Construction projects require time efficiencies, and property owners always like money efficiencies. Midwest Iron takes these key aspects into consideration with our bolt-on balcony systems. Our current record for installing bolt-on balconies is 24 balconies in five hours at the 1st and Washington project. This record installation was possible with perfect coordination, experience, and our bolt-on prefabricated balcony system. Midwest Iron likes to think every balcony system install can be record-breaking. Learn how.
Challenges of Traditional Balconies
Traditional balconies use a wood cantilever balcony construction method, with a counterbalance of wooden beams built inside floor-ceiling assemblies. This type of wood construction is quite a time- and material-involved. A traditional wooden cantilever method also poses many challenges, including fire safety, replacement costs, and unknown load hazards.
Bolt-On Balconies Are The Solution
A bolt-on balcony system increases safety for occupants and firefighters, nearly eliminates replacement costs, and greatly reduces installation time. These benefits occur with prefabricated welded aluminum balcony construction that bolts to the outside of the building. Installation of a bolt-on balcony is about 30% faster compared to a wood installation. This aluminum system is also about 110% longer lasting than a wood balcony.
Set It and Forget it
A bolt-on aluminum balcony system is made to last a long time. The welded aluminum construction withstands corrosion, which makes it approximately 110% longer lasting than a wood balcony. Wood fails over time, and usually, it fails without visibility, as it can rot from within. (Check out this failed balcony story in Berkeley, California.)
To replace a failing wood balcony, you typically have to remove floor joists or deconstruct and rebuild the entire balcony, which can be a costly maintenance expense. You can change out an aluminum bolt-on balcony if you don’t like the color, but otherwise, set it and forget it. To do so, you just unbolt the balcony, re-powder-coat it, and re-bolt it onto the building.
Safety with Aluminum
A balcony with all connection points visible is the ultimate for safety assurance. Fire safety is one of the major benefits of aluminum construction versus a traditional wood balcony. Aluminum is non-combustible, and its good strength-to-weight ratio allows balconies to hold greater loads. A bolt-on system makes all components visible while wood balconies hide rot beneath the surface. Why wait for building codes to update or for a problem to happen when you can be safe now?
A recent article about a wood balcony fire stated, “I think it’s a significant issue. […] We regularly, three to four times a year, respond to fires on balconies.” Another article about the Berkeley balcony collapse stated, upon testing more than 6,000 wood balcony structures for possible repair, “…greater than 800 had a need for repair when the enclosed assemblies were inspected.”
Fast Installation
All you have to do for bolt-on balcony installation is:
- Unload the balconies off the truck.
- Hoist them up the building.
- Bolt the balconies on.
That’s all you need to do with our prefabricated, bolt-on balcony system.
