Natural Stone and Walls in Santa Bárbara

In Santa Bárbara de Nexe practically everything built sits on terraces, and the retaining wall is the structural element we find most often and most often badly built. Handsome walls with no drain and no gravel behind them always end the same way: they belly out after a few winters and come down.

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Santa Bárbara, as seen by the people who work there

Santa Bárbara de Nexe is villa country with a view — halfway up the slope between Faro and the barrocal, where a lot of people built the house they intend to stay in.

South-facing slopes looking out over the lagoon and the sea, large plots, and a mix of restored traditional houses and good-quality new build. Detached villas on generous plots, many with a pool and retaining walls because of the slope, and a good number with natural stone cladding on the façade.

In Santa Bárbara de Nexe we do a lot of outdoor work — stone, walls, pools and façade maintenance.

What we find in Santa Bárbara

Sloping ground means retaining structures

Almost everything built here sits on terraces. Poorly drained retaining walls are the most common structural problem we find in the area.

Natural stone façades needing treatment

Schist and local stone develop efflorescence and green growth on the exposed face. Washing them with the wrong product discolours the stone irreversibly.

Wind and southern exposure

The view has a price: south-facing façades take sun all year round and lower-grade paints lose their colour in two summers.

Natural Stone and Walls: what we do

Façade cladding — Schist, local stone and irregular stone laid with a considered distribution of tones and formats.
Retaining walls — Sized foundation, drain, gravel and drainage membrane behind — built to hold back earth, not just to look right.
Boundary and dividing walls — In dressed stone or dry stone, finished with a coping or an upright capping course.
Terracing and embankments — Restoring old terrace walls and building new ones on sloping ground.
Outdoor steps and paving — Solid stone steps, cobbling and flagstones.
Stone cleaning and treatment — Removal of efflorescence and green growth and application of a water repellent, with the right product for each type of stone.

How the work goes

1
Looking at the ground
With walls, what decides everything is the slope, the soil type and where the water runs.
2
Choosing the stone
We show samples and, wherever possible, finished work — stone in a catalogue photograph is never stone on a wall.
3
Foundation and drainage
The invisible stage, and the one that determines whether the wall lasts decades or years.
4
Laying and finishing
Laying with tones distributed, joints filled and the face cleaned down at the end.

Work in and around this area

Schist façade on a contemporary villa

A whole façade clad in schist strips, set against the white volumes of the rest of the house.

10 photographs

Frequently asked questions about natural stone and walls in Santa Bárbara

Do you actually work in Santa Bárbara, or do you travel in from elsewhere?

We work in Santa Bárbara regularly. We set out from Loulé and get there in about 20 minutes, which means we can come and look at the job without charging for the trip.

What usually goes wrong with this kind of work in Santa Bárbara?

Almost everything built here sits on terraces. Poorly drained retaining walls are the most common structural problem we find in the area. It is the situation we come across most often in Santa Bárbara, and it is why we look at the job before quoting.

Why is my wall bulging?

Almost always for want of drainage. Rainwater builds up behind the wall and the pressure pushes it outwards. Rebuilding with a drain and gravel solves it; filling the crack with cement only delays the collapse.

Does schist need treating?

It is not compulsory, but a colourless water repellent greatly reduces the white efflorescence and the green growth on faces that get little sun. It is repeated after a few years.

What is the difference between natural stone and stone veneer?

Veneer is a thin sheet bonded to the substrate, cheaper and quicker, but with little thickness at corners and junctions. Natural stone laid with real thickness gives genuine depth to the joints and the corners — you notice it most at the arrises.