Stuart Crawford says:

I’m not surprised that many Spanish do not enjoy a good night’s sleep – just look at the abysmal construction that is the norm for this country.

We see young Spanish children playing in the streets at up to 2AM in the summer.

This is not a case of bad parenting but just dealing with the reality of bad building – what do I mean. Simply that the the mean summer temperature in our 12 year old apartment block is 83F – now how can a child sleep in this intense heat.

It is only from about 3AM that the temperature drops and drops quite dramatically and by 8AM is on the rise again.

That is why many of our Spanish friends urged us to look at buying a cave house simply because they have a steady internal temperature of around 18C.

Indeed the eye surgeon who performed the cataract ops for me told me, from mid June until mid September he moves into the old cave house which is just behind his modern home.

Spanish architects are well aware that what they design would never be tolerated in northern Europe.

The very worse thing that you can do with an apartment block is to include balconies and why – steel is a great conductor of heat and what does a balcony have, why lots of of re-inforcing steel – otherwise it would fall down.

So in summer it draws in the heat and in winter the cold. Have you noticed that these idiots build central heating pipes into the outside walls and these walls are built using rubbish cement blocks which have zero insulation value.

As to the so called double glazing – it’s a joke. 6mm between the glass, if it was 20mm it would be something. Most properties are built using sliding panel window construction instead of casement construction. This is just plain crazy. You don’t know what I mean, wait till you get a windy day and put your hand near to where the glass panels meet and feel the breeze.

Just ask a Spanish architect what the average ‘U value’ of his designs are – he either won’t have a clue or will refuse to answer you.

If the Spanish built their apartment blocks to the same standard but not the same design as in Norway, you could guarantee a good night’s sleep.This will never happen.

Optimist says:

Fred says “the Spanish never plan ahead when they build. They just bodge it and leave.”

I say that that is a big generalisation based on his stereotyping of Spanish people. Our Spanish builder did a great job for us and the Spanish plumber we use is second to none, turns up when he says he will, does a professional job and charges a fraction of what the English and German plumbers charge around here.

There are good and bad workmen in every nationality.