As it can be seen on the photos (right), this was processed very poorly. The mould will form on the foil as it´s thermal insulation is far too low and as well on the spots where the foil was not applied on the solid concrete.

Afterwards this insufficient construction was cladded with gypsum board. The result will be mould formation under the gypsum board. An absolutely inappropriate construction for a seagull house in the category that was actually planned.

Photo below

In the kitchen area on the ground floor, the cold bridge, as described earlier consisting of concrete beam and applied aluminium foil, was laminated with 4-5 cm clay brick. This thin clay brick has no considerable thermal insulation, the building physics result is the same as that of cladding with gypsum board.

The same faulty technique was used for the concrete beams on the facade of the upper floor, with results as described above.

All walls were built in the usual spanish construction style, with all their constructive disadvantages. A broad external wall with poorly insulating perforated brick.

Air gap with set insulating wall panel. Thin internal shell with perforated brick.

This construction is very unfavorable for several reasons:

The insulation wall panel is only set and not fixed during brick laying.

The connection between the insulation panels is not airtight. The result is that the air can circulate between the airlayers before and behind the insulation panels and a heat insulation is not being given.

As the supporting masonry is outside, all primary structures have to be load on the external masonry. If the structures are not insulated meticulously, they will convert automatically into thermal bridges. The inner facing wythe of thin bricks resonates with airborne sound due to its low mass and passes the airborne sound on to all adjoining structures.

Colloquially summarized: the wall construction does not insulate, it provokes cold bridges and sound bridges.

All ceilings over the ground floor have been created with concrete beams and suspended hollow concrete blocks as its common on Mallorca.

These ceilings have a very low deadweight. For this construction project the floating screed was not realised and in context this means that the impact sound insulation and the air-borne sound insulation for this seagull house will not even meet the minimum requirements of a simple German family home.

All steps in the building were built with brick, instead of as common concreting the steps together with the step panel.

The result is that in the long run cracks on the transition between the single steps will form as the mortar of the brick-layed steps does not guarantee a sufficient connection with the concrete step panel. Furthermore two individual materials which react differently collide here.

The marvel surfacing on the landing of the upper floor was mortared directly on the base course, without impact sound insulation and without floor heating. Should there be a floor heating under the surfacing, the surfacing will form cracks as there is no continuous expansion joint.

As it can be seen very well on the photo of the Structural Damage Surveyor, the floor surfacing of the intermediate landing was carried out in the same construction.

Marvel directly on mortar, under the mortar concrete. As least on the photos of the cross-section of the concrete slab, no floor heating and no thermal insulation can be recognized.

The grey beam that can be seen on the photo of the Surveyor is the ring beam. On this ring beam the white roof beams, which can be seen a bit more to the top, should rest. But they lie on the masonry. Here one can not speak of a force-fitted connection between the roof construction and masonry.

On the photo for the structural damage survey it can be seen that the ring beam was placed to low and has no insulation and the rafters on top only rest on the masonry.

On another spot, the same principle: as the concrete was too low or the wood beam to high, there was simply placed a piece of wood (on the photo you can even recognize a nail which is still there) instead of filling with concrete.

One of the common defects and well known for Surveyors on Mallorca can be recognized on this photo of the Structural Damage Survey: the sunken shower of the Seagull house on the upper floor. These kind of defects can only be avoided by detailed planning and intensive construction supervision.

To the right the mosaic tiled floor can be seen and below the single-storey drain.

The constructional defect is the following: the floor sealing has to be placed under the tiles at the side and also in a sufficient area all around the shower. It has to be connected tightly and with inclination to a two-storey drain. No floor sealing was processed so far, only the screed and the single-storey drain can be seen.

During showering the humidity will penetrate the joints of the mosaic tiles, and over time pass on the humidity to the wall and the ceiling below.

Corresponding to the detail of the spanish construction documentation as displayed in the structural damage survey, the roof construction should contain an insulation with 4 cm polystyrene. This would mean a K-value of 0,8 - 1,0 for the roof.

With the big roof surface and the big ceiling heights the question arises if this building can be heated in winter and how much would be the heating costs?

Based on the relatively thin roof structure, it is likely that 4 cm polystyrene was used indeed for roof insulation. The roof construction was probably proceeded as follows:

Supporting concrete layer on the clay brick. On top 4 cm polystyrene and on top a layer of screed with sealing. This layer of screed is obviously too thin and is already forming cracks as it can be seen on various photos of the roof surface.

It can be seen clearly on the Survey photo of the roof opening over the carport that a black line is forming. This is where the screed cracked. It is the top of the lower edge of the screed layer which lies on the thermal insulation. Dirt becomes attached to the crack and marks the black line.

Broken roof tiles on the edging simply were glued together instead of exchanging them. On the roof over the bedroom on the ground floor, the creative crack formation of the screed can be seen very well.

Also concrete walls which are in the soil, have to be protected against the humidity of the soil. Even more as the plot is located on the seaside and therefore in an aggressive ambience.

This wall has not received a protective coat.

The drain plating which is placed in the soil before the masonry, needs to be placed with the knobs facing to the masonry. This allow the water to flow down the hollow spaces and avoid ground water. The plate is placed the wrong way round and is therefore non-effective except for a protection against the building rubble.

Also here and on the right side of the photo (it is the upper kitchen wall) the drain plate was placed the wrong way round. It is ineffective and this increases the risk of moisture penetrating the walls in the soil, in the areas of storage rooms and kitchen on the ground floor of the seagull house. The drain panel recoils behind the plaster, which means that there is no sealing plaster under the drain panel and very likely also no sealing coat, as shown in the previous photo.

Acknowledgement:

Finally I would also like to thank the construction team which tried to finish the seagull house (certainly for more favorable fees than mine), even though they knew that the principal did not pay me.

Thank you also for the many positive statements at the trial.