Covering the balcony (21 photos): choosing the best material and ideas for wall design

Having a balcony, you need to take care of its presentable appearance - external and internal. Outside, this part of the apartment should be a neat ledge, and inside it should be a cozy and comfortable continuation of the apartment. In the article we will consider - with the help of what materials it is possible to finish a balcony, we will analyze their advantages and disadvantages. After all, there are a lot of options - covering the balcony with lining and panels, and even finishing with decorative stone. We know which methods are better, which are worse.

The importance of decoration

The covering of the walls of the balcony creates an additional insulating layer, which helps to keep the apartment warm in winter. In addition, many apartment owners so skillfully sheathe and insulate their balcony inside and out, using various interesting ideas that it turns into a living room, increasing the area of ​​the apartment.

Any options for finishing materials additionally protect the room from precipitation, dust, wind, other weather and atmospheric disturbances. In addition, the exterior design of the balcony is improved.

Kinds

We will find out the most popular ideas and options for covering material for the balcony, their advantages and disadvantages.

PVC panels

Features:

• Along with decorative stone, this fully artificial material is thin, but at the same time quite practical and inexpensive.
• It should be borne in mind that covering the balcony with plastic panels will cause the panels to absorb moisture from the atmosphere over time, as a result of which they become deformed and lose their visual appeal. Therefore, this type of casing can not be called long-term. But under good operating conditions, the internal design with PVC panels can last quite a long time without deformation and loss of external attractiveness.
• Excellent material for carrying out interior finishing work on the arrangement of the balcony, helps to implement many interesting ideas for decoration and various designs.
• Significant advantages: the material perfectly tolerates the temperature differences to which the balcony protruding outside is so susceptible. A good lining made of PVC tolerates high humidity.
• They do not have an unpleasant "chemical" smell, are not toxic. In this panel are similar to a decorative stone.
• The inner lining of PVC lining is easy to maintain.
• Along with artificial stone has a wide selection of colors. This allows you to choose exactly the shade for the walls that best fits into the interior in order to implement the most unusual ideas.

Wood paneling

• Eco-friendly and safe material. Perhaps the most aesthetic design of the balcony is eco-friendly, respectable and comfortable.
• Covering a balcony with an eurolining is more expensive than plastic options, but the result will look more noble and expensive. In addition, the wooden lining is pleasant to the touch, and also creates a warm and cozy atmosphere from the inside.
• More difficult to maintain and handle. For example, it will be necessary to process the natural material with water-repellent impregnation, which will protect the lining from rotting.
• Cladding a balcony with a tree is a very laborious task, good knowledge of carpentry nuances will be required.Therefore, if there are no special skills in this business, it is better to assign this task to professionals.
• A lining made of coniferous wood will create such a favorable microclimate on the balcony that it will be possible to go out onto it, just as in a sanatorium - breathe air.

Tip: It is not recommended to use this material on balconies with high humidity. Forcing will swell and deform, and the design will quickly lose its presentable original appearance.

Decorative rock

• This is a great option for decorating the balcony. Stone cladding is more suitable for interior work, since against the background of the concrete walls of our five- and nine-story buildings, the stone balcony will not look too adequate.
• The stone is waterproof, tolerates temperature extremes.
• Mounting the material is quite simple, the owner of the house will also cope with this without calling the repair team. In order to fix the artificial stone on the surface of the walls of the balcony, you do not have to additionally align them.
• The “stone” design is long lasting and practical.
• With all the external massiveness, decorative stone is a fairly lightweight material that will allow you not to burden the balcony.
• The stone has many textures, textures and types of colors. You can easily select the necessary shade and shape of the stone, ideally suited to your goal, implement any design ideas.
• Externally, the design with a decorative stone looks very attractive - it can give an aesthetic appearance to any balcony.

Siding

• The material is easy to assemble - the owner of the house will be able to handle this work on his own - the plastic is lightweight, work is fast.
• Plastic panels for walls have good heat and sound insulation properties. In addition, they have a very long service life - experts say that this period is at least 30 years. And throughout the entire period of operation, all the positive characteristics of the material are fully preserved. In this they are similar to decorative stone.
• The material is capable of withstanding significant temperature changes.
• The siding of the balcony is suitable even for non-standard balconies - long, short, small or too high, with curly corners and ledges.
• Some experts attribute the disadvantage to the fact that plastic panels are often long, so they are not too convenient to transport.

MDF wall paneling

This material is made of pressed wood shavings, and on top is covered with a beautiful and shiny laminated coating that imitates different types of wood. A balcony finished with such material will have an expensive respectable appearance. But this lining is not suitable for external cladding - the MDF lining does not tolerate humidity well. But the interior decoration with its help will turn the balcony into a stylish and beautiful place.

Features:

• This material does not need additional antifungal treatment - the laminated surface is not afraid of fungus and mold.
• If you are not too comfortable with the color of the purchased MDF wall paneling, you can easily change the design by simply covering the panels with another varnish. Use the same technique when you want to update the surface of the walls of an already sheathed balcony. In addition, the surface varnished additionally is better protected from moisture and fungus.
• MDF panels along with artificial stone have a long service life, well protect the apartment from the penetration of noise and cold from the street.
• The pluses are that here we have an excellent ratio of excellent appearance and low cost. This fact made MDF lining one of the most popular materials for the internal lining of balconies.
• The material is quite difficult to install, so it is better to entrust the work to professionals.

Sandwich panels for plastic walls

One of the latest, and still expensive materials. It is a flat panel consisting of two symmetric thin sheets, between which is a heat-insulating layer.Such ideas arise, as a rule, in Western countries, and then are introduced into Russian reality. Therefore, at first, such innovative and unusual ideas are more expensive for us than usual materials.

Features:

• This material, although expensive, but does not need additional preliminary insulation, which ultimately saves both time and money.
• The panels withstand significant mechanical and thermal loads, durable and long serve.
• Their color spectrum is quite large, allows you to choose panels for any wall design.
• They are mounted in such a way that, as a result, the lining of the balcony will look like a single integral structure without visible seams. Stone decoration also has this advantage.
• The disadvantage is the large size of the panels, which can complicate their cutting.

More materials

Seamless plastic

This material has high strength due to hard ribs.

Suture lining

The surface of the walls, trimmed with this material, will have a neat relief texture. The standard width of the strip of such a lining is 10 cm. The colors can be different.

Drywall

Plating the balcony with drywall is not recommended if the surface of the walls is not sufficiently insulated. Fragile material is afraid of dampness, so it can be used only in dry and protected from moisture and cold rooms.

Aluminum panels

Perhaps the most expensive material for covering the balcony. But it has the largest safety margins, in addition, the appearance after such sheathing, the balcony becomes prestigious and very respectable. It can be said that this is an excellent choice for respectable and established people. A design with a decorative stone looks equally luxurious, however, it costs less.

Advice

Before starting work, carefully weigh all the pros and cons of each material, sort through all the possible options and calculate the exact cost of the work. Clearly imagine the result that should come out from the inside and outside of the balcony - this will allow you not to miss the small but important details. It is better if the work plan, estimates, moments and ideas that are important not to forget, are written on paper.

Before you sheathe the balcony with decorative material - stone or lining - think about the filling - insulation. When choosing the right material, be sure to consider the climate of the area and what your goal is to turn the balcony into a warm room or a cold option will be enough. It is worth remembering that some finishing options do not tolerate high humidity, and from severe cold weather they can be deformed.