Painting advice
What we do, explained for the climate of this coast: the salt air, the levante wind and the afternoon sun are not in the manuals.
Insulation and energy efficiency
Thermal bridges: what they are, where they are in your home and what stops them
The places where a home loses extra heat, with the values from the Building Code atlas: a column with the insulation cut off against one with continuous insulation, and the roller-shutter box nobody looks at.
6 minRead itInteriors and prices
How much paint per m²: what the data sheet says and what a room actually takes
The coverage on the data sheet is measured on a smooth wall: the real figure comes from the wall and ceiling area, the two coats and how much each surface soaks up, worked through on an example bedroom.
6 minRead itGotelé and skimming
Patching gotelé: why it hardly ever matches first time and how to get close
Covering a filled chase with gotelé is easy; making it disappear is harder: the mix, the nozzle, the pressure and the distance, and why the patch is tried out on a board and not on the wall.
6 minRead itFacades and restoration
House exterior colours: what the bylaws require, what the sun does and the ochres of Málaga
Before the colour chart come the bylaw and the sun: what each town sets, what sunlight does to a dark or strong colour, and the ochres and red earths that painted Málaga before white.
7 minRead itDecorative painting
Tadelakt: the lime finish closed with stone and soap, and when it can take a shower
The lime finish burnished with a stone and closed with soap: what makes it water resistant, what wall it needs, and what a manufacturer's data sheet and a job in the Axarquía say about using it in a shower.
7 minRead itInsulation and energy efficiency
Ventilated facade or SATE: two ways to insulate from the outside and keep the rain out
The panel held away from the wall, the air cavity and the insulation behind it: what the Spanish Building Code asks of a ventilated facade and why it stops rain differently from SATE.
7 minRead itFacades and restoration
Salt deposits on walls: where they come from and why paint won’t hide them
Where the salt comes from, why it crystallises under the paint until it lifts it, and why the water has to be stopped before treating it.
7 minRead itGotelé and skimming
Wallpaper over gotelé: what the data sheets ask for before you hang it
What paste data sheets and hanging guides demand of the wall, and why gotelé, distemper and coastal damp fall short.
7 minRead itInsulation and energy efficiency
Insulating walls from inside: dry lining, thickness and condensation
Dry lining from inside with a panel data sheet and the Building Code condensation document: the centimetres, the cold wall behind and the vapour barrier.
8 minRead itDecorative painting
Lime paint: advantages, drawbacks and how it is applied
Lime paint according to two current data sheets: mould, the surface, curing time and rubbing.
8 minRead itInteriors and prices
Anti-mould paint: what it does and when painting is not enough
What the preservative in an anti-mould paint does, the 80% limit in the Building Code and why mould returns to the same corner.
8 minRead itInteriors and prices
Painting bathroom and kitchen tiles: where it lasts and where it does not
What the data sheets of three tile enamels say, and where a painted tile does not hold up.
7 minRead itDecorative painting
Types of stucco: how to recognise each one by eye and by touch
Lime or resin, then the grain: the map of stucco finishes from what their data sheets say, and how to recognise the one on your wall.
8 minRead itInsulation and energy efficiency
Thermal paint: how much it really insulates and where it works
What the data sheets of thermal paints say, and why reflecting the sun on a roof is not the same as insulating a wall.
8 minRead itFacades and restoration
The ITE in Málaga: what it checks in your building and what happens if it fails
Who it applies to, what the surveyor looks at and which deadlines run when it fails, with the Málaga by-law in hand.
8 minRead itGotelé and skimming
Types of gotelé: how to recognise yours and what changes when it comes off
The relief decides the job as much as the material: how many coats of filler it takes and why two identical flats do not cost the same.
7 minRead it