Guides
What to do first, written for the houses of this municipality
Short, practical notes on the doors of this municipality: getting found on a street that is half in Murcia, the first weeks in a new build, a villa lock as old as the house, sand in a terrace slider, and what to keep for the insurer. Each one ends with who to call.
Finding the door
- Half in Murcia: giving an address in El Mojón
The boundary between two regions runs through the middle of El Mojón, and some of its streets belong to two different town halls. How to say where you are so that help finds the right door.
4 min read
- Lo Ferrer, Los Gracia, Lo Romero: reading the place names
Half the places in the countryside of Pilar de la Horadada are called after a family, and the municipality has three postcodes. A short guide to describing where a house is, so a stranger can find it at night.
5 min read
New homes
- Handover day: the doors and locks to test before you sign
The snagging list for a new home is usually all paint and tiles. Here are the door and lock items to add to it, how to test each one in a couple of minutes, and who should put each fault right.
6 min read
- The trastero and the garage: whose lock is it?
Many new flats and bungalows come with a storeroom and a garage space, each with a lock of its own. Which locks are yours to change, which belong to the community, and what to do when the storeroom will not open.
4 min read
- The memoria de calidades: what it says about your front door
Every new-build sale in Spain comes with a quality specification. A few of its lines are about the front door and its lock. What those lines usually mean, and what to ask while there is still time.
5 min read
Older houses
- A Campoverde villa from the 1980s: is the lock as old as the house?
Pinar de Campoverde began to fill with villas in the mid-1980s, and some front doors still carry the lock they were hung with. How to tell whether yours has had its day, and what replacing it involves.
5 min read
- The safe came with the house, and nobody left the code
A safe bolted into a wardrobe, no code, no key, and the previous owners long gone. What to look for first, what to have ready to show it is yours, and how it gets opened and reset.
4 min read
By the sea
- Summer Wednesdays in La Torre: the market and a call-out
On Wednesday evenings in July and August the market takes over Avenida de la Costa Blanca. If you are locked out of a house or a car nearby, a few details make the difference between a quick visit and a long one.
4 min read
- Sand in the track: the beach-side slider that will not lock
A terrace slider a short walk from the beach at Mil Palmeras or La Torre collects sand and salt until the hook lock stops catching. What you can safely clean yourself, and when it needs someone with the right parts.
5 min read
When things go wrong
- After a break-in: what the locksmith's note should say
Insurers want to know how the door was forced and what it cost to put right. What a locksmith's written note should record, the photos to take before anything is touched, and the papers to keep together.
5 min read
Standing at the door right now?
Then skip the reading: ring, or send a photo of the lock on WhatsApp.
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