Bricklayer & Masonry in Sintra

Sintra is a harder place to build in than the rest of the region, and anyone who has owned a house on the serra knows why. The microclimate keeps walls damp for much of the year, rain runs off the hillside in volume, and the older quintas and village houses are built of stone with lime mortar and were never meant to be sealed up. Arranja Já covers Sintra vila, Estefânia, São Pedro de Penaferrim, Portela de Sintra, Colares and Monte Santos. The historic centre is classified, so external appearance and materials are regulated, and structural work needs a technician's project plus a licence from the câmara municipal.

25K+

Interventions

4.8

Average rating

98%

Satisfaction

10+

Years experience

About our service in Sintra

The substrate decides everything here, and in Sintra the substrate is usually damp stone. A wall of rubble stone bedded in lime absorbs moisture and releases it through its surfaces, and the moment you cover it with a cement render you close the escape route: moisture accumulates behind the render, forces it off in plates, and travels up the wall to appear somewhere new. On this kind of building we use lime-based mortars and finishes that keep the wall permeable, and we resist the temptation to make the surface as hard as possible. We also look at what is feeding the damp before we touch the finish — a blocked gutter, water running off a slope straight against a wall, a paved area that has raised the ground level against the masonry, a spring line that has always been there. Drainage and hard landscaping make up much of the outdoor work. On sloping plots and in the quintas around Colares we rebuild garden and boundary walls, repoint stonework whose joints have washed out, reset steps that have dropped, and relay paths and paved areas so that surface water is directed away from the house rather than towards it. Getting the fall right on a terrace or a path is not decoration in Sintra; it is often the difference between a dry wall and a persistent problem indoors. Where a terrace sits over habitable space we lay a proper waterproofing system beneath the surface, form the upstands and take the water to an outlet that can actually cope. Indoors, the requests are ordinary enough: tiling, levelling floors, rebuilding an opening, and the making good after a plumber or an electrician that most people cannot find anyone to do. Outbuildings and annexes on the older properties come up too, and there we are frank about limits. Repairing walls, rendering and paving are our work; taking down or opening up anything that carries load, or altering a roof structure, requires a technician's project and municipal authorisation, and on a classified building the external result is regulated as well. We survey, quote in writing with no obligation, and agree the timescale before starting. We work Monday to Saturday, 9am to 8pm, closed on Sunday.

What we take on for Sintra properties:

Services Included

Lime rendering and repointing on damp stone and mixed masonry walls
Garden and boundary walls, including rebuilt sections and copings
Steps, paths and paved areas laid to drain water away from the house
Waterproofing of terraces and flat surfaces over habitable rooms
Interior tiling and making good after plumbing and electrical work

Areas We Serve

We work in Sintra vila, Estefânia, São Pedro de Penaferrim, Portela de Sintra, Colares and Monte Santos.

Sintra vilaSão Pedro de PenaferrimEstefâniaPortela de SintraColaresMonte Santos

Work Gallery

Rating

4.8

(4+ reviews)

Response within 2h
Verified professionals
Satisfaction guaranteed

Guarantee

Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back, and where a repair has not held up to the conditions on the serra, we return to put it right.

Hours

Mon-Sat: 9am-8pm

Sunday: Closed

Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back, and where a repair has not held up to the conditions on the serra, we return to put it right.

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions from owners of houses and quintas around Sintra:

Every render I have had applied falls off within a couple of years. What am I doing wrong?

Most likely nothing, beyond the choice of material. A stone wall that stays damp for much of the year has to breathe, and a cement render stops it, so moisture builds up behind the coating and pushes it away from the wall. Lime-based mortars let the same wall dry outwards, which is why they last on this kind of building. Alongside that, we deal with whatever is keeping the wall wet, because no finish survives a permanent water supply.

Water runs off the hillside and pools against the back of my house. Can masonry help?

Often it is the main part of the answer. Regrading a paved area so it falls away from the wall, rebuilding a threshold, forming a channel or a drain along the base of the building, and lowering ground that has been built up against the masonry all reduce what the wall has to absorb. We assess where the water actually comes from and goes on the visit, because getting that wrong just moves the problem to a different wall.

My property is in the classified part of Sintra. What does that mean for building work?

It means the exterior is regulated: the appearance of the building, the materials used on it and elements such as joinery are subject to control, and what is permitted varies from one part of the area to another. The câmara municipal is where you confirm what applies to your address. Independently of that, anything affecting structure requires a project from a qualified technician and a municipal licence. We do not handle those applications for you.