We make and fit automatic slatted covers across the whole municipality: Cártama town, Estación de Cártama, El Sexmo, Doña Ana and Cártama Campo. Our own crew out of the San Pedro de Alcántara branch, no subcontractors and no breaking into the shell.
Cártama has 1,882 pools on the Catastro register, which puts it twelfth of the 103 municipalities in the province of Málaga. That is not a beach-front figure, it is a valley figure. What there is here is mostly single-family housing on plots, spread between the old centre of Cártama town, the growth at Estación de Cártama and the scattered building of El Sexmo, Doña Ana and Cártama Campo. We have made automatic slatted covers since 2005, with more than 5,000 installations, and the factory is ours, in Torrijos (Toledo). Whoever measures, fits and comes back to Cártama to adjust something sets off from our branch in San Pedro de Alcántara, Marbella, not from Toledo.
What we fit in Cártama is exactly what we make: every cover is motorised, at 230 V and 50 Hz, and there is no manual or hand-cranked version. As standard it is operated beside the pool with a key switch, hold-to-run — the slats move only while the switch is held and with the pool in view. A remote control and operation from a phone through a receiver appear in the quote as optional extras, and they are used from beside the pool too, with the water in view. The structure, the shaft, the supports and all the bolts are always AISI 316L stainless steel, never aluminium, which is what withstands chlorine and the hours of sun a pool gets on the Guadalhorce plain.
The slats float on the water: there are no rails, no guides and no side profiles to clean or grease. What rests on the coping are the legs and, if specified, the housing. We work the same way on a pool that already exists in the town centre as on a shell still under construction in Cártama Campo. Manufacturing is made to measure and takes 4-5 weeks; the warranty is three years and covers the whole assembly — structure, motor, slats and installation. Our covers are built to the French standard NF P90-308.
New build: the pit is decided before the concrete. In Cártama the residential growth is single-family housing, and in a new build the pool is usually designed at the same time as the house. That opens the better option: a submerged shaft in a pit at the far end of the shell, with the cover stowed under the water and no volume above the coping. The catch is that the decision expires — once the shell is concreted, the answer becomes a visible shaft above the water.
Unmade lanes, ramps and a shaft that travels in one piece. The municipality is very spread out: Cártama Campo, Doña Ana and El Sexmo are scattered large plots with unmade lanes and ramps a lorry cannot always take. The shaft of a cover is made to measure in one piece, so before anything is confirmed we measure on site, check the real width of the access and plan how it is unloaded and brought to the pool. In the centre of Cártama town the problem is the opposite and also has to be anticipated: there is a road to the door, but the plots are narrow and the material goes in by hand.
Dust, leaves and what ends up in the filter. An uncovered pool on the Guadalhorce plain collects fine dust, leaves and plant debris all year, and all of it ends up on the bottom of the shell and in the filter. With the cover closed that dirt stays on top of the slats and comes off with a hose. The effect is twofold: fewer filtration hours and around 35 % less chemical use, because the water is no longer sitting in the sun degrading the disinfectant.
We cover the centres of the municipality and carry on along the valley into the neighbouring districts. We work in the old centre, where the plots are narrower and material goes in by hand, as much as in the scattered building, where there is room but the way in decides. Alhaurín de la Torre, Alhaurín el Grande and the city of Málaga each have their own page, with the models and lead times for that area.
We always measure at the pool itself before anything is made. On an existing pool the installation is normally one day's work, with no breaking into the shell, no change to the filtration system and using the 230 V supply the pool already has.
If access means a barrier, a gate code or a key held by a neighbour, tell us when we book the visit.
Twenty minutes from the city of Málaga and with no sea to moderate it, the Guadalhorce plain runs hot by day and cools quickly once the sun goes. The water follows: it is slow to warm in spring and it gives up its heat early in autumn. Evaporation is the route almost all of that loss takes, which is why a closed cover changes the season more here than any heating does on its own.
The slat is 60 mm wide, weighs 8.1-9.6 kg/m², floats on the water and is rated for Hail Class 4. PVC is the usual choice for family use. Solar polycarbonate lets the sun through and raises the water by 6-7 °C at no running cost. Clear polycarbonate is chosen for how it looks.
The slat lasts 10-15 years and is replaced without touching the structure, which being 316L goes beyond 15. The UV treatment on the slat is real and it does not fade in the sun, but none of that is a warranty period: the warranty is three years, on the whole assembly.
Cártama is really two municipalities for our purposes. Cártama Campo, Doña Ana and El Sexmo are large plots reached by unmade lane, where there is all the room in the world around the pool but the way in is the constraint. Cártama town and Estación de Cártama are the reverse: tarmac to the door, and plots so narrow that the shaft, the legs and the slats are carried in by hand.
Both are routine for us and neither is a problem once it is known in advance. That is the entire point of measuring on site before we quote: we check the real width of the entrance, decide whether the cover goes up assembled or dismantled, and only then set a fitting date. It is what prevents the surprise on installation day.
The family pool on its own plot is the type that recovers the cost of a cover fastest, which is why the argument here is not about looks. A closed slatted cover cuts evaporation by 70-80 %: in an 8 × 4 metre pool that is 15,000 to 25,000 litres a year you do not have to replace, whether anyone swims or not.
If there is a heat pump, closing the cover takes 50-60 % of the work off it, because most of the heat a pool loses leaves through the surface. With solar polycarbonate slats the water gains 6-7 °C during the day at no running cost at all. Adding water, chemicals and energy together, the investment comes back in four to seven years.
The other reason people call is safety. Closed, the slats form a continuous surface that keeps anyone out of the water and holds 100 kg to NF P90-308, which is a French standard, not a European one. It is worth saying plainly: that does not make it trafficable or walkable, and nobody should walk on it. The cover also carries no alarm, no sensors and no scheduled closing.
The Guadalhorce valley concentrates pools for a very simple reason: what gets built here is single-family housing with a plot, and the plot ends up with a pool. Cártama's total comes to 1,882 pools, twelfth in the province of Málaga, ahead of its inland neighbours — Álora with 995, Pizarra with 610, Almogía with 333 and Casabermeja with 269. Above it sit the municipalities on the axis running towards the coast: Coín with 2,697, Alhaurín el Grande with 3,226, Alhaurín de la Torre with 5,250 and the city of Málaga with 6,583. Cártama is exactly on the hinge between that axis and the interior, and it shows in the kind of pool we find: a family shell on its own plot, in a municipality whose growth is single-family housing.
The census adds a second figure worth reading carefully: 32 pools have been added in Cártama since 2022. That is modest growth beside the municipalities on the coastal axis — 415 new in Alhaurín de la Torre, 289 in Alhaurín el Grande and 697 in the city of Málaga — and much closer to the pace of the agricultural interior: 36 in Álora, 46 in Almogía, 41 in Casabermeja and 28 in Pizarra. What that tells us about the work here is clear: in Cártama the cover is decided on the 1,882 pools that already exist, not on the brand-new one. For every freshly built shell there are dozens built years ago, in the town and at Estación de Cártama, still uncovered and resolved with the shaft above the water. That is the job we are asked for most in this municipality.
A necessary warning about these numbers, so that nobody reads more into them than is there: the Catastro register under-records. It is a floor, not a ceiling. Some pools are not declared, others appear late and small shells never make the register at all, so the real figure is higher than the published one. The Catastro also does not separate the private pool from the communal one, nor from a hotel's or a sports club's: Cártama's 1,882 are all the registered bodies of water in the district, not 1,882 houses with a pool. And the figure does not go below municipality level: there is no official breakdown by centre, so it cannot be said how many are at Estación de Cártama and how many at El Sexmo. When we divide the area into centres we do it by geography and by our own work there, never by attributing figures to a neighbourhood.
The first, and by a long way the most common in Cártama, is the pool finished years ago with nothing allowed for a cover. The shaft is fitted above the water, resting on the coping, visible or inside a housing; the shell is not touched, the filtration plant stays as it is, and the installation is normally one day's work.
The second is the pool still being built, which in a municipality growing in single-family housing arrives with enough notice to do it properly: the pit goes into the shell before the concrete, the shaft stays submerged and nothing shows above the coping afterwards. Every cover is cut and assembled to the measurements of your pool in Torrijos.
With an automatic cover closed overnight, the swimming season in Cártama runs from May to November. Without one the pool is down to the short summer: the water is slow to warm up and loses that heat as soon as the sun eases off.
The cover does two things at once: it stops evaporation, which is where most of the heat goes, and if you choose solar polycarbonate slats it lets the sun through and warms the water underneath at no running cost. And to hold the same temperature right through the season, a heat pump with a cover in place uses 50-60 % less energy.
Santiago R.
“As my wife rightly says — how lucky we were to find this company. They have done a flawless job because they genuinely know their trade. They know covers, which is what they make and sell, and on top of that they are good people. Thoroughly recommended.”
Google review · translated from SpanishJulia C.
“The cover is made from excellent materials and the finish is flawless. From the very first contact the service was outstanding and highly professional. They delivered everything they promised and the result exceeded my expectations. I would recommend them without hesitation.”
Google review · translated from SpanishTeresa
“From the first phone call with the office through to the fitters on the last day, everything was spot on: professional, punctual and tidy. It is a pleasure to find companies that still work like this.”
Google review · translated from SpanishGiuliana R.
“Excellent pool cover. Everything was good, from the advice to the installation. The cover is very well made, works beautifully and keeps the pool clean and protected. We are delighted with it and would certainly recommend them.”
Google Local Guide · translated from SpanishEva V.
“Thoroughly recommended. We are delighted with the cover they fitted for us. The service has been excellent from the very first moment, advising us at every step of the process.”
Google review · translated from SpanishYes, and it is the most usual case. On an existing pool we fit the shaft above the water, resting on the coping, visible or inside a housing. The shell is not broken into, the filtration system is not changed and we use the 230 V supply the pool already has. We measure at your house and make the cover to size in Torrijos: 4-5 weeks from confirmed measurements, plus the installation.
If the shell has not been concreted yet, what fits is the submerged shaft: a pit in the floor at the far end of the pool where the cover is stowed under the water, with no volume above the coping. It has to be in the drawings, with its dimensions and the electrical supply. Call us before the concrete goes in and we will speak to your builder directly.
It keeps the dirt out of the water, which is the part that costs money. With the cover closed, leaves and dust stay on top of the slats and you take them off with a hose instead of letting them reach the bottom and the filter. The load on the plant drops and chemical use falls by around 35 %. Upkeep comes down to rinsing the slats and their profiles, the shaft, the supports and the bolts with fresh water: there are no rails or guides to clean or grease.
The cover is made to measure, so it is manufactured after your pool has been measured: 4-5 weeks from confirmed measurements, plus the fitting day. The warranty is three years and covers the whole assembly — structure, motor, slats and installation. Separately from the warranty, the 316L stainless steel structure has a service life beyond 15 years and the slat lasts 10-15 years; when the time comes, the slat is replaced without touching the structure.
Yes. From the branch in San Pedro de Alcántara we serve Cártama and the municipalities around it — Pizarra, Álora, Almogía and Casabermeja — as well as Coín, Alhaurín de la Torre, Alhaurín el Grande and the city of Málaga, which have their own pages with the models and lead times for their area. If you cannot see your municipality, write to us with the address of the pool and we will confirm it.
If you are an architect, a main contractor or a developer putting up single-family housing in Cártama, the decision worth taking at design stage is the type of shaft: a submerged shaft is allowed for in the shell before any concrete is poured, whereas if the cover appears at the end of the build it is normally resolved with a visible shaft on the coping. We manufacture ourselves in Torrijos (Toledo), with the structure and fittings in AISI 316L stainless steel, and we fit with our own crew out of Marbella. We give you dimensions, electrical load and the support detail for the drawings, and manufacturing is planned at 4-5 weeks. If the client is yours, the relationship stays with you.
Tell us where the pool is — in the town, at Estación de Cártama or out in the scattered plots — and we will put together a no-obligation quote. Made in our own factory in Torrijos, fitted by our own Marbella crew, with after-sales service and original spare parts. Call +34 91 631 59 40 or write in English to our Costa del Sol branch: C. Jorge Guillén 6, edificio norte, local 4, 29670 San Pedro de Alcántara (Málaga).
