DIY Juliet balcony

If you want it to be more than decorative then you need to secure it at both sides. You could, perhaps, run a long vertical in the centre, secured top and bottom, and then just have the 'balcony' across the part that opens. The vertical could be (largely) hidden from view from the inside by the door centre divider but it would, of course, be visible from outside. Perhaps paint the upper part the same colour as the frame so it was less obvious.

As for construction materials, I'd stay clear of copper. Remember, someone me lean against it. If you can't weld perhaps metal conduit. You can get a range of fittings and hire a threading tool. Painting copper well enough to survive the weather (without shedding paint) is another issue. The conduit tends to be zinc plated (at least the stuff I've seen) so use a suitable primer and clean it with acetone etc first.

As a general point, consider the impact on escape routes if there is a fire. Someone fit and able could probably climb over it but what about a someone with mobility issues?

Brian,

Thanks for the detailed reply. I like your idea of a long vertical strut attached to the brickwork at the top and bottom of the central vertical of the door rather than to the door itself. As you say, the visual impact would be almost zero from inside, and could be minimised outside.

I hadn't considered the escape route: there is a conventional door to the garden in the same L-shaped area, so presumably I'm covered on that score.

I take your points about copper pipework. The painting difficult had occurred to me, though with regard to safety I suspect that (especially with frequent soldered T-fittings) it would be sufficiently resistant to impacts to satisfy the building regs.

Thanks for the suggestions of alternative materials.

If someone fell heavily, or just leant over the balcony, I would expect copper plumbing tube to collapse. Once you have a sharp kink in copper tube it will bend at that kink with ease.

If you don't want it to be visible, use structural glass. Whatever you do, it needs to be properly fixed, so as to take the weight of a couple of people leaning heavily on it.

You didn't say which floor this is on?

I've used stainless tube and posts for handrail and landing baluster, Q-Railing were happy enough to deal with a small order, though you'll probably get huge catalogues in the post a couple of times a year.

I take the point, but it still seems a pity to put anything across the fixed half of the door.

The ground floor, with a drop of 600mm to the ground.

Andy Burns suggested:

Thanks; I'll take a look. For some reason my search didn't bring that one up.

You have a choice of either a vertical strut fixed above and below the door centre, or perhaps some kind of cantilevered design fixed on just the one side - but the fixing will need to be good!

There are plenty of suppliers of all the common bits of wrought iron. These can be chopped, drilled welded etc as required to make whatever you need. Being nice and heavy, also easy enough to weld without too much practice.

if it looks like a balcony, and people can get to it, then it needs to function as such structurally since at some point it likely will be used as such. Copper pipe etc is just not strong enough for this application.

It seems more of a pity to put something across the opening part of the doors!

Not far to fall, but even so.

Cantilever something out from under the door, presumably fixed to the floor joists. That will be the most attractive, but difficult to engineer.

Build something up from ground level. Possibly a raised patio with a railing.

Attach something to the house, both above and below the window. This means unattractive poles running up above the window.

Attach glass/perspex inside the house, across the opening portion of the doors.

Agreed. But clearance outside for steps is very limited, and there is already a back door.

I had considered that, but the clearance problem also applies. I suppose a "patio" of just enough depth to act as a support for railings (say 150mm or even less?) would be a possibility

An interesting idea, but doesn't it involve the same problem of how to fix the edge of the material half-way across the width of the door?

In the sense of leaning on it, you mean?

OK, thanks. And also for the suppliers information.

I wouldn't faff around trying to fabricate something, I would just get something like this

Thanks for the link, but I would find satisfaction in making - or assembling - something myself. And the price is a consideration.

Mine isnt that solid even tho its anodised aluminium.

I'd so it with 19mm rhs horizontals and 12mm verticals, but I can weld. Needs a good oil based paint on well prepared steel, but that does last well when done well.

It would certainly look unusual and wouldn't be cheap. I'd use Yorkshire fittings. Not ideal where it attaches to the central vertical strut and those two metals would be an electrolytic corrosion problem there even tho the strut is coated.

Then I think I would be cloning that sort of design and putting up with the fact that there is one visible rail across the non-opening window. You could support the centre end of the main rail on a vertical rail aligned with the centre window frame. But it would look a bit odd from the outside IMHO.

Perhaps we need a photo of your doors?

I used to post pics to Photobucket but had to stop when they introduced charges. I've been meaning for ages to look around to see if there are any alternative free image-hosting possibilities. Any suggestions?

That definitely wouldn't be cheap! I was thinking of Yorkshire capillary fittings for a relatively seamless look. Thanks for the thoughts on attaching to the frame of the door, and on the painting.