Construction quality in Argentina

There are 22 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 2,687 times. The latest Post (September 3, 2026 at 10:36 PM) was by Rice.

    After a month in Italy, in my mother's home in a 10,000 inhabitants town some 50 km from Milan, I came to appreciate the construction quality in Italy. Oddly enough, most Italian immigrants were employed in construction in Argentina. Still, I find the construction quality lacking overseas. From poor insulation to lack of ventilation. I am sleeping very well here, whereas in Argentina I always get up with backaches, despite having changed mattress, bedframe and countless pillows. I came to the conclusion that it is the poor insulation of our bedroom.

    We are on the last floor and the roof is made of tin (or so it seems to me), there is no space between the roof and the ceiling (I don't mean a whole penthouse, just some space). The windows are barebone metal with just one glass.

    I have been browsing property ads on ZonaProp and I am appalled at the price of properties which are lesser quality than an average apartment in Italy.

    200-300-400k USD for a house where rooms have no windows, doors and windows are the same they were 100+ years ago (definitely provide charm... bur comfort?!), no heating, etc.

    Maybe I should be looking to make upgrade to our current apartment, as other properties seems not worth the splurge of money. Not to mention that my hubby is not keen on spending that much money on a house to live, since it is just the two of us. Thoughts? I think GlasgowJohn has lived both in the city and in new buildings in gated communities and should have a grasp of the construction quality in Argentina.

    The missus always says if you want a quality built house contract a good architect and build one. However it won't come cheap. The old houses were well built however time has caught up with most of them. Ours is a right PITFA to maintain.

    Quote from serafina

    The windows are barebone metal with just one glass.

    They do now have high quality and efficient PVC framed windows with double pane glass. They are common enough from a number of mid size Argentine manufacturers. The colors and texture are simulated to look like wood. Much better latches and secure lock mechanisms. Different than the first phase of plastic/PVC that I remember in USA many years ago, that became brittle and cracked after time. A great replacement to the more common aluminum with single frame glass.

    Quote from aficionado

    They do now have high quality and efficient PVC framed windows with double pane glass. They are common enough from a number of mid size Argentine manufacturers. The colors and texture are simulated to look like wood. Much better latches and secure lock mechanisms. Different than the first phase of plastic/PVC that I remember in USA many years ago, that became brittle and cracked after time. A great replacement to the more common aluminum with single frame glass.

    We're planning on getting our crappy windows replaced but double glazing is still very expensive here.

    I am glad we have this thread still open, as I wanted to ask forum member about humidity and housing in Argentina.

    We have lived in 3 apartments across 12 years, and each one had humidity issues in winter. Even our STR, which was built less than 3 years ago, has humidity issues around the windows. The one facing the balcony is covered from the rain and has less of it, but the bedroom window gets covered in mold because of condensation on the glass, too.

    We had the same issue in the two apartments we lived in in San Isidro, which were all recent (less than 8 years old). This happened especially in the bedroom, likely because of the temperature dropping at night, the curtain "stopping" the air circulation, resulting in condensation on the glass + mold around the frame.

    I am wondering if it is the poor construction quality issue, or if we were just unlucky three times in a row. Even our current home has humidity issues in the bedroom/solarium, due to the thin glass (the solarium has a glass roof that gets covered in drops sometimes) but also because we think the roofing doesn't cover 100% of the wall. My husband spends his free time coating in wet-resistant paint the exposed bits, but it doesn't change much.

    Do you experience the same issue in your homes?

    Yes, we've had damp problems in all the houses we've lived in, mainly because of poor quality materials and/or workmanship.

    In the next few weeks the last two windows will be replaced with double glazed units. These are in the kitchen and following that, I'll be having the door replaced because it's dropped (hinges not strong enough) and no longer closes properly in wet weather (long story).

    These aluminium windows in our kitchen are about 40 years old and fugly! Also, if you look closely in the top left you'll see an angled gap in the top of the door.

    Quote from UK Man

    Our 6th floor apartment in BA doesn't seem to suffer a humidity problem even though we're hardly ever there to ventilate it.

    We don't have mold or humidity issues in the STR when it is vacated. The issue appears when people live in, have heating on, breathe and cook inside. I though that air conditioned helped keeping the rooms dry, but it appears it is not the case. We also don't know about their ventilation habits. We do ventilate our apartment as much as possible every morning.

    Quote from Splinter

    Yes, we've had damp problems in all the houses we've lived in, mainly because of poor quality materials and/or workmanship.

    In the next few weeks the last two windows will be replaced with double glazed units. These are in the kitchen and following that, I'll be having the door replaced because it's dropped (hinges not strong enough) and no longer closes properly in wet weather (long story).

    These aluminium windows in our kitchen are about 40 years old and fugly! Also, if you look closely in the top left you'll see an angled gap in the top of the door.

    That's reassuring. Our current guest is going banana over humidity. We gave him a digital temperature / humidity measure and he was complaining that it was 70% humid yesterday - that's the humidity we had yesterday outside, too. I understand his disappointment and I complain about it myself in regard to our own apartment, but it seems just the way it is here.

    When we installed the double glazed windows downstairs in our home, we stopped having condensation downstairs. However, it was a major work, as we had to take out all the existing frame, redo the concrete wall frame and then have the new window installed with modern materials for insulation (polyurethane expanding foam around the frame). It was a 4,000+ USD work, and we aren't going to spend that amount of money in the STR for an issue that appears only a few months per year.

    At the STR, the windows are aluminium. Our new window is a sort of plastic (there is a technical term I can't recall). This also helps, imo.

    Quote from serafina

    At the STR, the windows are aluminium. Our new window is a sort of plastic (there is a technical term I can't recall). This also helps, imo.

    You should ignore Airbnb tenant complaints that are excessive serafina . If they do not have a multiyear contract with you, then they are free to leave.

    I believe all these modern style hard plastic windows and doors are called uPVC (Unplasticized Polyvinyl Chloride). That is what we used when we replaced all our windows and doors after a complete rehab. It is the only thing I will ever consider. Unlike old PVC and Vinyl which were a more flexible and possibly brittle.

    Though in Argentina they seem to mostly highlight these uPVC windows because they are DVH (Doble Vidrio Hermético) as the special double glazing in the hard PVC windows. I do not know exactly, but maybe DVH is not an option on even the newer quality aluminum windows. The air gap might be bigger. The glass and the inner gasket can be repaired onsite.

    I think this may be what we have. The seller's webpage describes it simply as PVC with DVH. The frame is by Rehau, which is a German brand, although I am not sure if they are made here or imported and cut to measure in Argentina.

    We are very happy with our window and I also wanted to install the same in the solarium. However, the seller said they don't do glass roofs.

    Our tenant has left and has come back after less than 24 hours. Then we had another reservation. so they had to leave again and are now back once more. We have another 4-day booked with another guest further down in September, so they will leave again. We don't know if they'll be back afterwards. It seems that when it is time to commit, they are vague. When it is time to wait, they want it all immediately.

    I agree with GlasgowJohn on this one - from day 1, it seems they didn't research Argentina at all before travelling across the country. First it was cold (well, it's winter), then it was not enough hangers in the bathroom (we bought a door hanger for clothes), and no hangers for coats (bought one on ML and installed in 2 days), the slippers (we don't provide those - we didn't budge on that), then humidity. Let's not forget they complained there was no shoe cabinet!

    When they left to go elsewhere, they asked my husband to help them move because she was pregnant. He did, and the next morning they called to come back, so my husband went to pick them again.

    However, we had other guests coming in on the next day (the marathon runners) so it was just one more night. They asked to cancel on the other guests (!!!). We didn't, so they came back for one night, left, and now came back. Also, we had agreed for a date (28) and on the 26 they asked to come again on the 27th. We said the runners were leaving at 3 PM and they complained that our checkout time is 10 AM and asked to push out the runners (!!). Unlucky for us, the day after they moved back in, it was Santa Rosa storm. I hope the weather will be nice, dry and sunny until they leave in September.

    Also, when they moved elsewhere, they pretended to have a vacuum cleaner available. I think small budget and Latin America don't go hand in hand with 1st world comfort.


    EazyClean Door Hangers for Clothes, Over The Door Hanger, Door Hanger for Clothes Without Drilling (Colour- Black , Pack of 1)

    You must have the patience of a saint!

    Quote from aficionado

    You should ignore Airbnb tenant complaints that are excessive serafina . If they do not have a multiyear contract with you, then they are free to leave.

    I believe all these modern style hard plastic windows and doors are called uPVC (Unplasticized Polyvinyl Chloride). That is what we used when we replaced all our windows and doors after a complete rehab. It is the only thing I will ever consider. Unlike old PVC and Vinyl which were a more flexible and possibly brittle.

    Though in Argentina they seem to mostly highlight these uPVC windows because they are DVH (Doble Vidrio Hermético) as the special double glazing in the hard PVC windows. I do not know exactly, but maybe DVH is not an option on even the newer quality aluminum windows. The air gap might be bigger. The glass and the inner gasket can be repaired onsite.

    We use this company because the architects in our family use them for their projects and the quality/workmanship are top notch. The windows are aluminium and designed to fit over existing window frames.

    Adaptación de Aberturas – Cerramientos 3 de Febrero

    Edited once, last by Splinter: Merged a post created by Splinter into this post. (August 30, 2026 at 9:36 AM).

    Quote from Splinter

    You must have the patience of a saint!

    We use this company because the architects in our family use them for their projects and the quality/workmanship are top notch. The windows are aluminium and designed to fit over existing window frames.

    https://www.cerramientos3df.com.ar/adaptacion-de-aberturas/index.html

    I'll save the details because I see they also do glass roofs. Maybe worth looking into. It would be great if a new glass could improve the comfort and solve the rain leaks. The only issue is that the glass roof was done illegally by the previous owners, and in theory the roofing is property of the whole building, not just of the top unit.