Cyprus-Forum.com

[samuelpepys]

Having recently returned from cyprus, i was amazed at the lack of guttering around the houses,not being a builder i asked a builder friend about this when i got back, having been to cyprus himself he said that the houses are probably built on a concrete raft, and because the roof overshoots the walls by 600mm, when it does rain the water simply goes underneath the concrete raft and undermines the whole structure, therefore making the houses prone to subsidence.
If this is the case ,why dont the developers install guttering when building,especially as you seem to have a water problem and the rain water could be stored and used for the toilet,garden,driveways etc.
Please enlighten me

[Cheshire Cat]

We had a house built in Cyprus and had to INSIST that we had guttering, it did not come as part of the building, they are available, so it is not that. I think that it is more a case of because there is so little rain no-one bothers.

[samuelpepys]

thanks for the reply, but is it true the houses are built on a concrete raft, ialso noticed a few of the houses had large cracks on their parthenon style fronts, do you have any idea why this would happen if as you say they hardly have any rain? could this be due to poor building practice

[cyprusgrump]

We added gutters post-build...

[purdey]

I am no builder but I believe most houses are built on a concrete raft. I viewed some new builds at Alassa over the weekend and 3 out of 4 had minor cracking to the outside render, more in line with movement than quick drying render. The houses are built on a small hillock which in my mind moves on a regular basis.
I put up guttering after my renovations (stone build) and for the first winter collected the rainwater, unfortunately this only attracted mossies, now we just let it run through the garden.

[Cheshire Cat]

thanks for the reply, but is it true the houses are built on a concrete raft, ialso noticed a few of the houses had large cracks on their parthenon style fronts, do you have any idea why this would happen if as you say they hardly have any rain? could this be due to poor building practice

Not sure what a concrete raft is but I know that our foundations we not very deep, As you know Cyprus is prone to earthquakes and that could explain the cracks.

[samuelpepys]

I did not realise you had earthquakes, mein gott earthquakes, drought, i thought it was meant to be a pleasure living in the sun

[Cheshire Cat]

Yes there is a fault line a few miles out to sea, I think it runs along side the coast near Limassol and paphos. Nothing dramatic though.

[samuelpepys]

I hope the palm beach hotel in larnaca is safe until my next visit, i would hate it to be another atlantis

[Cheshire Cat]

I don't think it will fall into the sea just yet LOL !!!