Yeah, it's absolutely mental. I'd love to get an answer, but the developer doesn't really have a clue as he just manages the projects and the builder doesn't speak English and my Spanish lessons don't cover "Why didn't you level the land properly!"
Spain House Build - Building Started
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Yeah, it's absolutely mental. I'd love to get an answer, but the developer doesn't really have a clue as he just manages the projects and the builder doesn't speak English and my Spanish lessons don't cover "Why didn't you level the land properly!"
I just edited, they trenched the ground but it looks like they just trenched the slope so its not level. I would think being trenched on a slope the foundation should be level or stepped. Not poured on a slope which is why they have had to do that with the blocks.
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The trenches were massively uneven. They followed the profile of the ground
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Yeah the site isn't that sloping though. I would think the trench should have been cut deeper into the higher part or stepped to the lower part of the site to ensure the foundation concrete was level across the site or as you say the plot levelled. However I am not a structural engineer so maybe I'm talking nonsense.
Soldato
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You could solve the language barrier by using live translate on a phone, the Samsung Galaxy phones do it and I expect there are more.
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By levelling the site unless they could get the bit they level up really well compacted it would probably be weaker than what they have done.
For a single storey building the vast majority of the load is going to go straight down and not outwards.
As Mart says as well the Spanish building uses those blocks (or a kind of terracotta sort) that is often filled with concrete anyway, so you end up with a solid concrete (with steel reinforcing) wall. Probably a lot stronger than UK walls with often dubious mortar quality and installation.
@Martynt74 what is the primary construction, concrete blocks or terracotta type (i see a small section of terracotta in the main house pic you posted today)
For a single storey building the vast majority of the load is going to go straight down and not outwards.
As Mart says as well the Spanish building uses those blocks (or a kind of terracotta sort) that is often filled with concrete anyway, so you end up with a solid concrete (with steel reinforcing) wall. Probably a lot stronger than UK walls with often dubious mortar quality and installation.
@Martynt74 what is the primary construction, concrete blocks or terracotta type (i see a small section of terracotta in the main house pic you posted today)
Soldato
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I've never seen breeze blocks cut like that either. Whilst I'm not a builder, I can't believe this is how a house should be built. I would be wanting a good explanation from them, and if I wasn't convinced by it, I'd be asking other builders for a second opinion.
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Look at the foundations, hes got steel reinforced concrete for a single storey building, vs what we would use in the UK (just concrete) for a double or triple storey.
Its how they do it over there, its different to the UK for sure but its how they do it.
For reference I visited Spain a lot in the 80s/90s as my grandparents were retired over there and this looks exactly like the buildings they were building around them.
We often went and acquired
bits n bobs to use for things like building a bbq. So we wandered around a lot of plots over the years that looked exactly like this.It was a lovely estate and was build piecemeal over a long time as people bought the plots and had houses/villas built. Wogan actually had a place just around the corner.
They are all still there now but its more like a gated community now as opposed to semi barren like many of Martys pictures.
Ytong blocks.
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A lot of the more premium builders are now using them because of the strength/insulation properties. Cheaper builders still use the terracotta style in either single skin or double skin with insulation in between.
Good insight into the foundations, certainly fills me with some confidence. The small terracotta bits are just for that section. I don't really understand the logic, but guess using full red bricks is stronger for the small section than using broken up breeze blocks.
My understanding is this structure is then going to be filled with concrete to create the flooring. With the walls built up around the current foundations.
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I've used it a little, but the local dialect of the builders hardly ever gets picked up when using google translate or DeepL!
@Martynt74 new house in all its glory...
I'm going to be showing the guys at work those blockwork walls and I'm tempted to send a link to an Engineer that we use as well to see what they think! The volume of cement that they've got underneath the small areas of flatter 'blocks' is something else let alone the laying of the blocks themselves!
should have a visit from a (unrelated) building inspector ?
as mentioned, rebars can still be a mandated earthquake measure, like https://murciatoday.com/three-earthquakes-in-1-hour-in-murcia_1000127793-a.html
as mentioned, rebars can still be a mandated earthquake measure, like https://murciatoday.com/three-earthquakes-in-1-hour-in-murcia_1000127793-a.html
@Martynt74 new house in all its glory...
I'm going to be showing the guys at work those blockwork walls and I'm tempted to send a link to an Engineer that we use as well to see what they think! The volume of cement that they've got underneath the small areas of flatter 'blocks' is something else let alone the laying of the blocks themselves!
Would happily welcome some opinions!
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Was this the one where you had a developer or was that a different one you didn't go through with?
If its the developer one then you can always ask them to put your mind at rest.
Other option is the town hall iirc was the one that did the sign off, although I think its a bit diff to UK stages.
If its the developer one then you can always ask them to put your mind at rest.
Other option is the town hall iirc was the one that did the sign off, although I think its a bit diff to UK stages.
Just as a matter of interest do you have a copy of the technical drawings with the specification rather than the sales type plans that you posted earlier? There might be something on them which 'justifies' the way they've started those walls?
I’ve got a 300 page document from the architect which was submitted to the planning office.
Very little I understand though!
Yeah with a small home builder. Ours is the “Madeira” although we changed the layout quite a bit from the standard offering.
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Soldato
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Thats just normal for Spain I don't think the building regs are quite the same as they are here I'm usually astonished at the things that seem to pass there electric cables and water pipes just being run through a concrete drainage pipe under a road and sticking out the end on both sides... quite eye opening concrete driveways uneven and look like a DIY job that someone did on their afternoon off... all fine apparently.
Yeah, a lot of things like this are bizarre over here. You see stuff like that, and then other things are scrutinised to the nth degree. Like in some areas you can't even install any paving tiles without requesting planning permissions and can't add a towbar to your car without having it done by a garage with certified paperwork and documented and then inspected. No just buying a towbar off facebook for €50 and welding it yourself!
It's generally getting a lot better and the more crooked builders are being caught out. I guess it's a weird balance between what looks unsafe to someone who has no knowledge and what is actually unsafe but is actually fine and signed off my architects/surveyors.
Fingers crossed i might soon get an actual project plan which i've been promised for a while! I have a meeting with the developer, his new project manager and the builder on Monday.
I mentioned we had serious concerns of meeting the November target and asked what financial penalties would start racking up if it slipped further (given we've already accepted the current 3 month delay). Hoping that lights a bit of a fire under him!
Plus side i think we're getting closer on tile decisions for all areas. The floor tiles have switched from the originals. We still love them, but they're pricey and we want to buy a lot as spares to extend the outside. Plus the only thing we didn't like was that they were smaller than we'd have liked and then were bundled in various sizes as per the below. This results in a lot of grout lines which could be annoying both indoors and out given how dusty the area is and any failures in the future would be a nightmare.
We've switched to this which is about half the price and whilst doesn't look "quite" as natural. It's still the look we want to go for and comes in some much bigger tiles. We can still have the mismatched sizes too
For the swimming pool we've been collecting samples. We don't want the mosaic style and prefer the bigger tiles. They have some benefits and some downsides, but we much prefer the larger tiles. The downside is that the styles generally have around 10 variations per range and so ordering a sample could give a completely different representation of the range.
Think we've narrowed down to the 2 on the top step. I really like the colours of the bottom step, but the top steps come from a range specific for swimming pools, and so have a variety of shapes available including some with drainage channels built into the tile which would be ideal around the edges of the pool
This is how the blue would look inside the pool
I mentioned we had serious concerns of meeting the November target and asked what financial penalties would start racking up if it slipped further (given we've already accepted the current 3 month delay). Hoping that lights a bit of a fire under him!
Plus side i think we're getting closer on tile decisions for all areas. The floor tiles have switched from the originals. We still love them, but they're pricey and we want to buy a lot as spares to extend the outside. Plus the only thing we didn't like was that they were smaller than we'd have liked and then were bundled in various sizes as per the below. This results in a lot of grout lines which could be annoying both indoors and out given how dusty the area is and any failures in the future would be a nightmare.
We've switched to this which is about half the price and whilst doesn't look "quite" as natural. It's still the look we want to go for and comes in some much bigger tiles. We can still have the mismatched sizes too
For the swimming pool we've been collecting samples. We don't want the mosaic style and prefer the bigger tiles. They have some benefits and some downsides, but we much prefer the larger tiles. The downside is that the styles generally have around 10 variations per range and so ordering a sample could give a completely different representation of the range.
Think we've narrowed down to the 2 on the top step. I really like the colours of the bottom step, but the top steps come from a range specific for swimming pools, and so have a variety of shapes available including some with drainage channels built into the tile which would be ideal around the edges of the pool
This is how the blue would look inside the pool