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I live on the fourth floor of a five year-old condo building that has wonderful 200 square foot balconies on the west apartments. However, the subcontractor who built the balconies managed to slightly slope them so that they drain towards the building. The builder added some gutters on the sides to help channel water away, but it doesn't stop water from naturally running toward the building. It's a very big deal with me because am a gardener who keeps a lush container garden going with planter boxes lining the railings, and other containers almost everywhere there is room. Both the neighbors on the 3rd and 2nd floor have hung draperies on their balconies and they complain that my plant water stains their draperies. (I ask you, what belongs on a balcony--plants or cotton draperies???) Their drapes are inexpensive drapes from Ikea and were never meant to be used outdoors. I suggested that they use draperies made for outdoors, but that just led them to claim they already are. (They forgot they told me when we all first moved in that they bought them at Ikea.)
Over the last four years, the leaking has gotten worse. Water runs down the brick wall of the building and down the glass doors leading inside. The brick is getting chalky. So, I guess I have two questions:
1) Should we look at replacing the rubber "joint" that fills the area between the poured-concrete balconies and the brick building? Would this help?
2) I would love to install slate on top of the concrete and have the contractor "correct" the pitch while he's at it. Would slate be practical? I live in Chicago if that matters. How about stamped concrete or something similar? Any suggestions, O wise ones of Dave's Garden???
I would start by talking to your condo association--those balconies weren't designed properly and since it's on the exterior of the unit rather than the interior it may be something that the association would need to take care of. It's not just about annoying your neighbors either, having water drain toward the building can cause all sorts of problems. It sounds like it already may be causing some issues so the condo association should definitely be made aware of the issue. As far as putting another surface down, the first thing I would look at is the weight...stone and concrete are heavy and your balcony may not have been designed to hold all that extra weight. And the second thing to consider is freeze-thaw cycles, some materials will crack under those conditions. You mentioned that the balcony is poured concrete, so it may be possible to add a little more concrete in the right places to change the slope--that hopefully wouldn't add too much weight. And if you want to change the look, you could always stain it. Replacing the rubber joint may help temporarily but it won't fix the problem in the long term.
Trust me, we've talked to the condo association. They quoted the declaration that specifies that maintaining the balconies are the owners' responsibility. Of course, it doesn't make clear who maintains the rubber membrane between the balcony slab and the brick building. I've already gotten the name of an engineer, but I've been waiting until they get some other problems ironed out before I call him. I really doubt the additional weight would be a problem. The balconies are supported by a steel superstructure that supports them from the ground up on the outermost side. On the building side, they are bolted to the building.
I see this was from awhile back, but if you're still interested in a balcony floor, how about balcony decking? I'm thinking of doing the same thing on my new 9 x 14 balcony. http://www.wooddeckingtile.com/balconies.html As for sloping the balcony toward the outside, you're right to hire an engineer. Let us know what you did.
Maintaining a balcony is one thing - structural faults due to sub-par "engineering" is another. You're obligated to provide routine maintenance, cleaning, and even possibly crack filling and painting. You're NOT responsible for something that probably isn't up-to-code that can cause further structural damage to the building itself. If you lived here in South Florida, I'd have you call my father, an attorney that specializes in condo law and HOA issues. Though I doubt you would want to take it this far, I'm sure an attorney could affect change to your balcony :)
I agree with Grantman. You should not be doing anything to this. If you do something you don't have a legal leg to stand on. This was improperly designed to begin with and should be the responsibility of the original general contractor. It shouldn't have ever passed the city inspection, but things like that can happen. Get an attorney if the general won't take care of it himself.
Wise words DP. In addition to this not being your responsibility, most condo associations have specific rules regarding permanent structural alterations (such as building onto the balcony), which would violate their emplaced bylaws and bring trouble to your front door. Condo commandos aren't happy people. I can only speak for how they do things in S. FL., so if you don't have said rules, ignore me :)
