Good morning to the forum
I have a question that no one has been able to answer, not even the "someone who knows," so now I'm hoping I can get help here on byggahus.se.
We are working on an extension/renovation of our living room. The renovation involves enclosing the balcony with real windows and getting a proper roof. The glass section consists of a wall base of 50 cm (195 thick walls), then there are 160 cm high windows, and on top of that, about 40 cm before the roof and gable peak.
This entire construction is standing on the old balcony, which is a cast concrete slab on 2 concrete pillars. The slab itself is 2 m deep, 4 m wide, and about 10 cm thick. We've cast an additional 2 to 6 cm of concrete to level the floor, so the final thickness is about 15 cm.
Against the facade, there's a cast edge that's deeper at the top, a support of about 15 cm, then it slopes in towards the facade about 15 cm down.
My question now is whether this construction will hold with all the timber, glass, concrete tiles, and upcoming snow, or if we need to cast one or more new pillars under the balcony to avoid problems with cracks and other nuisances.
Hoping for quick responses because things are at a standstill right now
I have a question that no one has been able to answer, not even the "someone who knows," so now I'm hoping I can get help here on byggahus.se.
We are working on an extension/renovation of our living room. The renovation involves enclosing the balcony with real windows and getting a proper roof. The glass section consists of a wall base of 50 cm (195 thick walls), then there are 160 cm high windows, and on top of that, about 40 cm before the roof and gable peak.
This entire construction is standing on the old balcony, which is a cast concrete slab on 2 concrete pillars. The slab itself is 2 m deep, 4 m wide, and about 10 cm thick. We've cast an additional 2 to 6 cm of concrete to level the floor, so the final thickness is about 15 cm.
Against the facade, there's a cast edge that's deeper at the top, a support of about 15 cm, then it slopes in towards the facade about 15 cm down.
My question now is whether this construction will hold with all the timber, glass, concrete tiles, and upcoming snow, or if we need to cast one or more new pillars under the balcony to avoid problems with cracks and other nuisances.
Hoping for quick responses because things are at a standstill right now
It is, as you understand, in line with asking how long a piece of string is.
There is concrete that is of very poor quality - either because it has reached the end of its lifespan or because it initially had low strength. For example, concrete with aluminate cement was used in the past. Sometimes it happens that "professionals" mix the concrete according to their own judgment and add a lot of water to make it more workable - then it does not turn out well either.
The only way to be on the safe side is to take a sample and analyze it. However, concrete structures in small houses are usually over-dimensioned in terms of strength. When was the house built?
There is concrete that is of very poor quality - either because it has reached the end of its lifespan or because it initially had low strength. For example, concrete with aluminate cement was used in the past. Sometimes it happens that "professionals" mix the concrete according to their own judgment and add a lot of water to make it more workable - then it does not turn out well either.
The only way to be on the safe side is to take a sample and analyze it. However, concrete structures in small houses are usually over-dimensioned in terms of strength. When was the house built?
The house was built in 1955. If it's of any help, it was hard as hell to drill into when we fastened the sill to the walls. And I drill for a living every day, so I have a "decent" idea of how hard it usually is when drilling.