# House construction quality



## xgarb (May 6, 2011)

I've been looking at houses in my area and have noticed that quite often houses have been extended with a quality of workmanship of a 5 year old child. 

A friend told me that it doesn't matter because when it's all rendered over it looks fine but to me it looks structurally unsound. I guess these extensions were done before any sort of building regulations in Spain.

I've heard in the UK that a single brick extension will probably cause a problem with getting a mortgage as it's deemed 'uninhabitable' 

The other thing I've noticed is a lot of internal stairs appear to have been built starting at the bottom and then when they don't quite meet something quite dangerous is done to match up the stairs and the floor.

Below are some pics of a house I saw recently. It's such a shame as it has fantastic views and location.

Does this look like something that could be remedied (or just ignored) without a total rebuild?


----------



## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

Blooming heck!! What a mess!!


----------



## VFR (Dec 23, 2009)

What a lash up that is & I have seen nothing like that since living here.
Yes for sure they are not concerned with how it looks visually if it is being rendered, but the construction must always be sound to begin with.


----------



## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

I am no construction expert, but all I can say is that it is a good thing it hadn't been rendered over when you saw it, or you'd never have known what was underneath! I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole.


----------



## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

Lots of campo/pueblo houses look like that under the render. It's a worry - or not depending on your attitude.


----------



## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Looks like (in estate-agent-speak) "ripe for reform!"


----------



## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

Wow! I'd laugh but then again render covers a lot, I'd certainly not like to be on the end of that kind of workmanship.

Makes me think of Wibs' shoddy workmanship thread the other day.
What would you do if you turned up to your builds site to find this?
What can you legally do? 
Pretty sure that is not acceptable.


----------



## davexf (Jan 26, 2009)

Hola

The thing about walls like this is that the render is unlikely to fall off - the rougher the better the render sticks - just saying 

Davexf


----------



## el romeral (May 8, 2012)

Looks like fairly standard Spanish building to me - O'Reilly styleeee.


----------



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

To me they look like typical add ons where the space is used for a garage/ storage/animals, but that was never intended as liiving space


----------



## Helenameva (Aug 15, 2014)

Pesky Wesky said:


> To me they look like typical add ons where the space is used for a garage/ storage/animals, but that was never intended as liiving space


That's a good point. Spaces that were once uninhabitable are now becoming liveable just by adding render and some electrics. It happens a lot in the UK as people want to add value to their houses, and / or make use of valuable space. The coal shed or outside privy becomes part of the kitchen.

The room over our garage here has been converted into a study. It looks nicely done but now you've brought this up I'm not so sure!


----------

