That drab concrete balcony is often the last area to be addressed in any apartment makeover. Maybe it’s just too small to justify a procession of tradespersons traipsing through the apartment day after day to lay ceramic or terracotta tiles, grout them and then polish them. Maybe you live in a rental property and don’t want to spent money on something you can’t take with you, but really want to brighten up that valuable exterior space.
Perhaps the best and easiest solution is to install DIY decking tiles. These tiles are laid directly on the existing balcony without requiring any surface preparation. The tiles just click together without needing any adhesives, screws etc. You may need to cut some tiles to fit around pipes or to fit flush against the balcony wall, but all that’s required is a handsaw or jigsaw. And as the tiles are constructed with a special mesh base, water drains away quickly and easily.
Some manufacturers have more than one style of tile so you can mix and match to make your own unique pattern. If you get tired of one pattern, just lift up the tiles and move them around to make another.
To keep the attractive wood colour, you will need to apply a decking oil at regular intervals, once or twice a year, but this is small price to pay for the benefit of an attractive wood balcony.
To further enhance the balcony you could leave out a few tiles and fill the gaps with some funky polished stones or maybe some chunky bark nuggets. And of course some bushy plants in attractive pots team exceptionally well with any wood deck.
Malcolm Kay is the CEO of Intex Pacific Pty. Ltd. an exporter of landscape materials including modular decking tiles. For further information see www.ezydeck.net
