builders – Page 3 – Specialised Build

Repair of leaking roof on a large villa, Costa del Sol

This large villa in Estepona had a roof that had leaked slightly over the last 20 years, however with the record breaking rainfall in the autumn of 2016, the roof leaked through into the house all over, causing massive damage to the plastered walls and ceilings.

The tiles were all stripped off the roof, the sand cement mix under the tiles was all removed and cleaned off, giving us access to seal the concrete slabs with a bitumin based product.

Access was particularly difficult as the villa is 3 stories, requiring scaffolding to be erected according to the current legislation, as specified by the Junta de Andalucia. This type of scaffolding has to be erected by a homologated company, who supply a safety certificate. Our number one priority is safety, both for our workers and people passing by. In addition, the use of scaffolding with nets helps to prevent damage and injury from falling objects.

Once we sealed the roof, an new bed of sand cement was laid on top, giving a good base for the roofing tiles to be put back. Most of the roofing tiles were reused, but some were broken during the work, so reclaimed tiles were sourced so that the roof all matches.

It is important to note that the way most houses are constructed in Spain, the roof tiles do not provide the waterproofing, they simply help to shield from the sun direct the water away from the concrete slab and sprayed insulation layer underneath the roof tiles.

The hardest part of this project was obtaining the correct building license, in total it took 11 weeks. This needs to be considered if you are planning these types of building works, especially in the Marbella and Estepona areas. Mijas and Fuengirola seem to be more efficient from our experience.

Scaffold essential for roof repairs in Estepona and Marbella

Renovation of villas, Marbella, Mijas, Fuengirola, Estepona

Builders working on roof repairs. Roof leaking

Terracotta roof tiles replaced by building team

Construction and renovation by builders costa del sol

Swimming Pools

Waterproofing and tiling a leaking swimming pool structure

If your swimming pool is leaking, the first thing we need to do is diagnose the source of the leak. Once we have found the cause of the leak in the pool, we can recommend the correct method to solve it.

Pool leaks can be either plumbing related, or structural. Leaks in the plumbing are normally due to pipes broken underground. We have specialist equipment to help in the location of these types of leaks. Elsewhere there are examples of this type of leak detection and repair.

Structural leaks are a little more complicated. The worst case scenario is a pool that has cracked, as this is the most difficult to rectify.

In the case of this pool, the concrete was of very poor quality and it was seeping from several places. One of the biggest misconceptions is that the tiles and grout are waterproof, this is not the case. Tiles are purely the cosmetic finish for the pool, they serve no waterproofing purpose. Pool tile adhesives and grouts may be referred to as being waterproof, but this refers to the products ability to be constantly submerged. With no cracks, the best course of action was to waterproof the structure using a semi flexible cement based render, which is completely waterproof at 2mm thick. This render is made to cope with chlorine.

Once the pool structure has been waterproofed, the leak is fixed. We now move on to the cosmetic finish. In this case it was glass mosaic tiles.

We also installed a new pool surround, as the old one was cracked.

As you can see, the pool looks fantastic and no leaks!