Two-level studio in Russian realities. How to create another floor at home? Second tier in an ordinary apartment 2nd tier in an apartment
How to make a second floor in a room?
A full second floor can be built only if the ceiling height in the room is at least 4 meters. Most modern apartments cannot boast of such values, and therefore they can be equipped with an inferior second floor-mezzanine.
For example, if you remove there sleeping area, then a significant amount of space will be freed up in the room. How to do this and where to start?
How to calculate the parameters for the second floor in a room?
As mentioned above, to equip a full second floor, the ceiling height should not be less than 4 meters. How much space is needed to equip a sleeping place on the second tier?
It's easy to calculate. In a sitting position, a person occupies a height of approximately 1 meter, add to this value the height of the bed, the width of the mattress and blanket, and another 20 centimeters. It turns out that the second tier should be at least 1.2 meters to the ceiling.
The resulting space under the mezzanine on the lower tier must be at least 2 meters. However, this value can fluctuate in different directions, depending on how this space is intended to be equipped.
How to make a second tier in a room?
The second tier is created using:
- supports;
- beams;
- stairs;
- gender;
- balustrades (fencing).
In most cases, the mezzanine is made of wood. The staircase plays an important role in achieving a harmonious combination of the first and second tiers. The ideal step is one with a step height of at least 15cm and a depth of at least 26cm. However, such a staircase will take up a lot of space and can simply overload the space. Sometimes small spiral staircases or attics are used. It is worth considering that the latter are not very safe, especially if there are children in the house.
A special role in the equipment of the second tier in the room should be given to the balustrade. It must be reliable and prevent a possible fall if a person, for example, stumbles. The fence should be well thought out if there are small children at home.
How to make a second floor in a room? Ventilation and light
These parameters are very important if you plan to equip a sleeping or working place on the second tier. As you know, warm air always accumulates under the ceiling (especially during the heating season). If you don’t think through the ventilation, then sleeping in the stuffiness will be simply unbearable.
Ideal if the second tier will be equipped near the ventilation grille. If this is not possible, then you need to turn to professionals who will combine the second tier with the ventilation system using flexible pipes and a fan.
Regarding lighting, then there are two options. If you plan to equip the second tier for a sleeping place, then lamps are perfect as light sources. If you are setting up a workplace, it is advisable to have access to natural light. This can be achieved by making a second tier near the window. If this is not possible, then several lamps with diffused and directional light will help to bring the lighting as close as possible to natural.
How to make a second floor in a room? Photo
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Building a second floor in a small apartment is a rather tempting idea: if you remove the sleeping space upstairs or equip an additional room there, this will significantly expand the space of the apartment. AiF.ru tells you how to do this.
Height calculation
The first thing you need to think about when starting construction of the second floor is the height of the ceilings and the height of the person who will live there. For a comfortable life, it is necessary that the ceiling be at least 15-20 centimeters above your head. Thus, the height should be calculated as follows: to the height (for example, 180 cm), you need to add the width of the tier (at least 15 cm): 180 + 15 * 2 + 15. In total, the minimum ceiling height in an apartment for arranging a full second floor should be at least 405 centimeters, or about 4 meters.
Bedroom under the ceiling
In modern houses there are almost no such ceilings, but you can arrange a sleeping place on the second tier in ordinary apartments. For it to be comfortable, the necessary condition is this: the height from the surface of the bed to the ceiling must be 1.2 meters (a person in a sitting position takes up about 1 m, and to this you need to add the width of the mattress and blankets, and this is at least another 0.2 m) .
The purpose of the space under the mezzanine also depends on the height of the ceiling. Ideally, it should be at least 2 meters. For a non-residential premises (say, a storage room) 1.8 m is enough. This means that the optimal ceiling height for a sleeping area is 3.55 m, and the minimum is 3.35 m.
Mezzanine design
Structurally, the mezzanine consists of supports, beams, stairs, balustrade and floor. The classic mezzanine is made of wood, but it is possible to build from metal, chipboard, polycarbonate or reinforced glass. Soundproofing of the floor is done using balsa wood or mineral wool.
In order for the second floor of the apartment to become a full-fledged part of the home, it must be equipped with a good staircase. A staircase with a step height of 160 mm and a tread depth of 260 mm can be called comfortable. Thus, to rise to a height of 2.2 meters, 14 steps will be needed, and the staircase will have a length of 3.64 m. To save space, you can use an attic-type staircase, which takes up much less space, but at the same time is less convenient and more dangerous.
Also, the mezzanine must have a balustrade or fence, especially if there are children in the house. For a sleeping place, the fence can be low, and where you can stand up to your full height, the balustrade should be higher than the center of gravity of an adult (about 1.1 meters). The material and design of the balustrade, on the one hand, must match the interior, and on the other, be strong enough.
Ventilation and light
In modern small-sized apartments, a bed on the second tier is most often a necessary measure. In a room with an area of 9-12 square meters, this is, in fact, the only opportunity to organize a sleeping and working space at the same time. Most often, standard mezzanine beds are purchased in a store. At the same time, the height of the “ceiling” above the desktop does not exceed 1.5-1.6 meters. In such conditions, special attention should be paid to lighting and ventilation of the sleeping and working areas.
Everyone knows that warm air accumulates under the ceiling, and therefore upstairs in the apartment is the stuffiest place, and a full and refreshing sleep without a ventilation system is impossible. It is best to place the mezzanine next to the ventilation duct, but if this is not possible, you can combine the mezzanine room with another - using flexible pipes and an additional fan. It will be difficult to develop and implement such a system on your own: for this it is better to turn to specialists.
Lighting in a small space also plays an extremely important role. For example, for a sleeping area, natural lighting is not the most important: here you can get by with one or two reading lamps. But to fully illuminate the workspace, natural light is necessary. The best solution would be to install a mezzanine near the window, and if this is not possible, you need to use the maximum number of lamps, directed and diffused light. This will improve performance in a small space.