The floor plan of a normal property in Mallorca's towns and villages is based on the requirements of the climate fluctuations and is practical: by means of a corridor from the entrance door of the house along the road through the entire building to the adjoining backyard, a draft of air is generated, by means of which (and additionally through small windows) the temperature can be regulated. Along the corridor are the bedrooms in the wind suction
In the summer months, the draught can cool down the rooms in the evening when the windows and doors are open. At least sixty centimetre thick outer walls and of course also the house next door, at least in villages, protect against excessive warming during the day. Small windows help to keep away the summer heat and in the winter months to repel the cold and moisture.
The fact that the village houses are directly connected due to climate regulation may convey the impression of narrowness and barrenness. But anyone who has seen a typical Mallorcan village house from the inside knows that this is not the case because the inner courtyards were the centre of family life and village houses built before the 1950s not only have beds and trees such as orange, mandarin or lemon trees but there were also stables for domestic pigs and donkeys next to enclosures for chickens and often also a dovecote. Almost everywhere you will find an oven to bake bread. An open-air kitchen and a little idyll.
The usually double doors also serve to regulate the indoor climate in these houses: a wooden door with slats that can let the wind through but no light. And behind it a massive wooden door, with which one can open however the upper wooden part, in which additionally a glazed window is let in, in order only the light. These types of doors can also be seen everywhere in the cities of Palma, Inca and Manacor.
The facades of the houses are simple. Two small windows, a metal one behind which the water meter is located and a wooden one for access to the electricity meter are recessed everywhere. The ventilation of the village houses that have a cellar is provided by a gridable, bricked opening that used to allow the cellar room to be filled with grapes that were further processed there. Today, only cheese, potatoes and fruit are kept fresh at about 18 degrees down there. The rainwater pipes and channels to supply the cistern are less beautiful. Dirty water cisterns for the water flowing in from the road have a hole as access below the curb. Then there is often an iron ring for tying horses or donkeys and a window on top for transporting broad beans, locust beans and other food directly into the attic, which may not be of interest to you as a tenant or buyer of a house in Mallorca :-).
