Villa façades

Choosing the façade material

Each material has its own look, weight and upkeep. These are the common choices and what to watch for with each:

Many of the best façades combine two or three: granite on the plinth, stone or marble at the entrance and projecting elements, and paint or GRC elsewhere.

Fixing: mechanical or adhesive?

Adhesive suits small, thin, light pieces at low level on sound render. Mechanical fixing suits large, heavy slabs and anything high up, because a piece of stone falling from a façade is a safety matter, not a cosmetic one.

Mechanical fixing means each slab is carried on stainless steel anchors fixed into the structure — kerf cuts in the slab edge, dowels or undercut anchors in the back — sometimes with an air gap behind the stone in what is called a ventilated façade. On some façades, adhesive is combined with mechanical safety anchors.

• If bonded: a cement-based adhesive rated for exterior use and for the stone’s weight, covering the whole back of the slab, never scattered dabs of mortar that leave voids for water.
• Movement joints at each floor level and around openings, filled with a flexible sealant that will not stain the stone.
• A drip groove under sills, cornices and wall copings, so water does not run down the face and leave streaks.
• A setting-out drawing before cutting, so the joints line up with windows and corners.

Façades by the sea

Salt, damp, sun and wind together are the harshest conditions a façade faces, and the difference between one that lasts and one that does not is usually in the hidden details.

Ordinary fixings rust, and rust expands inside the stone, cracking it and leaving brown stains on its face. So on the North Coast we use 316 stainless steel fixings, hot-dip galvanised steel for any supporting frame, and seaside-class powder coating on aluminium.

Choose a dense, low-absorption stone for surfaces that face the sea directly, protect it with a breathable treatment, and wash off the salts that appear on the surface with water, not acid. For paint, use an exterior system made for coastal conditions, not interior paint on an outside wall.

Exterior lighting

Lighting makes the façade at night, and it has to be planned before the cladding goes on, not after:

• Plan cable routes and boxes before the stone is fixed; cutting into finished stone is hard and leaves marks.
• Uplights or grazing light across the stone bring out its texture, with light at entrances and steps for safety.
• Fittings sealed against water and dust and rated for outdoor use, with corrosion-resistant metals near the sea.
• One warm white across the whole façade, and angles that do not dazzle neighbours or passers-by.

Permits and compound rules

Before you change a façade’s materials, colours or form, ask the authority responsible. The procedure differs with the property’s location and the kind of work, so we do not state a general rule here.

If the villa is outside a compound, check with the district office or the city authority that covers it and ask what is needed before you start. If it is inside a compound, go to the compound management and its rules; many compounds set requirements on exterior appearance, colours and materials, and may ask for drawings and samples before approving.

Make this the first step, before ordering stone or making any piece, so you are not forced to change work already done.

Stone supply only

Yes, supply-only is available. If you have your own installer, or prefer to buy the stone alone, you can choose from a catalogue of 94 Egyptian stones — marble, granite, quartz and onyx — and visit the showroom in El Deresa, Alexandria.

If you want supply and installation together, the stone is templated, cut and installed by the same team, so responsibility does not get lost between whoever cut it and whoever fixed it. If your façade needs a material that is not in the catalogue, such as certain façade stones or GRC pieces, ask us about it when we survey.

Itmam and façades

We visit the villa and measure the façade, then give you a written, itemised quotation before work starts: the material, its size, thickness and surface finish, the fixing method and anchors, and the joints, drips and protection.

Metalwork and stone tops are made in our own workshops, and on the North Coast we hold to the specification we write for the sea: 316 stainless steel, hot-dip galvanised steel and marine-grade hardware.

On a finishing contract you pay each supplier directly and the tax invoice is in your name; our fee for supervision and execution is agreed in writing before we begin. We work in Alexandria, on the North Coast and in New Cairo, and elsewhere in Egypt when the job suits us.