Gotelé is the dotted, textured paint finish common on walls and ceilings in Spanish homes. We remove it or skim over it to leave flat walls, then handle painting, door lacquering, floors, non-bathroom tiling, plasterboard partitions and suspended ceilings as one coordinated job. You get a free quote broken down by task, materials can be bought for you, and the job ends with a final clean. A few photos and the rough floor area are enough for a first assessment.
What is gotelé, and why is it on so many Spanish walls?
Gotelé (from gota, a drop) is a decorative finish made by spraying or flicking thick paint or a paste onto a wall so that it dries as a pattern of raised dots. In some homes the dots were pressed flat with a trowel while still wet, which gives a mottled, slightly stony look known as gotelé planchado.
It became the standard finish in Spanish flats during the later decades of the twentieth century for practical reasons: it was quick to apply, it hid uneven plaster and it shrugged off knocks and fingerprints. If you have bought a resale apartment on the Costa del Sol, there is a good chance at least one room still has it, often under several coats of paint.
Today most owners want flat walls. Smooth surfaces reflect light more evenly, make rooms look larger and are the base that modern paint colours, wall lights and LED ceilings are designed for.
Can gotelé simply be scraped off?
Sometimes. Older gotelé made with water-based distemper (temple) often softens when dampened and can be lifted off the wall. Gotelé made with plastic-based paint, or painted over many times, does not soften in the same way; forcing it off tends to damage the plaster underneath.
In that second case the professional answer is usually to skim over the texture: fill it, build a new flat surface on top and finish it smooth. Both routes end with a wall ready for paint. We choose between them after testing a small area in your home, and the quote states which method applies to each room. The full process is explained in our guide on how gotelé is removed.
What else can you do while the walls are being smoothed?
Wall work creates dust and means moving furniture, so it is the natural moment to deal with the rest of the room. The services that most often go together are:
- Interior painting of walls and ceilings once the surface is flat.
- Door lacquering, to bring dated varnished doors in line with the new walls.
- New floors in porcelain or timber, laid after the dusty work is finished.
- Plasterboard niches, wardrobes or partitions.
- Suspended ceilings, including coves for indirect LED lighting.
- Wall tiling in kitchens, utility rooms and hallways.
In what order should the work be done?
The rule is simple: dusty and wet work first, delicate finishes last. Ceilings and walls are prepared before anything is painted; floors are laid after the sanding is over, or protected heavily if they stay; doors are lacquered off site or in a sealed area and rehung near the end.
Where electrical work is needed, such as new ceiling lights or LED strips, our authorised partner installers come in before the ceiling is closed and before the final skim. Getting this sequence right is what stops a freshly painted wall from being cut open shortly afterwards.
Furniture is another reason to plan the order carefully. If pieces have to stay in the property, we move them from room to room as the work progresses rather than stacking everything in one place, which protects both the furniture and the finished walls.
Can you work while I am living in the property?
Often yes, if the work is done room by room. We seal the room we are working in, protect the route through the home and leave the rest usable. Bedrooms are usually done first so you can move into a finished one while the living areas are worked on.
It is noisier and dustier than many people expect, so we talk it through honestly before you decide. Our guide on removing gotelé in a lived-in home covers what that looks like day to day.
What goes into the quote?
We quote by task, not by a round figure. A typical quote for this kind of work lists protection of floors and furniture, the removal or skimming method for each room in square metres, crack and corner repairs, priming and painting, doors counted individually, flooring and skirting in square or linear metres, ceiling work, materials if we buy them, and the final clean.
We do not publish prices here because the same floor area can need very different work. If you want to understand what pushes the cost up or down, our sister site presupuestoreforma.eu explains the factors in detail.
I live abroad. How do we get started?
Send us photos of each room, a close-up of the wall texture with something for scale, and the approximate floor area by email or WhatsApp. That is enough for a first estimate. For the final quote we visit the property, so we need someone to let us in or a key arrangement you are comfortable with.
We work in English and Spanish and explain Spanish terms as we go. If you are planning a wider renovation, the network’s main site on full renovations covers the bigger picture.
Do I need to tell the owners’ community?
In an apartment building, the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal lets an owner alter the architectural elements, installations or services of their own flat, provided safety, structure and the exterior are not affected, and asks them to inform whoever represents the community beforehand. Practically, it also helps with access, lift protection and agreed working hours.
Painting and wall finishes inside your own flat rarely touch shared elements, but debris, noise and use of the stairs do affect neighbours. We plan those details with you before the start date. Whether your town hall also expects a declaración responsable for the specific scope is checked case by case (municipal requirements: to be verified for each job).
What do you not do?
We focus on interior finishes. We do not take on structural repairs, new builds, pools or air-conditioning installation, and we do not prepare technical projects or energy certificates. Bathroom renovations are handled by our sister site reformabanosmalaga.eu.
If an old wall or ceiling board is suspected of containing asbestos cement, it must be handled by a registered specialist; see retiradauralitamalaga.eu. Damp, cracks that keep reopening and stains that come back through paint need a diagnosis first; we will tell you plainly if we see them.
