Are Balconies Important?
Balconies are popular features in homes and apartment buildings across the world. The importance of balconies is often underestimated until people find themselves without a balcony altogether. A balcony allows an apartment dweller to connect with nature while remaining home.
Balconies are generally considered important features of any home. Unless you live in a region where the weather makes balconies undesirable, balconies can drastically improve the quality of life for people living in apartments. Balconies also offer various advantages, such as ventilation and light.
If you live in an urban apartment with no garden, a balcony might be your only opportunity to connect with the outdoors and enjoy the fresh air. In metropolitan areas where space is limited, balconies are a highly desirable feature sought out by most people viewing apartments.
Are Balconies Important Features?
A balcony is an important feature of almost any apartment across the globe. Balconies increase the value of a property significantly while drastically improving the quality of life of the apartment’s inhabitants.
While balconies are not usually included in the floor area calculations for apartments, these spaces can still drastically improve the usable floor space of an apartment. Balconies achieve this by increasing the overall floor area and creating an indoor-outdoor flow where the outdoor space can be utilized as a part of your living area.
An increased living area is a major advantage for any apartment, especially when the apartment has no access to other outdoor green spaces.
Balconies are also important in how they increase an apartment’s airflow. A balcony and its associated opening will drastically increase the air that flows into – and out of – the apartment. This airflow will make a big difference to the air quality in the apartment and the general comfort of the people living in the apartment.
Balconies are important for creating extra space where residents can unwind and relax. A balcony can become a welcome respite from the rest of the world. Balconies can become places for children to play and can also be great places for pets to enjoy the sun or do their ablutions.
For the purposes of entertaining, balconies are extremely important. Apartments without balconies can quickly become cramped when guests have no outdoor space to spill out onto. Guests who smoke or guests who want to get some fresh air will have an enormous appreciation for a balcony.
Any home might gain a lot of value by adding a balcony. Many homes lack significant outdoor space in high-density areas like major cities. As a result, apartments with balconies can fetch a far higher price than those without.
Because the balcony significantly increases the overall enjoyment of the apartment for its users, the value of the building rises by between ten and twenty percent as a result.
The location, size, construction quality, and view from the balcony will decide the percentage by which it raises the home’s value.
The balcony’s overall value is greatly influenced by its size. A larger balcony will have more uses and accommodate more guests, allowing it to better serve the needs of its users.
When Are Balconies Not Important?
There are certain regions where having a balcony is not feasible and where a balcony will not contribute to the quality of life of the apartment’s residents. In areas such as Dubai, where heat is extreme, apartment buildings are less likely to have balconies.
The reason for this is the extreme heat experienced during the summer months of these desert regions. Extreme winds and sandstorms are also common in these areas, removing your potential enjoyment of balcony space.
In these types of circumstances, balconies become significantly less desirable. Instead of enjoying time outdoors, residents of these areas prefer to shelter away from the heat. Instead, they choose to spend their time in the cool, air-conditioned air of their indoor spaces.
The same can be said for regions with excessive yearly rainfall or extremely cold conditions. The enjoyment of a balcony depends on pleasant weather. Therefore, if there is little chance of pleasant weather in which to enjoy spending time on your balcony, a balcony will not be used often and becomes less of an important feature.
Advantages Of Balconies For Apartment Living
Balconies have several benefits. A balcony makes it easier to take in the views around your apartment building. Suppose you live in an area with beautiful features such as a city skyline, mountain, or ocean view. In that case, a balcony can afford you the opportunity to take in the view at an even greater scale.
Apartments with balconies allow you to add more vegetation to your home. Your apartment’s aesthetic appeal, overall health, and air quality will be improved by incorporating more greenery onto your balcony.
In addition to balconies being great places to relax, balconies can be used for various purposes. A balcony can be a good place for a young child to play, and it can be used to store any outdoor objects that you don’t want inside your property.
The inclusion of a balcony significantly increases the apartment’s overall functionality. Any property can greatly benefit from creating an indoor/outdoor flow, and a balcony gives the user this chance.
Additionally, balconies may give any property a sense of elegance.
Another advantage of a balcony is the way it offers shade to the areas below it. In apartment buildings with multiple stories and balconies on each floor, the apartment below will be shielded from the sun thanks to the balcony above it.
Disadvantages Of Balconies In Apartments
The drawbacks of having a balcony are few, but they are worth noting.
Let’s say your balcony is situated on a lower story of an apartment building. In that case, it’s possible that people on the street below could see your balcony from there and watch your daily activities. As a result, they could be able to look right into your apartment and see what you are doing.
Additionally, a balcony can interfere with your neighbors’ privacy. You might violate your neighbors’ privacy if you are on your balcony and can see inside their flat through the windows.
Balconies also have the potential to create security risks. Anybody who wants to gain unauthorized access to your property will find it much easier to do so by using your balcony as an entry point. This is particularly true if you leave your balcony doors open when not at home.
Conclusion
Balconies are generally considered an extremely important feature of any apartment. A balcony extends the living space of an apartment, creating the opportunity for a person living in an apartment to enjoy the outdoors from their own private sanctuary. Unless you live in an area where balconies are not feasible, this building feature will significantly impact your apartment’s overall success.
