House Names And Their Description

New houses can have names such as Fiesta, Coral, Carmen, Fortuna, Bellavista, Alba, Neptuno, Perla and Rosa, to name but a few. In agents’ literature these properties usually have a photograph, a plan drawing, a location indicator and a very brief description. The size of the plot, the constructed area, room sizes and the size of the solarium and terrace are all quoted in square metres. The price is stated, but usually on a separate sheet, as it is subject to change. Surprisingly, the original marketing names are retained for many years.

We have grown accustomed to property descriptions such as apartment, terrace, town house, semi detached, detached and bungalow. In Spain property descriptions have to cross several different languages, losing some of their meaning in the process. The main descriptive terms are usually: apartment, linked (another name for terraced), town house, duplex, corner duplex, corner bungalow, semi detached, and detached (which includes bungalow). The word ‘villa’ is often used to describe a ‘house’. The words ‘chalet style’ indicate a porch with a roof overhang.

In house building terminology, the phrase ‘duplex’ means a house with an internal staircase built on two levels and a corner duplex is a grouping of four houses, each on two floors, joined together in a rectangle. Similarly a corner bungalow is a grouping of four single storey houses joined in a rectangle. Occasionally a block of homes are built together comprising six, eight or even twelve units, in all different sizes and configurations. Although they are known by their individual names, they are mainly apartments.

The Building Specification

A modern Spanish house is built to a high specification with little wood used in its construction. It is a strong property, of concrete and brick, which tends to carry sound easily. This noisy characteristic is at its worst in apartments, terraced and corner duplex constructions where sound travels easily through the concrete floors. Water pipes are set unobtrusively in the walls which may cause problems should they leak. A major property selling feature is achieved by having a low maintaince finish on both inside and outside walls.

Although they may vary in different parts of the country, Spanish houses are designed to achieve coolness in summer, partly through the use of window shutters to block out the hot summer sunlight. Let’s look at a typical, new property specification.

• Tiling in the kitchen from floor to ceiling.
• Tiling in the bathrooms from floor to ceiling.
• Ceramic floor tiles throughout the property.
• Brick masonry work with air gap insulation.
• Exterior low maintenance wall finish in cement roughcast or small marble chippings.
• Sloping roofs made with partitions forming the slope, ceramic bricks and cement mortar finish with curved roof tiles.
• Flat terraces fitted with ceramic terrace tiles.
• Shutters on windows.
• Interior walls to be finished in white low maintenance plastic paint, known as Gotele style.
• Fitted kitchen units (top and bottom), worktops, stainless steel sink. Electric points for cooker, fan extractor, fridge and washing machine.
• Interior carpentry lacquered to natural colours with exterior door to 40 mm thickness and interior doors to 35 mm thickness.
• Copper plumbing installation with hot and cold. National sanitary fitments of a high standard. Sewerage pipes of PVC set in concrete.
• Reinforced foundations.
• Internal cabling for telephone and television
• Optional extras can include more electrical points, heating or air conditioning and security grilles on all windows and doors.