Corroded metal railings and rusted fixings on a Mallorcan sea-front terrace above bare rock

Renovation in Illetes

Building this close to open water is mostly a materials question. Salt reaches everything, it never stops, and it decides how long the parts of a property that are not stone will survive. Tell us what the property is and the request goes to renovation and building companies used to working on the coast.

Concrete balcony edge on the Mallorcan coast with spalled cover and corroded reinforcement

Salt is the specification

Metalwork is where it shows first. Balustrades, gates, brackets, hinges, screws and the fixings behind a rendered wall all corrode faster within sight of the water than they do a kilometre inland, and the difference between a grade of stainless that lasts and one that streaks rust down a wall in two winters is small on a quote and large afterwards.

Concrete is where it costs most. Where reinforcement corrodes it expands, and expanding steel breaks the concrete around it off in sheets. On terraces, balconies and exposed slabs of a certain age that is the single most common repair here, and it is not a surface job: the affected steel has to be exposed, treated and covered properly, or the same patch fails again from behind.

Everything else follows the same logic. Window frames and their hardware, external lighting, pool fittings, air conditioning units and anything mechanical outdoors are all specified for the exposure or replaced early. It is worth asking any company quoting the work to say what grade it is using and why, because that answer separates the prices more than the labour does.

What tends to need attention nearest the water

  • Balustrades, railings and gates, and the grade of metal in them
  • Concrete repair where reinforcement has expanded and spalled
  • Fixings buried behind render, which fail out of sight
  • Window and door hardware, hinges and running gear
  • External lighting and anything with a circuit board outdoors
  • Rendering and paint systems chosen for the exposure
  • Terraces and balconies, and the falls and waterproofing under them
  • Air conditioning condensers, which corrode where they stand
  • Excavation into rock, where a level has to be cut rather than dug
  • Glazing specified for wind and salt as well as for the view

Most asked for on this stretch

Villa renovation

The whole property, on a plot that usually steps down to the water.

Structural work

Concrete repair, and terraces that have moved with what is under them.

General builders

Mixed repair across trades, which is most coastal maintenance.

Nearby areas

Bendinat

Hillside villas of a certain age, with wiring and pipework of the same age.

Palma

Flats and town houses behind a facade nobody may widen, down streets a lorry will not enter.

Portals Nous

Terraced plots above the marina, where the crane decides the programme.

How your request reaches a company

Mallorca Renovation is a comparison service. A request for a renovation near the sea goes to the renovation and building companies on our list; they quote the work and carry it out, and any agreement is between you and the company you pick.

  1. 01

    Describe the job

    Tell us the property, roughly what you want and where it is. Photographs and a rough plan help, though neither is required.

  2. 02

    We match it

    The request goes to companies that work in your area and take on this kind of job at this size.

  3. 03

    They quote you

    Each company contacts you directly with its own price, timing and approach. We do not set any of it.

  4. 04

    You compare and choose

    Put the quotes side by side and take the one you want, or none of them. Using the site costs you nothing.

Why does new metalwork rust so quickly here?

Usually because the grade is wrong for the exposure rather than because the work was poor. Specifications that are perfectly adequate inland streak and pit within sight of open water, and the upgrade costs very little at the point of ordering and a great deal afterwards.

What is the concrete flaking off my terrace?

Most often reinforcement below it that has corroded and expanded. It is a repair rather than a resurface: the steel has to be reached, cleaned and given proper cover again, and a patch applied over the top of it will lift in the same place.

Is it worth replacing window hardware rather than the windows?

Sometimes, and it depends what has failed. Frames often outlast their running gear here, so the hinges, handles and mechanisms can be the whole problem. It is a cheap thing to have looked at before pricing a full replacement.

Get quotes for coastal renovation work

Describe the property once and let several companies price the same specification.

Mallorca Renovation