of the house. To do this, residents of multi-storey buildings must call special equipment for installation work.
Interior. The most convenient option. Does not require additional approvals. You can do everything yourself (read more in the article “Insulating a balcony with your own hands”).

Before you begin insulation work, remove all furniture and belongings from the room. Carefully examine the cladding and cement or cover any cracks found with foam. Pay special attention to the joint with the parapet. Level the surfaces. After this, waterproof the balcony. Usually a special primer is used, but if the insulation is mineral wool, then a waterproofing film is used.

Materials:

Styrofoam. The most economical option. Sheets of foam plastic are fixed to the wall frame, the cracks between them are covered with polyurethane foam. Read more in the article “Insulating a balcony with polystyrene foam.”
Expanded polystyrene or penoplex with a layer of foil. It has excellent strength, is completely fireproof, resistant to dampness and chemical influences. Unfortunately, it is quite expensive. Read more in the article “Insulating a balcony with penoplex”
Mineral wool is made from fiberglass. It can be driven into almost any crevice. A frame is required for installation.
Penofol. Supplied in rolls, glued with aluminum tape. This is a very thin material. It allows you to save the area of the insulated object.
Polyurethane foam. Liquid insulation, it is sprayed onto the surface of concrete structures. When working with it, you can adjust the thickness of the insulating layer.
Expanded clay. For use on floors only.

Soft insulation requires a balcony frame. There are two types: metal or wood. Mostly they use metal ones, as they are stronger and more durable. The top of the structure is covered with plasterboard sheets, the joints are sealed and then puttied.

To improve thermal insulation when glazing an attached loggia, two- or three-chamber plastic double-glazed windows are used. They also have good sound insulation. To increase resistance to wind gusts, it is recommended to install only one opening frame.

To heat the new room, a convector is installed and oil radiators are installed (read more in the article “Moving the battery to the loggia”). The most convenient solution to this problem is a warm floor on the balcony. Pay attention to the infrared heating system. It is easy to install yourself. If malfunctions occur, damaged elements can be replaced. There is no need to completely open and repair the thermal floor. The possibility of separately switching on individual sections will allow you to heat only the part of the floor that you choose. This reduces heat loss and saves energy.

Attaching a loggia to a room by removing the window opening

If you have not received permission to completely connect the balcony, you need to limit yourself to removing the window and balcony door. In this case, the former window sill becomes an element of the interior. It can be converted into a table, a bar counter (read more in the article “bar counter on the balcony”) or a shelving unit. The doorway can be closed with sliding doors and decorated with curtains.

If your project of combining a room with a balcony has been approved by all authorities, you can completely dismantle the partition with double-glazed windows.

But in many cases you will not be able to achieve complete unification of space. The problem lies in the different floor levels of the connected room and room. In some series of panel houses (for example, p44t loggias), it is impossible to remove the threshold to the balcony, because it holds the balcony slab. The result of such dismantling will be the collapse of the balcony and damage to the neighboring ones. It should also be taken into account that the recess above the opening is part of the supporting structure and cannot be dismantled.

And what if you don’t have a loggia, but a balcony?

Check: you have a loggia or balcony

If it’s a balcony, you can glaze it at most, and not every one. It is impossible to attach the balcony to the room (it will collapse).

Combining a loggia with a room according to the law

If the apartment has a loggia, then in order to increase the living space, many residents of multi-storey buildings combine the loggia with a room.

Is combining a loggia and a room considered redevelopment?

The concept of redevelopment includes any dismantling and installation work that leads to a change in the current floor plan.

To combine a loggia with a room, you will need to change the window and door opening, which is a redevelopment. Therefore, the answer to the question posed is clear - if you combine a room and a loggia, then you are doing a real redevelopment.

At the same time, as with any other type of redevelopment, you must first obtain permission to combine a loggia with a room.

Is it legal to combine a loggia with a room?

Another frequently asked question, the answer to which requires a little explanation. Combining a room with a loggia is legal, but such redevelopment must be carried out correctly.

Unfortunately, such work is often not pre-coordinated by the owners of the premises with local authorities and, as a result, is carried out with serious violations of building codes and regulations.

Let's see what the legislation says about combining a loggia with a room. Let us turn to two fundamental documents covering this issue:

Resolution of the State Committee of the Russian Federation for Construction and Housing and Communal Sector dated September 27, 2003 No. 170 “On approval of the Rules and Standards for the Technical Operation of the Housing Stock.”
Decree of the Moscow Government of October 25, 2011 No. 508-PP “On the organization of reconstruction and (or) redevelopment of residential and non-residential premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings.”

Clause 4.2.4.9 of the first resolution states that the use of loggias for purposes other than their intended purpose is not permitted . In addition, bulky and heavy items should not be placed on them.

And in paragraph 10.19 of the second resolution it is directly stated that during redevelopment it is prohibited to combine the loggia with the interior spaces of the apartment - kitchens, corridors and rooms.

This means that the housing inspectorate, which issues permits for redevelopment to owners of apartments in the capital, will refuse to approve renovations in which the loggia will become part of the living room.

Project for redevelopment of an apartment with a combination of a loggia and a room in a panel house of the P3 series:

You will immediately have a question, how can this be, because only on Internet portals dedicated to interior design can you easily find hundreds of photographs of residential premises, in which loggias attached to the rooms are clearly visible?

Moreover, the options for combining a loggia with a room are depicted in a variety of ways: in some apartments the window and door to the loggia are removed, and the window sill block is adapted for a computer desk, decorative shelf, etc., in others there is no partition at all between the rooms, that is, a window -the door frame and window sill part of the wall were completely dismantled.

What can you answer here? Every year, Muscovites carry out thousands of illegal redevelopments in their apartments, and then try to legalize them through the Moscow Housing Inspectorate. In the photographs with a full-fledged combination of a loggia and a room, you can see examples of such unauthorized redevelopment, for which administrative responsibility is provided.

By the way, not all such redevelopments are illegal. Many could have been made several years ago, when combining a loggia with a room in its “pure form” was still allowed. But now such redevelopment is prohibited.

How to legalize the combination of a loggia with a room?

It is impossible to make a loggia with a room into a single space. The law clearly states that premises must be separated. But you can differentiate between a loggia and a room, for example, with a translucent partition in the form of floor-to-ceiling French doors.

These doors are very practical and have an unusual appearance. They visually enlarge the living space, transform the design of the premises and ensure the penetration of street light.

But most importantly, if you have the idea of combining a loggia with a room, then you can coordinate such a redevelopment only by replacing the window, door and standard window sill with glass doors. There is no other legal way to “combine” cold and heated rooms today.

Is it possible or not?

There are a number of restrictions depending on the condition of the building and its load-bearing elements. To understand whether it allows for reconstruction, you should contact an engineering company. The list of prohibited reconstruction measures is contained in the current codes, regulations and technical standards.

Related article: How to insulate a loggia in a panel house

Rules and regulations

The legislation does not provide a clear answer that satisfies all conditions. The Housing Code of the Russian Federation states that redevelopment is considered to be any change in load-bearing structures that requires display in the BTI plan. Such changes include the demolition of the balcony block and the expansion of the opening. Such events should be carried out only after approval from government authorities. To do this, a project is drawn up based on a survey of the building using special engineering equipment and calculations performed by specialists from design organizations. By law, only companies with the appropriate license can engage in projects.

Housing must meet certain sanitary and technical requirements given in GOSTs and SNiPs. If they are violated, the design documentation cannot be agreed upon. It will not be possible to legitimize it retroactively after repair work has been carried out - the commission will oblige the apartment owner to return the property to its previous appearance. If this is impossible, the damaged structures will have to be strengthened - otherwise they will pose a threat to the life and health of residents, as well as bystanders. Needless to say, how dangerous a poorly secured horizontal slab is.

Reinforcement, as a rule, looks very bulky and consists of wide metal beams that take up more than 20 cm of the height of the room. It is unlikely that such a solution will suit the owners of an apartment in a panel house if they know in advance that a huge threshold that is difficult to overcome will appear in their compact kitchen.

In addition to the Housing Code of the Russian Federation and sanitary and technical norms and rules, local legislation applies. Moscow Government Decree No. 508-PP states that connecting a balcony to an interior space is a prohibited event. This means complete dismantling of the wall. The decree introduces a ban on moving a radiator connected to the hot water supply system or central heating pipes outside the room or kitchen. No design organization will undertake to coordinate such a decision.

According to the law, it is prohibited to carry out repair work in which the strength of load-bearing structures is lost. To understand whether reconstruction is possible, you will need to conduct a technical examination. To do this, you need to contact an engineering company that has the appropriate license.

List of restrictions

If you put together all the factors that influence obtaining a permit, you can come up with a list of restrictions that apply under any circumstances. The following is not allowed in an apartment in a residential building:

moving the radiator outside the kitchen and room;
complete dismantling of the external wall - if it is removed, the balcony slab will have nothing to rest on;
eliminating the reinforced concrete lintel above the opening - without it, the wall panel will lose strength;
elimination of the threshold - a cantilever structure is attached to it;
cutting down the side walls of the loggia, as well as increasing its size, which is reflected in the appearance of the building;
glazing - if the house is an architectural monument and its appearance must remain unchanged.

How to legalize the addition of a balcony or loggia to a room

The housing problem has plagued people since time immemorial.
We are constantly trying to expand our living space. One of the fairly common ways to increase the area of a living space is to add a balcony or loggia to the room. Please note that such alterations require approval from local governments and technical supervision services. Of course, many try to ignore this rule, and installers (if they are involved) do not insist on agreeing on the rework. And if your balcony or loggia was glazed before the redevelopment, it is generally very difficult to see signs of repair from the street. After all, inspection bodies won’t be going door to door. However, when selling, exchanging, donating or inheriting real estate, you will still have to document the alteration, so wouldn’t it be better to legalize everything in advance?

Well, don’t forget about the vigilant neighbors who are always ready to report “where it should be” when they discover the slightest violations, which, by the way, lead to the payment of rather large fines, the mandatory approval of the merger of sites, or even the complete restoration of the wall. In addition, any amateur construction activity can spoil the appearance of the building or even cause its destruction. And this, as you understand, is causing harm to someone else’s property, and in extreme cases, to human health.

Let's make a reservation right away: the norms of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation regarding the approval of redevelopments apply only to new actions, that is, to those that were carried out after December 2004 (after changes to the code came into force).

If the redevelopment was carried out before the adoption of the RF Housing Code, you can also begin the process of legalizing it. There is no need to prove that you made repairs before the introduction of mandatory approval requirements. True, the procedure will take more time - after all, you will have to convince the housing inspector that the alterations already made are safe. Of course, you can leave everything as it is, because in fact you are not breaking the law.

But, as mentioned earlier, problems may arise during sale, exchange, etc. apartments - in this case, approval will have to be carried out without fail, but in less comfortable conditions and with a lack of time. In addition, experience shows that over time, some types of redevelopment may become illegal, so it is better to legalize changes already undertaken now. Finally, even if you were denied legalization of your attached balcony in the usual manner, this can be done through the court - after conducting additional examinations on hidden work. However, the probability of such a decision is 50/50.

So, if you still decide to act according to the law and are going to agree on the combination of an apartment (room) and a balcony (or loggia), then the following text is intended just for you. When registering a redevelopment, you will have to go through several stages. The first is preparatory, during which we recommend collecting the most complete information about such construction work. Read magazines, surf the Internet - see what has already been done before you, which projects were successful and which were not. It is also worth getting an idea of the cost of such transformations - at least roughly estimate the upcoming costs, study the prices of building materials, and choose a suitable contractor. The next stage is drawing up and agreeing on a redevelopment project, plus obtaining permission from the housing inspectorate for redevelopment. To avoid mistakes, contact the design office. Remember that such organizations must have the appropriate license, otherwise it will not be possible to approve the project. By the way, it is more economically profitable to choose a company that not only develops the necessary documentation, but also carries out construction work.

Is it possible to combine a balcony with a room? Yes, and it will be cool!

Not all balconies are so spacious that after glazing they can be used as desired. If the adjacent room is also small in area, a tempting idea often comes to mind to combine these two rooms.

Any “alteration” affecting the configuration of the apartment must be carried out with the permission of the supervisory authorities. The sequence of actions is clearly indicated - first permission, then work. Otherwise, it is far from certain that the changes will be legalized, even if they did not lead to negative consequences.

Considering that the facade wall is a load-bearing structure, any actions with it must be coordinated with local authorities, not to mention the complete demolition of the panel. Therefore, let’s consider whether it is possible to combine a balcony with a room, whether there are safe ways, and how to do this without breaking the law.

Legal side of the issue

Adding a loggia or balcony to an apartment is a very popular redevelopment, but this is not always possible. Errors made - technical and organizational - are fraught with problems with government agencies and the management company. As a result of such redevelopment, the loggia is spatially combined with the apartment by dismantling the window and door blocks, often with complete or partial dismantling of the wall, and this operation must be approved according to the standard procedure prescribed in the Housing Code of the Russian Federation.

The legal status of the loggia is an unheated room that is part of the apartment. The area of the loggia is not counted towards the total area of the apartment, but is included within its boundaries and is recorded in the title documents for housing. In other words, the loggia, as well as the right to dispose of it, belongs to the owner of the apartment.

Is it always possible to attach a loggia to an apartment?

The possibility of combining a loggia with an apartment depends on the availability of technical conditions for changing the warm contour of the apartment. Therefore, the technical feasibility is assessed in each individual case by the design organization and, if it exists, the same institution develops a redevelopment project that meets all the requirements.

No less important is another technical question - is it permissible to change the load on existing utility networks. When developing a redevelopment project, the design organization evaluates existing technical capabilities and offers a technical solution that can be implemented in a specific apartment in a specific building.

Basic criteria for the possibility of legally connecting a loggia to an apartment

So that the hassle of coordinating the redevelopment does not turn out to be useless, you can independently evaluate the possibility of attaching a loggia to the room in a legal way. To do this, you need to pay attention to 3 main points:

External glazing.
The wall between the loggia and the apartment.
Possibility of changing the warm circuit.

External glazing The attached loggia must be glazed in one of two ways:

glazing from the developer;
independently - in strict accordance with the approved concept of glazing the entire façade of the building.

If there is no glazing from the developer, and there is no approved concept, it will not be possible to coordinate the connection of the loggia to the apartment. It will not be possible to legitimize such redevelopment if it is carried out without permission.

Wall between the loggia and the apartment If the wall is load-bearing, then its dismantling is prohibited. If the wall is not load-bearing, complete dismantling of this structure is possible, but with reservations.

When the apartment is located above 15 m from the ground level, fire safety rules come into play - complete dismantling of the wall is possible only if there is a second loggia on which you can hide from fire. If there is no second loggia, complete dismantling of the wall is impossible - it is necessary to leave a fire-proof blind partition at least 1.2 m wide.

Possibility of changing the warm circuit. This refers to the possibility of ensuring the standard temperature in the attached loggia. If this is not possible, they will not be allowed to attach a loggia to the apartment, but in real life such a situation is unlikely. The fact is that it is prohibited to move a heating radiator to the loggia unless it is connected to the apartment. After joining, the loggia becomes part of the heated room, and it is possible to place a heating radiator in it, for example, on a parapet. If the enclosing structures are insulated, the standard temperature in the room will be ensured.

It is only possible not to approve the connection of a loggia to a room in one case - if it is already glazed legally, and the unification of the premises consists only of dismantling the window and door units.

Finishing the window sill block of the wall under a table, bar counter or flower cabinet allows you to smooth out some of the inappropriateness of its location.

List of documents for approval of redevelopment

Legislation changes terms and requirements from time to time, so it is important to be careful . In 2020, you had to carry some documents, and in 2020 you will have to send completely different ones.

In addition, there is another nuance: in your region, rules may be established that differ from those enshrined in the Federal Law.

The owner of the apartment provides to the BTI:

registration certificate of the apartment;

single housing document;

redevelopment project (it will first be necessary for it to be developed by a design organization);

those. conclusion with permission to expand living space;

a notarized photocopy of the certificate of ownership;

passport (or any other identity document);

permitting conclusion from the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation (firefighters);

conclusion of Rospotrebnadzor (SES);

conclusion of the organization holding the balance sheet (i.e., management company).

Combining a loggia with a kitchen by removing the window opening and eliminating the door threshold

First, let's look at the thresholds and their features. The following rules apply:

in monolithic houses, connection is possible (but only if the walls are not load-bearing);
in panels, the elimination of thresholds is prohibited (the integrity of the external panels is compromised + there is a risk of freezing of the floors).

Authors of standard series projects, i.e. those same “sockets” do not give permission to carry out such work on the basis of clause 1.4.7 of the Appendix. 3 k Post. Moscow Government No. 508.

The question arises about what can be done in panel houses in this case? The legislation allows for a reduction in the height of the threshold, but this does not appear in the documents at all. Those. During an on-site inspection, BTI engineers can only find out the presence/absence of a threshold, and not its height.

The nuances of connecting a loggia to an apartment

When a loggia is attached to an apartment, the warm contour of the apartment changes - its elements become the window frame and all enclosing structures in contact with the outside environment or neighboring cold rooms. Therefore, the floor, ceiling, parapet and side walls are insulated, and if these measures are insufficient, the loggia is equipped with additional heating. If the existing heating system in the house allows you to increase the heating load of a separate apartment, then additional radiators are installed on the loggia. This makes it possible to do without electric heating devices, but the possibility of such a solution is assessed only by the design organization.

In the absence of such a possibility, “warm” floors or infrared panels are most often used as additional heating systems. The necessary technical characteristics of these devices are calculated by the design organization and recorded in the redevelopment project.

When weighing the pros and cons of such a redevelopment, you should also know the following:

Legally, the possibility of connecting a loggia does not depend on its area, but may depend on technical conditions;
The total area of the apartment after the addition of the loggia changes not only in fact, but also in documents - the square footage of the attached premises is added to it, which was not previously taken into account;
The cost of utilities after connecting the loggia will increase, since the amount is calculated taking into account the total area of the apartment, and it has increased;
Attaching a loggia to an apartment along its entire length is legally possible, but the technical feasibility is determined in each individual case by the design organization;
There is no need to coordinate the redevelopment with the management company - these organizations do not have the authority to approve and therefore cannot interfere with the work if the owner of the property has a project for connecting the loggia to the apartment, agreed with the local authorities.