In Boliqueime the stone wall is part of the landscape: old dry stone terraces that have held back earth for decades and now need rebuilding. It is genuine dry stone work, where every piece has to fit against its neighbours without mortar — slower and at a different price, but it is what the land calls for.
We get there in about 15 minutes · Free site visit and quote
Boliqueime is barrocal country: houses scattered across hillsides, smallholdings with almond and carob trees, and a lot of old building stock that has never been properly touched.
Gentle hills between the mountains and the coast, with scattered settlement and dirt tracks serving many of the properties. Traditional country houses and restored smallholdings, barrel-tile roofs on timber structures, stone walls holding up terraces, and farm outbuildings converted into living space.
In Boliqueime we are called out mainly for roofs and stonework — cleaning and repairing coverings before the first rains, and building or rebuilding walls.
This is where we find the most roofs covered in moss and lichen. Barrel tiles laid without an underlay let water through as soon as one piece cracks or slips, and the problem only shows up when the stain reaches the ceiling.
Many terraces are held by dry stone walls decades old. With no drainage behind them, rainwater pushes and the wall bellies out until it comes down. Rebuilding is a mason's job, not ordinary blockwork.
There are properties a materials lorry cannot reach. We allow for that when quoting, with a transfer into a smaller vehicle.
With walls, what decides everything is the slope, the soil type and where the water runs.
We show samples and, wherever possible, finished work — stone in a catalogue photograph is never stone on a wall.
The invisible stage, and the one that determines whether the wall lasts decades or years.
Laying with tones distributed, joints filled and the face cleaned down at the end.
We work in Boliqueime regularly. We set out from Loulé and get there in about 15 minutes, which means we can come and look at the job without charging for the trip.
This is where we find the most roofs covered in moss and lichen. Barrel tiles laid without an underlay let water through as soon as one piece cracks or slips, and the problem only shows up when the stain reaches the ceiling. It is the situation we come across most often in Boliqueime, and it is why we look at the job before quoting.
We do; it is the traditional technique of the barrocal and the most suitable for terracing. It takes longer to build because every stone has to fit against its neighbours, and that is reflected in the quote.
It is priced by square metre of visible face, and what changes it most is the type of stone, the height of the wall and whether it is a retaining or a boundary wall. A retaining wall needs a foundation and drainage that a boundary wall does not.
Stonework is slow by nature, because every piece is laid by hand and chosen for its place. A boundary wall of a few metres takes days; a retaining wall of any height takes weeks, counting the foundation and the curing time.
Tell us what you need and we will come and look. We get there in about 15 minutes and the visit is free.
