Juliet Balconies vs Traditional Balconies: What is the Difference?
Juliet balconies and traditional balconies can both enhance a property’s lighting, openness, and connection to the outdoors. In structural terms, they are very different additions.
Juliet balconies provide guarding for an upper-floor opening without requiring an external platform, while traditional balconies extend beyond the building to create outdoor living spaces. This difference can have a significant impact on everything from cost and installation to planning requirements and how you’ll ultimately use the space.
Whether you’re considering a Juliet balcony or a walkout balcony for your home, here’s how to decide which solution suits your home, available space, and budget best.
What is a Juliet Balcony?
A Juliet balcony is a form of guarding installed across an upper-floor opening, typically in front of full-height windows or French doors. Unlike a conventional balcony, it doesn’t have an external platform that you can step onto.
Instead, opening the doors or windows allows more fresh air and natural light into the room, while the barrier provides protection across the opening.
Glass is particularly popular for this application because it maintains the view and allows natural light to travel through the opening without the visual obstruction associated with more traditional railing designs.
At The Glass Warehouse, we offer a range of Juliet balcony systems. Options include top-mount Juliet balconies, side-mount Juliet balconies, and Juliet balconies with offset circular fittings, giving you greater flexibility when choosing a fixing style for your project.
For wider openings, we can also supply oversized Juliet balconies featuring a bottom railing and a handrail positioned along the top of the glass. These systems are available in sizes ranging from 2450 × 1100mm up to 4000 × 1100mm, providing a practical solution for larger French doors and wide upper-floor openings.
Explore our Juliet balcony range to discover the different glass systems, fixing options, and sizes available.
What is a Traditional Balcony?
A traditional balcony, sometimes called a walkout balcony, incorporates a structural platform projecting from the building.
Depending on its design, the platform may be supported by brackets, columns or a cantilevered structure and provides genuine external floor space that can be stepped onto.
This additional space can accommodate seating, plants or even a small dining area, depending on the balcony’s dimensions and design.
The difference between a Juliet balcony and a traditional balcony therefore goes beyond appearance: one provides guarding and an open outlook, while the other creates an additional usable area outside the building.
Key Differences Between a Juliet Balcony and Traditional Balcony
When comparing a walkout balcony vs a Juliet balcony, the best option depends on what you actually want to achieve with the project.
Space and Functionality
The most obvious difference is usable outdoor space.
A Juliet balcony doesn’t provide a platform. Instead, it allows full-height doors or windows to be opened safely, helping create a brighter, more open room and an improved view of the outdoors.
A traditional balcony creates an external area you can physically use. Depending on its size, you could add chairs, plants, or a small table and use the balcony as an extension of your living space.
If your priority is simply introducing more light, ventilation, and an open outlook upstairs, the additional structure and expense of a walkout balcony may not be necessary. If you specifically want somewhere to sit outside, however, a traditional balcony is the more suitable option.
Planning Permission and Building Regulations
Planning is another major consideration.
A Juliet balcony may be possible under permitted development in some circumstances because there is no projecting platform. However, this isn’t universal, and factors such as the property type, location and existing planning restrictions can affect what is permitted.
Our guide to planning permission for a Juliet balcony explains these considerations in more detail and is worth checking before starting your project.
A projecting traditional balcony represents a much more substantial alteration to a property and will normally require planning permission. Structural design and Building Regulations requirements will also need to be considered.
For either option, don’t assume that planning permission and Building Regulations are the same thing. Even where planning permission isn’t required, the finished installation still needs to meet the applicable safety requirements.
Cost
Cost can make the decision considerably easier for some homeowners.
A Juliet balcony is generally the more affordable option because you’re not constructing an external load-bearing platform. The system primarily consists of the glass or guarding, profiles or fixings and the appropriate installation.
Even where new French doors or a full-height opening need to be created, a Juliet balcony can still involve considerably less structural work than building a complete walkout balcony.
A traditional balcony can require structural engineering, construction of the projecting platform, waterproofing, drainage, guarding and additional labour, alongside any planning and professional fees.
For a closer look at the costs involved, read our full Juliet balcony cost breakdown.
Safety and Structure
Both designs need to provide appropriate protection from falling, but they achieve this in different ways.
A Juliet balcony is fixed across an opening in the building and doesn’t need to support people standing on an external platform. The fixings and supporting structure still need to be appropriately specified because the barrier itself performs an important safety function.
A traditional balcony must support the platform and the loads placed on it as well as provide suitable guarding around exposed edges. This introduces additional structural considerations and will typically require appropriate structural calculations.
Where glass balustrades or open railings are incorporated into either design, the complete guarding system must also satisfy the applicable requirements for its location and use.
Our guide to UK balustrade safety regulations provides more information about the considerations surrounding glass barriers and guarding.
Which One Suits Your Property?
Rather than simply comparing Juliet balcony pros and cons, consider what your property actually allows and what you want from the finished project.
Flats and Apartments
A Juliet balcony is often the more practical option where creating a projecting structure isn’t feasible.
It can introduce the feeling of a balcony to an upper-floor room without requiring an external platform. However, flats and apartments can have additional planning, freeholder or building-management considerations, so these should be established before making alterations.
Period or Listed Properties
A Juliet balcony may involve a less substantial external alteration than constructing a walkout balcony, making it worth considering where maintaining the character of the building is important.
That doesn’t mean approval is automatic. Listed buildings and properties in protected areas can be subject to additional consent requirements, so the appropriate planning advice should always be sought before work begins.
Garden-Facing Properties with Space to Extend
If you have a suitable upper-floor room overlooking a garden and your property has enough external space, a traditional balcony may offer more value if your priority is creating a genuine outdoor living area.
Subject to planning and structural feasibility, it can provide room for seating, plants and entertaining that a Juliet balcony simply cannot offer.
Budget-Conscious Projects
If your main priorities are increasing natural light, opening up the view and adding a contemporary feature without constructing an entirely new outdoor platform, a Juliet balcony is likely to be the more cost-effective route.
The simpler structure can also make it particularly attractive for renovation projects where a full balcony would involve disproportionate structural work.
Put simply: if you want to step outside, consider a traditional balcony. If you primarily want to open up an upstairs room to more light, air and views, a Juliet balcony could provide what you need with considerably less structural intervention.
Choosing Glass for Either Option
Whichever style you choose, using the correct safety glass is essential.
Toughened glass undergoes specialist heat treatment to increase its strength compared with ordinary annealed glass and is designed to break differently if failure occurs. Laminated glass incorporates an interlayer that helps hold the glass together following breakage, providing different post-breakage characteristics.
The appropriate specification depends on the application and complete system design rather than appearance alone. Our guide to toughened vs laminated glass explains the differences in greater detail and can help you understand why one may be specified over another.
Glass is particularly effective for Juliet balconies because its transparency helps preserve the view through full-height doors and windows.
It can be equally effective on traditional balconies, where appropriately designed frameless glass balustrade systems can provide guarding around the external platform without unnecessarily obstructing the surrounding view.
Get the Right Advice for Your Project
Choosing between a Juliet balcony and a traditional balcony ultimately comes down to your property, budget and how you want to use the finished space.
If you want natural light, ventilation and an open outlook without constructing an external platform, a Juliet balcony can provide a clean and cost-effective solution. If your priority is creating genuine outdoor living space and your property can accommodate the additional structural and planning requirements, a traditional walkout balcony may be more appropriate.
The Glass Warehouse supplies made-to-measure glass solutions for Juliet balconies and balustrade projects, with a range of glass specifications and systems available to suit different installations.
If you’re unsure which option is right for your project, get in touch for a quote or speak to our team on 02085 001 188 for advice on sizing and product selection.
About the Author
My name is Adam Curtis, and I’m a director at The Glass Warehouse with a background in financial services and extensive experience in the glass industry. I lead our sales and marketing divisions, with a focus on making quality glass products easy to find and order online for customers across the UK.
