Supporting a walk out balcony
How DioMet can help with your new balcony
Our previous blog post ‘adding a walk out balcony’ gave an insight into the advantages gained from installing or updating a walk out balcony system at your home and now we’ll look at how DioMet can help with your walk out balcony design and the options available to customise it to your own personal preferences.
Walk out balcony designs
In general there are 3 main structural design options to support a walk out balcony system:
1) Cantilever support through the building
2) Supporting posts to the ground
3) Gallows brackets / Tie-rod combination
Cantilever supported walk out balcony
A designed system whereby the walk out balcony appears to be almost free-floating but in reality considerable support is engineered to be counter-balanced when fixed into the buildings main structure. This type of balcony is most popular on new build apartments and not suitable to be retro-fitted without considerable building works to accommodate it. A cantilever design also allows for limited balcony depth dependent on the steel member sizes.
Support post system walk out balcony
The most popular design for residential buildings that can be retro-fitted with relative ease, this balcony style is simply supported from below via steelwork posts. Supporting posts will allow for greater flexibility in design especially for those requiring larger walk out balcony areas in both width and depth. Posts are usually affixed to precast concrete slabs although smaller balconies can have these poses concreted straight into the ground for a more DIY friendly installation.
Gallows bracket style walk out balcony
Where there is a requirement for clear access below the balcony a gallows bracket and tie-rod combination can work very effectively as a support system. Generally a walk out balcony is situated above patio doors and supporting posts may be undesirable making a gallows bracket design favorable. These balcony styles work most effectively over smaller openings and with modest depth without looking overly bulky in order to support the structure.
Once the support system is agreed upon, the next stage is to choose a design. The framework is always likely to follow a similar pattern with galvanized and usually powdercoated steelwork to support a balustrade.
See our balustrade options here or contact us with any bespoke requirements.
Further Reading :
Balustrade and balcony example Cardiff
How to choose a balustrade supplier
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