Terrace and rooftop design in Batumi

Where terrace design starts

We start terrace design in Batumi with the slab underneath it, and choose the furniture later. On the site visit we look at what is on the floor below, where the outlets are and where the water goes after a downpour, and how high the parapet and the threshold of the door from the room are. At the same time we ask the management company for the residential complex rules.

At the first meeting we agree on how the terrace will be used: lunches for six, sun loungers or a couple of armchairs for watching the sunset, herbs for the kitchen. This decides where shade, a socket and a tap are needed, and where the floor has to be level for a table.

Falls and waterproofing as part of the design

If there are other people's rooms under the terrace, we design it to roofing rules: a falls plan with levels, outlets, an overflow in the parapet in case of a blockage, and details of the junctions with the walls and the threshold. How the layer itself is applied and flood-tested is covered on the pages about waterproofing under tiles and penthouse renovation with a terrace. The designer is responsible for something else: the finish, the furniture and the planters must not get in the way of the water.

In almost every project the fall has to be reconciled with a level floor. The screed drops towards the outlets, while the step out of the living room should be almost flush. So we lay WPC composite decking or porcelain tiles on adjustable pedestals: on top the surface is level, and underneath the water runs freely along the fall. Over each outlet we draw a removable section in the decking, and we stand the planters on feet so that no puddle sits under them.

Loads on the slab: what the structural engineer checks

A design can easily add several tonnes to a slab. A planter one metre by half a metre and 60 cm high holds about 0.3 m³ of soil, and with wet soil a planter like this weighs, by our estimate, several hundred kilograms; a large terrace may have eight to ten of them. Add to that the stone worktop of an outdoor kitchen, concrete pots, a pergola on anchors and sometimes a hot tub.

That is why the design includes a load plan: it marks the position and weight of every heavy item. Our structural engineer reviews it and decides where the slab can take heavy items and where only light ones can go. The designer doesn't estimate the permitted load by eye: it comes from the structural engineer's calculation based on the building's drawings. In planters on a slab we use a lightweight mix with perlite or expanded clay, which weighs noticeably less than garden soil.

Shade and wind up high

In Batumi the sea lies to the west, and a terrace with a view gets the lowest and hottest sun in the evening, just when people are sitting out on it. A canopy overhead does little against sun like this, so the west side needs vertical screens: curtains on cables, louvres or tall plants.

We choose heavier furniture for an open terrace than for a balcony: a storm can carry a light aluminium chair right across the terrace. The positions of heavy planters come from the load plan, and we don't put planters, loungers or benches right against the balustrade, so that a child can't climb up them onto the railing. Anything fixed to the facade or the parapet is agreed with the building before it is ordered.

Plants in planters by the sea

A plant in a planter up high has a harder time than one in a seaside garden: the roots have little room, the soil dries out quickly, and the wind sways the crown like a sail. So instead of tall trees we prefer compact shrubs and herbs that tolerate salt: bay and pittosporum clipped into balls, yucca, agapanthus, rosemary and lavender. A tall plant goes into a wide, low planter by the wall of the building, where the wind is weaker. We don't plant bamboo with running rhizomes on a slab: in a cramped planter the rhizomes can damage thin walls and grow through the drainage holes towards the waterproofing.

We draw drip irrigation with a timer from the start, together with a tap and a pipe along the parapet. Without it, plants on a south-facing terrace in July won't survive until the owner flies in for a monthly visit. Which species to plant in the ground on the coast is decided by a landscape designer, while planters on a roof have rules of their own.

Lighting, water and the outdoor kitchen

Terrace lighting works in two modes: task lighting over the table and the kitchen, and low, soft lighting along the steps, planters and parapet. We choose IP65-rated fittings with warm light and point them downwards, so that they don't shine into the windows of the neighbouring towers. Sockets with covers go where the grill, the heater and the string lights will be, and the circuit runs through an RCD. The lighting circuits and switches can be worked out together with the lighting design for the apartment.

Every terrace needs a tap: for watering, and for rinsing salt off the floor and the glass balustrade. An outdoor kitchen needs water, a drain into the sewer rather than onto the terrace floor, and a separate circuit for the hob or electric grill. Gas to a grill is connected only by the gas service; we don't touch the gas pipe. Building rules often restrict open fire on terraces, so we read them before drawing the kitchen.

A terrace on a flat house roof

Designing a terrace on the flat roof of a house starts with the access: a staircase with a rooftop stair enclosure or a hatch, the height of the parapet, and a balustrade designed for wind load. For a terrace, an inverted roof build-up works best, with the membrane under the insulation and tiles on pedestals on top; there is more on this in the comparison of flat and pitched roofs.

If the house is already built, the structural engineer looks at it first: the top slab may have been designed as a roof that people go onto only for maintenance. With the roof of an apartment building, we start with the documents: the extract shows whether it is part of the apartment or belongs to the building's common property. In the second case we don't design the terrace until our partner lawyer has clarified the procedure.

How the design goes into the estimate and onto site

We price the estimate for the works from the design's materials list, so the cost of the terrace is known before the crew takes up the old tiles. Before installation, the designer goes through the sheets with the site foreman right on the terrace.

The number of revision rounds included in each stage is written into the contract. If you are abroad, we film the terrace in the morning, at midday and at sunset so you can see where the sun falls, and we show samples of decking and fabrics in daylight. You approve and sign off the stages remotely.

How much terrace design costs in Batumi

A design for a terrace or roof terrace of 15–40 m² costs from 3,120 to 4,800 ₾. This is the designer's work: the zone layout, waterproofing details, two or three 3D views and a materials list for the finish, the shade structure and the planting. Waterproofing, decking, the pergola, furniture and plants are not included in the design price and are priced in the estimate. Each extra view, for example a separate evening view with the lighting on, costs 690–1,080 ₾.

The largest line in the estimate is often the shade structure, and it is chosen at the 3D stage. A pergola with a fabric roof costs 1,050–1,300 ₾ per m² installed, and a bioclimatic one with rotating louvres 3,240–3,890 ₾ per m². The design price goes up with heavy planters and an outdoor kitchen that the structural engineer has to check, with a house roof that needs new access and a new build-up, and with extra views. A small terrace with a sound fall, where only the finish and furniture change, costs less. The final cost is set after the measured survey, once the project scope is agreed.