ᐅ Building a Terrace Using Formwork Blocks

Hello dear forum,

we are currently planning to build a terrace accessible from our kitchen and wanted to ask for your opinion on our idea. We want to remove the window and replace it with a balcony/terrace door. For this, the masonry under the window will need to be removed.

For the terrace, we plan to build a U-shaped frame around with formwork blocks and then fill it with concrete and reinforcing steel. The inside will be filled with construction debris and all the asphalt we want to remove from our driveway, which we will compact thoroughly. This should fill the terrace properly.

On top, we will add a layer of concrete with reinforcing steel, and then depending on the finish, either tiles or terrace slabs.

Has anyone done something similar? Did you face any problems afterwards, or were you satisfied with the result? Here is a picture for illustration.

Best regards and stay healthy

Is this a terraced house?
Are you the owner?
Is there a basement window?

Disposing of bituminous waste under the terrace sounds at least questionable.

I wouldn’t do it that way. There are better options.

Structural integrity of the opening considered ????

In Greece, this is commonly done. It works well there, but frost in the ground is not expected. Frost could cause everything to heave. However, it would have to be a severe winter.

Haus_käufer schrieb:

We wanted to fill the interior with construction debris and all the asphalt we're planning to remove from our driveway as well.

So the driveway from the 2019 plans hasn’t been built yet either. 😎
And you basically want to build on top of the "waste"?
You won’t be able to compact it properly, and disposing of asphalt that way is not allowed.

This needs to be properly planned!

Let’s put it this way... in rural areas, this is still a common practice today. However, the next generation often complains when they have to excavate and dispose of this reinforced concrete rubbish, which doesn’t last longer than 20 years but is so sturdy that demolition becomes a nightmare.