Full home renovations in Almàssera, in the heart of the huerta

Almàssera is a huerta village in l’Horta Nord, home to some 7,500 residents and completely surrounded by the farmland that has fed the comarca for centuries. This is where the tiger nuts (chufa) used to make horchata are grown, along with early potatoes, and the huerta de la Punta still shapes the landscape right up to the edge of the village. It is one of those towns where, within a few metres, you go from the village street to a dirt track between irrigation channels, with the tower of the church of the Santísimo Sacramento presiding over the centre.

That identity as a farming village, right next to Valencia and Alboraya yet with a life of its own, makes a real difference when it comes to renovating. Two worlds coexist in Almàssera: the traditional alquerías and farmhouses —single-storey, with thick walls, a courtyard and a porch, scattered across the municipality— and the more recent flats in the old centre, where much of the village lives. The old huerta building calls for looking first at the structure and the damp; the flat almost always calls for renewing the services and opening up the kitchen to bring in light.

We reach Almàssera from our base in La Eliana, where Batecs has spent three and a half decades renovating homes throughout Valencia and l’Horta. We are not from the village, but we know exactly how this huerta architecture behaves when you lift a floor or break into a wall: where the damp appears, how the ground breathes near the Carraixet and what can be kept from an alquería without spoiling it. That is why we approach every home calmly and methodically, with our own team and a fixed price that tells you from day one what you are going to pay.

What changes here

What makes renovating in Almàssera different

Renovating in a village set deep in the huerta has its own rules. These are the issues that most shape the work and the budget when we take on a home in Almàssera, and that set this farming municipality apart from its neighbour Alboraya or from any flat in the centre of Valencia.

The huerta alquería and its rising damp

The traditional huerta house in Almàssera was built right against the ground, with no damp-proof barrier and on land with the high water table typical of the huerta and of the nearby Carraixet ravine. The result is textbook: damp rising by capillary action, bulging skirtings, paint flaking off and saltpetre at the bottom of the walls. It is not solved by painting over the top; you have to treat the wall at its base, improve ventilation and choose breathable finishes. We diagnose it at the visit and resolve it before closing up floors and finishes, so the work doesn’t have to be redone a few years later.

Thick walls, courtyard and porch

The alquería and the single-storey house in Almàssera usually have thick load-bearing walls, old floor structures and, almost always, a courtyard and a porch facing the huerta that are a gift for gaining light and cross-ventilation. Before touching a partition it pays to know which wall is load-bearing and what state the beams are in; from there, the natural move is to open the living area towards the courtyard and arrange the home around that outdoor space. Modernising without erasing the character of the huerta building —its ceiling height, its relationship with the outdoors— is exactly what we like most about these homes.

Flats in the old centre with worn-out services

In the flats in the old centre of Almàssera, something else takes priority: plumbing and electrics that have run their course, closed-off layouts and small kitchens separated from the living room. Here the renovation pays off enormously by renewing all the services at once, opening up the kitchen to create a generous living area and unifying the home’s flooring so the space can breathe and more light gets in.

Permits from Almàssera Town Hall

Any renovation of any size goes through its procedure at Almàssera Town Hall. Work that doesn’t touch the structure or the façade is usually handled with a responsible declaration or notification; intervening in load-bearing walls, altering façade openings or working on an alquería with heritage value requires a licence and, sometimes, specific conditions. We handle the permits with the council and leave the paperwork in order so your alquería complies with the municipality’s regulations.