Villas and urbanisations
Locking a converted riurau without hiding its arches
For a century and more, raisins were the business of the Marina Alta. Grapes were spread on cane racks to dry in the sun, and the riurau was the building that protected them from the night mist and the rain: a long, rectangular structure of masonry and stone, facing south or south-east, open along its front in a row of wide arches so the air could move through. The raisins went out through Xàbia’s port; the riuraus stayed behind on the farms.
Xàbia is on the Ruta dels Riuraus, with Benissa, Gata de Gorgos, Jesús Pobre, Xaló and Ondara. One of the largest, the riurau of the Català d’Arnauda, was moved from its original site to Parc Montaner. Many more stand on plots that are now villas, and many owners have given them a new job: a summer dining room, a garage, a store for the pool furniture.
The moment a riurau becomes a room, its arches need closing, and anything closed needs a lock.
Three ways to close the arches
Glazed doors set inside each arch. The most common choice for a room. Aluminium or timber frames, sliding or hinged, set back in the arch so the stone stays visible. The lock goes in the door frame: a hook lock for a slider, a cylinder for a hinged door. Choose one profile for all the arches and the keys can match.
Iron gates in the arches. For a riurau used as a covered terrace or a car port, an iron gate keeps the air moving and keeps people out. The lock is a box lock or a cylinder in the gate frame; a padlock on a chain is cheaper and looks it.
One door, the rest fixed. Glaze or grille every arch but one, and put the only lock in that one. Fewer locks, one key, and nothing to forget to check.
What to avoid
- Fixing anything into the arch stones themselves where it can be avoided. Frames are better fixed to a sub-frame or into the joints than drilled through old masonry.
- Locks on the outside face of a glazed door that sits in a recessed arch: rain collects in the recess, and an exposed cylinder there seizes.
- A slider with no lock at all. Many sliders are sold with a simple catch. A hook lock with a key, or an extra lock on the frame, can usually be added.
The rest of the villa
A riurau turned into a room becomes part of the house, and it is often the weakest part. If the villa stands empty for months, as more than half of the homes in Xàbia are not a main residence, it deserves the same attention as the front door. If valuables are kept there, a safe fixed into the floor is worth more than a stronger door: see safes that will not open for fitting as well as opening.
Owners who have just lost track of who holds a key to all of this should read your key holder has moved back to the UK. And where a riurau already held a safe left locked by a guest, there is a guest flew home with the villa safe locked.