Painting and damp in Lisbon: 60% of buildings date from before 1961
In Lisbon, 60.3% of buildings date from before 1961, against 23.1% nationally (Census 2021). It rains 793.5 mm a year, 603.3 mm of it from October to March, and frost is practically absent.
- Town
- Lisbon
- District
- Lisboa
Lisbon's old buildings and their walls
Lisbon has 49,223 buildings in the 2021 Census (INE). These are whole buildings, not flats, and the repair need is the respondent’s own judgement. 16.9% date from before 1919, 18.7% from 1919 to 1945 and 24.7% from 1946 to 1960: in all, 60.3% are from before 1961, against 23.1% nationally. Only 13.7% are from 2001 or later, against 33.5% nationally.
On repairs, 38.9% of buildings need some (26.5% light, 8.9% medium, 3.5% deep) and 61.1% need none, against 35.8% and 64.2% nationally. The deep-repair share is below the national figure (4.6%). But in a stock this old, paint rarely does the whole job: it lasts only if the cause of the damp is dealt with first.
The best-known buildings are the pombalinos (built after the 1755 earthquake) and the gaioleiros, with stone walls in lime mortar. Anyone repainting such a building should ask what render is underneath: a coating that does not let water out can trap damp and salts in the wall, according to the gaioleiro thesis we read.
SourcesIPMA, climate normal Lisboa / Instituto Geofísico, 1991-2020 (read 3 November 2026) · INE, Census 2021, buildings by period of construction (0011482, updated 2022-11-12) · Decreto-Lei 108/2026 of 29 May (RJUE republished, arts 2, 6, 89 and 13), Ordem dos Arquitectos copy, read 3 November 2026 · Aviso 16520/2021, RMUEL amendment, Diário da República (arts 5, 9, 69), read 3 November 2026 · Lisbon council, Ocupação da via pública - obras isentas de controlo prévio (read 3 November 2026) · Ferreira (IST, 2008), Aplicabilidade dos novos regulamentos da construção em edifícios gaioleiros · Miranda (FCT-UNL, 2011), Caracterização dos edifícios pombalinos da Baixa de Lisboa
The buildings of Lisbon
49,223 buildings counted in 2021
- 92.3% built up to 2000 (country: 82.1%)
- 60.3% built before 1961 (country: 23.1%)
- 3.5% with deep repair needs (country: 4.6%)
The vertical mark on each bar is the share for the whole country.
Source: INE (Statistics Portugal), Census 2021, indicator 0011482, updated 12/11/2022. CC BY licence. The figures are for whole buildings. An old building can be well kept and a new one can have damp. Age is a hint, not a diagnosis.
Rain, damp and cold in Lisbon
At the IPMA station Lisboa / Instituto Geofísico (no. 535, altitude 77.0 m), the 1991-2020 normal gives 793.5 mm of rain a year, on 75.5 days with 1 mm or more and 26.7 days with 10 mm or more. The wettest months are November (133.9 mm), October (110.6 mm), December (108.5 mm) and January (103.8 mm); July has 2.6 mm.
The mean annual temperature is 17.6 °C and the mean minimum 13.6 °C. There are 0.0 days a year with a minimum below 0 °C: frost does not burst paint in Lisbon, but autumn and winter water gets in through façades and ground floors. From June to September only 60.7 mm falls in total (our sum), so summer is the driest time to paint. The IPMA normal gives no relative humidity, so we give no figure for it.
Houses and walls in Lisbon
Old apartment blocks
Gaioleiros: buildings of about 4 to 6 storeys from the late 19th and early 20th century. The IST thesis (2008) says almost all have an air gap under the building, with iron grilles at street level, to prevent rising damp and rotting floors. If those grilles are blocked, the ventilation stops (our inference).
Historic centre
Baixa pombalina: buildings made after 1755 on alluvial ground, in an old arm of the Tagus, resting on timber piles. An FCT-UNL thesis (2011) says changes in the water table, caused by basements and underground car parks, rot those piles. For paint, what matters is damp at ground-floor level and in walls near the soil.
Recent blocks
Buildings from 1961 to 1980 are 21.3% of the total (10,504 buildings). We did not read a source on their walls in Lisbon. In general, concrete-frame buildings with thin walls have thermal bridges and condensation in cold corners, where mould appears.
Rules and permits in Lisbon
The RJUE (Decreto-Lei 555/99, as worded by Decreto-Lei 108/2026 of 29 May) exempts conservation works from a licence and from prior notice (art. 6(1)(a)). These are works to keep a building in its existing condition, such as restoration, repair or cleaning (art. 2(f)). The exemption does not waive other applicable rules, nor the notice of start of works (art. 6(8) and (12)). Art. 6(13) says fees may be required before that notice. The duty to carry out conservation works is at least once every 8 years (art. 89). We found no text saying whether repainting a façade in a different colour counts as conservation: ask the council.
The RMUEL (Lisbon’s Municipal Urbanisation and Building Regulation, amended by Aviso 16520/2021) says in art. 9 that the council encourages repair and conservation works, with reduced fees to be set in regulation. Art. 69 mentions an inspection sheet and a responsibility form where conservation works occupy the public road on their own. For scaffolding, the service “Ocupação da via pública - obras isentas de controlo prévio” on servicos.lisboa.pt (page updated 30 September 2026) asks for an online request through Loja Lisboa Online, on the Urbanismo Digital platform, or an appointment at Loja Lisboa Entrecampos. The final fee comes from the council’s urban fees simulator. The page does not name scaffolding. The council’s pages say the RJUE revision came into force on 1 October; Decreto-Lei 108/2026 says it enters into force on the first working day of the third month after publication. We could not reconcile the two dates. We did not read any Lisbon rules on façade colour.
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Gaioleiros: the air gap under the ground floor
The dissertation by José Daniel Lopez Ferreira (Instituto Superior Técnico, October 2008) studies one gaioleiro building in Lisbon. It says almost every gaioleiro has an air gap under the building, which lifts the ground floor and ventilates it. The aim is to prevent rising damp and rotting of floors and timber partitions in contact with the earth. On façades you can see iron grilles at street level, to ventilate and keep animals out.
The same thesis cites Appleton (2003) on damp rising by capillarity in walls and notes that the Regulamento Geral das Edificações asks for ventilated basements protected from damp. For anyone painting a ground floor like this, the practical question is whether the grilles are clear. That link is ours; the thesis does not make it. See rising damp treatment.
Baixa pombalina: alluvial ground and the water table
According to Frederico Miranda’s dissertation (FCT-UNL, June 2011), the Baixa pombalina lies in an old arm of the Tagus, on alluvial ground, and the buildings rest on timber piles. The thesis says changes in the water table, caused mainly by basements and underground car parks, have rotted those piles.
The thesis is about structure, not wall damp. We found no study measuring damp on Baixa ground floors. The point is that ground and groundwater matter, and a damp wall near the soil needs a diagnosis before painting. See the three types of damp.
General notes
According to INE's 2021 Census, 29,673 of 49,223 buildings (60.3%) date from before 1961, against 23.1% nationally. These are whole buildings, not flats. It shows the age of the stock, not the state of any one wall.
At the Lisboa / Instituto Geofísico station (IPMA, 1991-2020) it rains 793.5 mm a year, on 75.5 days with 1 mm or more. November has 133.9 mm and July 2.6 mm. There is no frost: 0.0 days a year with a minimum below 0 °C.
Conservation works are exempt from a licence and prior notice in the RJUE (art. 6(1)(a)), and painting indoors is normally maintenance. The exemption does not waive applicable rules or the notice of start of works. If in doubt, ask the council or the condominium.
If scaffolding occupies the public road, the council has the service "Ocupação da via pública - obras isentas de controlo prévio" on servicos.lisboa.pt, requested through Loja Lisboa Online (Urbanismo Digital). The page does not name scaffolding: check with the council that your case fits.
An IST thesis (2008) explains that almost all gaioleiros have a ventilated air gap under the building, with grilles at street level, to prevent rising damp. If that ventilation fails, damp may rise through the walls. The thesis does not measure specific cases.
Art. 9 of the RMUEL says the council encourages repair and conservation works, as a reduction in urban fees to be set in a municipal regulation. We did not read that fee regulation, so we do not know the size of the reduction.
Related guides
- Rising damp: diagnosis and treatment optionsHow rising damp is confirmed, which treatment families exist according to LNEC and FEUP, where they fall short and what to ask before accepting a quote.8 min
- Damp walls: condensation, rising damp, rain penetration and how to tell whichThe four ways water reaches a wall, the signs of each, a step-by-step check before calling a specialist, and why painting over it does not work.7 min
- Salt on walls (efflorescence): what it is and what to do before paintingWhite powder, blistering paint and crumbling plaster: where the salts come from, why painting over them fails and what the data sheets say to do.7 min
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- Damp in the building: who decides and pays for repairs to common partsRoof, outer walls and main pipes: how the co-owners' meeting decides, which majorities the law asks for, urgent work, what to do if the administrator does nothing and what changes for tenants.6 min
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