Timber Engineering Europe Ltd.
BEWARE WHEN BUYING IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
THINK ABOUT THIS BEFORE buying or building in Spain and Portugal.How many times have you heard of friends, relatives and even complete strangers regretting the purchase of homes abroad? The problems arise because of the WAY the properties are built. Building science incorporates sets of "Basic Principles" and if these are not put into practice during construction, defect and malfunction of the building will occur. Very few other man made items have to stand up to so many different forces, extreme conditions, and variations internally and externally and still remain the same for very long periods of time. Have you ever thought WHY some buildings have a cavity? WHY do some builders use Damp membrane and others do not. WHY are some buildings insulated and others not? Does it matter?
IF YOU ARE THINKING OF BUYING ABROAD - YOU SHOULD READ THIS FIRST IT WILL HELP SAVE YOU £££££'S AND MANY UNECESSARY SLEEPLESS NIGHTS!
The UK has some of the highest level and most stringent codes and regulations for building practice in Europe and they are policed and vigorously enforced by authority. Breaching or non-observance of the rules can be very costly for the offender as the enforcers have many options and powers available to force anyone breaking the rules to comply.
The difference between UK and other countries differs in quite an alarming way, in that codes and regulations have historically been much lower than those of the UK, and in some cases non-existent. Although after 25 years of debate the EU have decided on a set of building rules for EU members, (The Eurocode) and that should be complied with by all countries during 2010. I personally do not believe that this will make much difference in some countries, as they still ignore laws and do not implement or adopt EU rules that have been in force for several years.
Let's look at how buildings differ in UK and some other European countries and the impact it has on the property. We should start at the bottom, and work our way up, so let's start with theFOUNDATIONS.
A different page on this site discusses foundations, but basically different foundation types are used for different applications, ground conditions, building types and configurations. The SLAB or RAFT type, are the most common in use in Europe, although STRIP foundations are becoming more popular. It doesn't matter which is used, but certain components MUST be incorporated into the base. One such component is THE DAMPROOF MEMBRANE (DPM). This is a layer of thick Plastic sheeting that is laid under the concrete slab and is brought up the walls and laid under the Damp Proof course in the inner wall of the building. This prevents any rising damp or water to ingress the house floors. It is essential in UK but many European countries do not use it! This means that any quantity of water can affect the ground floors and infuse the concrete with salts, acids and other undesirable chemicals from contaminated earth that can contribute to early failure of the foundation. Another component missing in many countries is INSULATION. In the foundations? Yes!
This component stops air leakage, which in turn means a reduction in thermal emissions. The insulation also prevents cold air penetrating the porous concrete and affecting the house ambient temperatures, and this means less fuel required to maintain ambient temperature. I have NEVER seen insulation used under-slab in Spain or Portugal.
WALLS also take their toll in some Mediterranean countries. A DAMPROOF COURSE (DPC) is not often used in the walls and this leads to rising damp affecting the walls. Because of the concrete and fill that are the preferred methods in Iberia, a solid mass wall is rarely achieved and when ground water rises it will enter the walls and it is forced up the fissures left in the fill and can reach high level in many cases. The DPC is a continuous strip of thick plastic type material and is defined as follows: Damp-proof course - a course of some impermeable material laid in the foundation walls of building near the ground to prevent dampness from rising into the building. Britain would not dream of building without DPC, but Spain and Portugal don't consider it important. Masonry buildings using the single skin method also suffer in the hot weather with re-radiation effect. This means that the buildings heat up during the day and cool within during the night, making for a very uncomfortable night, unless you have air-con, and this is very expensive and noisy to run. The same happens in reverse in the winter, nights become very cold and the houses are freezing and damp. Never put your wardrobes or clothes drawers against an outside wall they will become covered in mould and mildew in the mildest winters.
The writer has lived in these types of houses on occasions in Spain and Portugal and writes from personal experience.
WALL CAVITY is of paramount importance in a building - again this is rarely used in some European countries. Using two "wall skins" tied together across a cavity allows a free airflow that lets the building breathe. The external leaf or skin protects the internal leaf from becoming wet which of course in vital to prevent internal damp.
RENDER on the external walls is very poorly applied in these countries and water collects behind the using areas not correctly applied and again this leads to pools of water percolating through the fill to the interior of the building.
BELL CASTING is rarely seen on rendered walls. It is bad building practice to render an external wall down to the ground as pooling surface water is absorbed by the render and transferred to the inner wall surfaces. A bell-casted render stops approx 60cm from the ground and is turned out away from the building by about 25-40mm. This means that water running down the external wall is thrown off away from the building.
INSULATION plays a major role in Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), both in the walls, under floors and in roof spaces. Not only does it keep the heat in, meaning less fuel requirement, it also reduces carbon emissions and for hot countries, stops excessive heat entering the buildings, reducing the need for mechanical cooling.
VAPOUR BARRIERS are never used, even in wooden buildings, and this protective measure is absolutely VITAL in buildings. Steam from showers and cooking, even human breathing wants to return to its natural form of water. It chooses to do this by seeking the coldest point in a room, usually an outside wall or window. If the former, it will be absorbed to a great degree by the porous materials making up the wall. If we put a vapour barrier in the wall the damp can't penetrate the walls. If the room is warm and there is some air-flow condensation will not occur. So by using insulation and a vapour barrier the walls do not get affected by internal damp. A vapour barrier is fairly thick plastic sheeting affixed on the "warm" side of a wall under the plaster-board.
SOUNDPROOFING is also virtually unheard of! ALL traditionally constructed buildings in masonry in Europe have no passage of sound provision. Apartments, houses, bars and public buildings are very noisy, as the materials used are all conductors of transmitted and airborne sound. Insulation and building to ROBUST STANDARD DETAIL reduces sound dramatically, so you can still have traditional tiled floor finishes, without the constant annoyance of noise by using MMC. This is by no means an exhaustive explanation of what you can expect, unless you demand. By making absolutely certain your architect and builder KNOW what you want you can avoid disappointment and have a luxury home you will enjoy. It will cost very little more and mean a great difference, to incorporate all the above, and by doing so your home will be trouble free and so will you.
TIMBER ENGINEERING EUROPE IS HERE TO HELP YOU
CONTACT US IF YOU HAVE ANY QUERIES OR NEED ADVICE.
(and may not be reproduced unless permission is granted by the writer)
go Top
Copyright © Timber Engineering Europe Design by: Ytrion