Do-it-yourself cellar on the balcony 

It is difficult for any person to do without a cellar, because you need to store supplies for the winter somewhere. For owners of private yards, this issue is resolved quickly. And what about the residents of multi-storey buildings? You can’t do a cellar in an apartment. You can store food in the country, but you will have to periodically travel for them. Now we will look at how to make a cellar on the balcony of your own apartment. Let it be small, but a month’s supply will fit in it.

Cellar under the first floor balcony

In terms of building a cellar on the balcony, the residents of the first floor were the luckiest. They can use for storage not a tiny place indoors, but dig a full-fledged basement under the house. More precisely, a plot of land located under the balcony slab is used for the cellar.

So, what is such a structure? Under the balcony slab is a small but empty piece of land. Here they dig a hole, where the cellar itself will be located. Walls are laid out around the perimeter of the pit made of bricks. They do not end at ground level, but support the balcony slab from below. This makes it possible to organize the entrance to the cellar from the street through the door. If there is no such desire, a hatch is cut into the floor of the balcony. He will play the role of the entrance door.

Where it is better to make an entrance is a personal matter. Through the hatch on the balcony, you can get into the cellar directly from the apartment. A person does not have to go outside in bad weather to get food. In addition, the absence of doors from the side of the street reduces the chance of thieves entering the vault. The disadvantage of an internal entrance is the impossibility of using free space for your own purposes. For example, on the balcony you can install a table with chairs to organize a place to relax or make a summer bedroom. The arrangement of the internal entrance excludes this possibility, since the hatch must open. In general, everything is clear with this, now we turn to the construction of the cellar itself.

The process of building storage under the first floor balcony consists of the following steps:

• Do-it-yourself cellar construction on the balcony begins with marking the territory. That is, on the ground it is necessary to design the dimensions of the balcony slab. Four pegs are driven into the corners. To check the accuracy of the projection, a plumb line is lowered from each corner of the balcony slab. Its load must exactly match with each peg driven in.
• Between themselves, the stakes are tied with a cord. Now we have the contours of the future structure. According to this marking, the soddy soil is removed with a bayonet shovel to a depth of 25 cm. Now you need to check the accuracy of the projection again, align the corners, and then continue excavation.
• There is not enough space under the balcony, so sometimes the owners try to increase the volume of the cellar due to its depth. That is, the deeper the pit, the more shelves can be attached to its walls. This is a personal matter, but digging a pit deeper than 2 m is undesirable because of the possibility of groundwater flooding.
• The bottom of the finished pit is leveled, after which a 15 cm layer of sand is poured, moistened with water, and carefully rammed. Any waterproofing material is spread on top of the sand, wrapping 20 cm of its edges onto the walls. It can be a film, roofing material or a membrane specially designed for this purpose.
• A reinforcing frame is connected from rods with a diameter of 6–10 mm. You should get a grid with cells of about 10×10 cm. Beacons are installed on top of the waterproofing, a reinforcing mesh is laid on the lining, and then the entire bottom is poured with concrete. To hammer in the concrete mortar, cement grade M-400 is used, and clean sand without clay impurities. The ratio of cement / sand take 1:3.
• The concrete bottom is given time to harden for at least a week. The next step is waterproofing the walls. The material is cut into pieces, one edge is pressed down with a load on the surface of the pit, and the other end is lowered to the very bottom. The edges of the waterproofing of the bottom and walls must overlap.
• Now the crucial moment of laying the walls has come. The solution is prepared the same as used for concreting the bottom. The laying of bricks starts from the corners, gradually moving along the walls. It is important not to forget about dressing the seams, and every third row is reinforced with reinforcement. Between bricks, a maximum mortar thickness of 2 cm is allowed.
• The layout of the walls continues until the top row closes with the edges of the balcony slab. If the entrance to the cellar is from the street, then a doorway is provided on the front wall. In the last row of brickwork, a ventilation pipe is embedded. A protective cap is put on top of the air duct so that precipitation and birds do not fall into the cellar.

At this point, the cellar under the balcony is considered completed, but it is still too early to use it. There is still a lot of construction work ahead.

Thermal and waterproofing of the cellar

So, we looked at how to make a cellar on the balcony with our own hands, and now we need to bring it to mind. The floor inside the balcony consists of a reinforced concrete slab. Before laying any coating, waterproofing is laid on the concrete. You can simply glue a roofing material on the bituminous mastic or put a membrane. A heater is laid on top of the waterproofing. For these purposes, expanded polystyrene is best suited. The next layer is vapor barrier, and only then any floor covering is laid.

If the balcony provides an entrance to the cellar, the edges of the hatch should not protrude beyond the floor covering. The manhole can, in general, be hidden from the eyes by finishing it on top with the same material.

On the video, the device of the basement hatch:

Inside the balcony is insulated with foam. The plates are attached to the walls and ceiling, after which they are sewn up with clapboard. Only the brick walls of the cellar, emerging from the ground up to the balcony slab, remained uninsulated. They can be left in this state, but it is also better to paste over with foam. In winter, the insulated wall will not let frost into the cellar, and in summer – heat. That is, thanks to the foam plastic, one temperature will be constantly maintained inside the cellar under the balcony.

For wall insulation, foam sheets with a thickness of 30–50 mm are suitable. Each plate is glued to the wall with foam, then, for reliability, it is fixed with plastic dowels with a wide cap. From above, the foam can be decorated with bark beetle plaster.

Upon completion of these works, the internal arrangement of the cellar under the balcony remains. The walls, in the place where you have to go down to the store, are plastered or lined with clapboard. Inside the cellar, shelves from a board impregnated with an antiseptic are attached, and lighting is also carried out.

On the video, the option of the cellar on the balcony:

Other options for cellars on the balcony

The cellar under the first floor balcony is good. And what way out can be found for the residents of the upstairs apartments? Now we will consider several options for making a cellar on a balcony with our own hands without being buried in the ground.

Cellar-container on the balcony

The easiest way to make a cellar on a balcony is to make a food storage container. It should be noted right away that this storage option is appropriate only for a warm balcony. Otherwise, in severe frosts, vegetables and preservation may freeze.

So, the cellar-container is an ordinary box with a lid, resembling a chest. Let’s see how to make it yourself:

• First determined with the size of the container. To do this, you need to think about where the cellar will be located. It is best to place the container across the balcony at the far side wall from the doors. Now you need to measure the width of the room to determine the length of the cellar. The height and width of the container is calculated from your personal preferences.
• For the manufacture of the cellar, you will need a bar with a section of 40×50 mm. The frame of the box will be made from it. As a sheathing, a 20 mm thick edged board or chipboard, OSB board is used.
• From a bar cut blanks for the frame. You should get 8 pieces of short bars that will go to the sides, and 4 long crossbars. The frame is connected using self-tapping screws and metal plates. If the container is not made mobile, then the frame of the rear and two side walls, as well as the bottom frame, are fastened with dowels to the concrete body of the balcony.
• The bottom of the container cellar is covered with a board. It is important to nail it, leaving gaps, so that ventilation is provided inside the storage. If chipboard or OSB boards are used for sheathing, then perforations are made at the bottom.

  

• Further, according to the same principle, all the side parts of the frame are sheathed. Perforation can only be made at the top on the back or side wall of the box. The front side of the cellar is sheathed without cracks.
• For a cover from a bar, a frame is knocked down. It should fit inside the container. The lining will act as a limiter so that the lid does not fall through. The frame is hinged to the frame of the back wall of the cellar. Now it remains to sheathe the lid, attach the handle, and the container is ready.

For aesthetics, it is advisable to paint the container cellar on the balcony. You can use oil paints or varnish.

Cellar-thermos on the balcony

The principle of creating a thermos cellar on the balcony is similar to making a container. The only difference is the use of insulation. Such a cellar can be installed even on a cold balcony, although if severe frosts are observed in winter, then it is better not to risk it.

So, let’s start making a thermos cellar on the balcony:

• To work, you need the same beam. From it knock down the frame. But it is better to sheathe it with plywood, chipboard or OSB, so that there are no gaps even in the floor.
• When the frame is sheathed on the outside, the inside is glued with foam or expanded polystyrene plates 20 mm thick. The insulation from the inside of the box is covered with plywood sheets. Additionally, from the inside, all walls of the cellar can be pasted over with foil foamed polyethylene.
• The final production of the thermos cellar is the design of the lid. It is collected in the same way as it was done for the container. Only again the insulation is glued inside, and the plywood sheathing is stuffed upstairs.

A thermos cellar installed on the balcony will keep a constant temperature inside for a long time. From this, the products will always be fresh and last a long time.

Arrangement option on the balcony of the cellar with thermal insulation and heating

This type of cellar can be installed on any unheated balcony. Even if it’s -30 outside^оC, the food inside the storage will never freeze. The whole secret lies in the electric heating, but first things first.

So, let’s start building a cellar on a cold balcony:

• The first thing to do is to build a thermos cellar. However, this will only be the outer shell of the repository.
• Inside the thermos cellar, another smaller box is made of thin plywood, after which it is perforated. There should be a gap of about 2 cm between the walls of the two boxes. This air space is needed for heat circulation.
• One large hole is cut in the inner box, where the pipe is inserted. Its diameter should be enough for two ordinary incandescent lamps. They must be spaced apart from each other, and the pipe itself must be secured with spacers for reliability.

Conclusion

The principle of operation of the cellar with thermal insulation and heating is shown in the diagram. When the lamps are turned on, they radiate heat, which circulates through the air space between the two boxes, and enters the vault through the perforations.

Let a small cellar turn out on the balcony, but it will allow you to stock up on vegetables and preserves for a couple of weeks, or even a whole month.