Anyone know how much is costs to get an average size balcony sealed against the elements? Glass or plastic? What are the options available?
Any real drawbacks to it? I’ve pretty much given up trying to grow plants on the balcony because it’s a real hassle moving them inside during typhoons and the direct sun/strong wind seems to slowly kill anything except cacti. Would a covered balcony be more like a greenhouse environment?
I did mine 10 years ago, so prices must be up a bit. A metal cage -with solid “floor”, all around the bend, a transparent acrylic rounded celing, plus a separate series of frames for the mosquito netting -so to make them solid and in case of failure of one, easy and cheaper to change- all for 25K.
Problem is that air flow is compromised a bit. However, I get fewer mosquitoes. Nevertheless, I can stand on it, it holds my weight it can hold anything. Plenty of space for plants, cat tree, litterbox, etc… You can make it as broad or not as you wish. The most important consideration is safety and peace of mind.
I got a neighbor who just did his in plastic - 
- and they left just the screens there. My impression is that it must get pretty hot. However, it looks prettier.
[quote=“Icon”]I did mine 10 years ago, so prices must be up a bit. A metal cage -with solid “floor”, all around the bend, a transparent acrylic rounded celing, plus a separate series of frames for the mosquito netting -so to make them solid and in case of failure of one, easy and cheaper to change- all for 25K.
Problem is that air flow is compromised a bit. However, I get fewer mosquitoes. Nevertheless, I can stand on it, it holds my weight it can hold anything. Plenty of space for plants, cat tree, litterbox, etc… You can make it as broad or not as you wish. The most important consideration is safety and peace of mind.
I got a neighbor who just did his in plastic - - and they left just the screens there. My impression is that it must get pretty hot. However, it looks prettier.[/quote]
Not really sure what you are describing here. Can you post a pic? Usually a balcony already has a floor, so no need to build anything that can hold your weight. 25K sounds really steep for what I was think of.
It just sticks out. I mean, you can just put up bars at the “edge” of the balcony, but this way you build a “box” where you gain about 50cm more of house space. Picture would be embarrassing. 
I choose to have the mosquito netting, but you can have both window and mosquito netting, or closed window. Do rememebr air flow will be compromised in some degreee, which might be a semi-good thing if you live next to a noisy place -main road. You can add UV protection and such.
I’ll check teh catalogs back home and see if there is any website I can give you as reference. Styles are a’plenty.
You want fully enclosed or just a cover from the rain? We just bought a place with a scuzzy perspex cover and were quoted 20k to just get a new perspex top.
Whatever you add on, make sure it’s well sealed. You don’t want to spend 25k and have a leaky roof.
Well, my balcony already has a floor, ceiling, and sides. The wall at the front rises to about 1 meter, and there’s an overhang of about 50cm from the ceiling. That leaves a letterbox of about 1 meter x 4 meters that’s open to the elements. Actually there’s 2 balconies but one has a gas water heater on it and I am worried about CO poisoning and leaking gas, so I don’t want to cover it.
The balconies are only about 1.5 meters deep, so there’s not enough space to do anything useful on them.
For the balcony I want to work on, I guess leaves either:
Either way I don’t want metal bars on it. Actually I’d rather have no metal at all. Is it possible to do something with wood or PVC? Do people usually keep their sliding glass doors or rip them out so that the balcony area becomes an extension of the room?
If anyone has pics of interesting balcony jobs, I’d love to see them for inspiration.
Yes, you would have then choice of windows or a box. Nowoadays, you also have plastic -PVC I guess- or acrylic metal, but you do not want that. Wood, in this climate, would be a no-no.
I’ll try to get a pic/post a link later. Yes, metal can be avoided -if you do not want the metal cage look- to an extent -you still need a frame- but there are pretty options.
[quote=“monkey”] Do people usually keep their sliding glass doors or rip them out so that the balcony area becomes an extension of the room?
[/quote]
Both options are doable. If you choose to incorporate the balcony into the room, be sure to do the waterproofing (fang2shui3). What they’ll do is inject a sealant around the window frame so that the cement is not porous. It may not look like much, but this extra measure will be the difference between having “wall cancer” during the plum rain season and a dry interior. Also, you might want to get thicker glass (6 mm or thicker) to block out the noise if you decide to remove the sliding glass door.
A sample from here: e-hc.com.tw/
My favorite: e-hc.com.tw/product_b_1.html
Simple and straightforward: e-hc.com.tw/product_e_1.html
What I have -more or less: e-hc.com.tw/product_f_1.html
With this kind of roof: e-hc.com.tw/product_l_3.html