Damp proofing in Guisborough

Water arriving from uphill

Guisborough sits at the foot of the Cleveland Hills, and rainfall here is measurably higher than out on the coastal plain. Just as important, water moves downhill through the ground and arrives at the back of properties built into a slope. A house with a garden rising behind it can have soil sitting against the rear wall well above internal floor level, and no chemical damp proof course in the world stops water entering above the barrier.

The fixes that suit sloping sites

Land drainage, a properly formed and drained channel along the uphill wall, external tanking to the retaining section, and lowering ground levels where possible do more than internal treatment. Where the uphill wall is genuinely retaining, treating it from inside with a cavity drain membrane is usually more reliable than a bonded coating, because it accepts that the wall will be damp and keeps the room dry regardless.

Older stone and brick property

The older cottages and Westgate properties include sandstone and soft brick in lime mortar. Sandstone in particular suffers when pointed in hard cement: the mortar becomes stronger than the stone, and the stone face erodes instead of the joint. Lime pointing, matched in strength and colour, is both the conservation-correct and the technically correct answer.

Newer estates

The post-1970s housing around the edges of the town is cavity construction on clay, so the recurring issues are winter condensation, extraction that never worked properly, and the occasional bridged cavity. Ventilation upgrades resolve most of it for a few hundred pounds.

Prices in Guisborough

Damp surveys £150 to £350. Lime repointing £55 to £100 per square metre. External drainage and channel work £600 to £2,500 depending on length and access. Cavity drain membrane to a retaining wall £150 to £250 per square metre. PIV ventilation £600 to £1,200.