Maintenance checklist for a beachfront home

A house in Banderas Bay needs at least two inspections a year: one between February and May, before the rainy season, and one in November when the season ends. The first is preventive and is the one that avoids the big expense. The second documents the real storm damage while it is still cheap to repair.

The calendar rules

The bay’s rainy season runs June through October and it does not rain evenly: it rains concentrated. A three-hour downpour pushes in more water than a month of drizzle, and it finds every crack that exists.

That defines the working window. Waterproofing needs a dry slab and days to cure, so the real window is February to May. Waterproofing in August is paying for work that will fail.

Before the rains

• Waterproofing: look for blisters, delamination and cracks at parapets and wall junctions.
• Downspouts and drains: clear them, check the fall and run water through to confirm discharge.
• Skylights: check perimeter seals, which is where water gets in nine times out of ten.
• Windows and frames: condition of silicone, weatherstripping and frame drainage.
• Garden: make sure soil level is not above the wall base.
• Cistern: lid sealed and no rainwater infiltration.

After the rains

• Damp stains on ceilings and high corners, even if dry.
• Exterior walls: paint blistering, which almost always means trapped moisture.
• Hardware and window frames: corrosion, especially on ocean-facing elevations.
• Exterior electrical: fixtures, outlets and junction boxes.
• Exterior timber: loss of sealing and discolouration.

Three signs not to ignore

A damp stain that grows month to month. A crack opening diagonally from the corner of a window. And a musty smell in a closet or a closed room. All three mean water is actively getting in, and all three get dramatically cheaper if handled in the same season they appear.

If the house sits empty

The problem with an empty house is not that it deteriorates faster, it is that nobody sees the damage until it is expensive. A leak found after three months may have ruined a whole ceiling; found after three days, it is a bead of sealant.