Exterior Buildings (in Brazil) Always Dirty.... Why?

Why is it the exterior of buildings in Brazil.... they look terrible. We pay the Condominio, and still the outside is rarely cleaned like in the US or Europe. Salvador, Bahia is the worst. Portugal, same thing....

Anyone know why?

[michaelbush]

Originally Posted by Raimundo

Why is it the exterior of buildings in Brazil.... they look terrible. We pay the Condominio, and still the outside is rarely cleaned like in the US or Europe. Salvador, Bahia is the worst. Portugal, same thing....

Anyone know why?

Is it the humidity - mildew etc that seems to grow very quickly on all but tiled exteriors? maybe builders should take note and adopt better materials and paints to combat the black spot mildew that seems to take hold soon after construction.

Florida has much more humidity than Brazil.... I see the same thing in Lisbon Portugal... but not in Spain. Portugal to Brazil, something in the culture where they don´t maintain building's exterior. Only in super high end buildings like in Leblon do you see good care. You see it all over Brazil; Rio, Bahia, Recife, Natal, BH, SP, Belem.... but less in the south.

[michaelbush]

Originally Posted by Raimundo

Florida has much more humidity than Brazil.... I see the same thing in Lisbon Portugal... but not in Spain. Portugal to Brazil, something in the culture where they don´t maintain building's exterior. Only in super high end buildings like in Leblon do you see good care. You see it all over Brazil; Rio, Bahia, Recife, Natal, BH, SP, Belem.... but less in the south.

The nearer the equator the higher the humidity, hence the black spot mildew takes hold particularly on rendered walls as compared with tiled finishes. Price of construction and therefore the sale price is cheaper if they are not tiled. I used to wonder why all these building were tiled façades. Now I know! Of course, anti mildew paint is much more expensive too! Probably the engineer sustituted "Cal" for quality paint!

[JMBroad]

Who manages your condominium fees for the building?

Normally (In Portugal, Spain, Germany and at least some developments in Brazil) one of the residents is the "president" (which is either always the same or can vary). The President decides how the condominium charges are spent. Possibly the ones in Brazil don't have much interest in keeping the exterior clean (or they want to keep the condominium charges low) so they spend it elsewhere.

Or maybe the owners of the properties got together and discussed it and decided they wanted to keep the charges to a minimum?

Come on guys... can we get a grip?

It's laziness... plain and simple... exteriors of buildings simply are not cleaned like in US or Europe... it's not priority. The Equator has nothing to do with it...and some of the harshest elements outside the north pole is tropical humid weather i.e. the Caribbean, Florida, etc... and in those areas, good managed buildings are maintained. I think in Brazil and all LA, it's simply complacency. Next time you invest, think about how well your building will be maintained.

These buildings are in the best areas of a major city in Brazil....

[debzor]

It also makes a big difference which direction the building faces, and how close to the sea. Another reason - salt...

[Dotty]

I don't mean to ramble on,but if the buildings are'nt tiled then the damp gets in even when builders use the strongest massa for exterior walls.The best is to tile,but it very costly in the short term but is worth it in the long run.Practically all predios in Natal are tiled are are very well maintained and clean.

Dude, where are you guys coming from? For real man...

Buildings exist in every part of the world in front of the Beach. And most high class areas, the exteriors are cleaned often, at least once a year, but in Brazil exteriors of buildings are not maintained, period. You see this everywhere in Latin America but in Brazil more and in Lisbon - Portugal.

A friend owns a Flat in building shown (top right apartment), and as you can see ugly black molding, more than one year later and no signs of exterior cleaning. This resident building is located in the best area of a major city in Brazil and monthly maintenance fees run him $400.00us -/+. His complaints are responded with 'em breve, em breve'. That said, let this serve as a lesson to be sure the maintenance company performs required diligent duties consistently as outlined in the maintenance contract. Otherwise, you’ll have no recourse and your real estate investment could depreciate. Exterior pressure cleaning is cheap and should be performed at least once a year.