Damp Survey and Damp Treatment in Godmanchester

Godmanchester sits on the south bank of the Great Ouse, directly across the river from Huntingdon, and the town has a long history of settlement reflected in the variety of its housing stock. The oldest properties are stone and brick built, with solid walls and no original damp-proof course, or with a slate or lead DPC that may have deteriorated over a century or more of use. In these properties rising damp is a genuine mechanism: ground moisture travels upward through the masonry by capillary action when the DPC has failed or when external ground levels, render, or paving have been raised to bridge it.

A significant portion of Godmanchester's housing consists of Victorian and Edwardian terraces, where solid brick or mixed construction is common. These properties were built to breathe through lime mortar and plaster, and they can suffer when modern cement pointing or dense plaster is applied, trapping moisture within the wall rather than allowing it to evaporate. Penetrating damp is also frequent in this era: spalled brick faces, failed or receding pointing, and defective rainwater goods allow water to track inward, appearing as damp patches that vary with rainfall rather than remaining constant at a consistent height.

Interwar semi-detached housing and post-war estate properties, including cavity-wall construction from the 1950s through to the 1980s, present different risks. Cavity-wall ties can corrode and allow mortar debris or insulation fill to form a bridge across the cavity, directing water to the inner leaf. More commonly in this era, improvements such as loft insulation, draught-proofing and the replacement of single-glazed windows with sealed units have reduced background airflow significantly. The result is condensation forming on cold surfaces, particularly in bathrooms, kitchens, and north-facing bedrooms, and persistent mould growth that is often misidentified as rising or penetrating damp.

Godmanchester also has a number of older cottages, barn conversions and properties with walls below external ground level, where below-ground water management becomes relevant. A thorough inspection of a property in Godmanchester will establish whether moisture readings are consistent with rising damp, penetrating damp, condensation, or a combination of causes, and will also assess any accessible timber for decay or woodworm activity before any course of treatment is proposed.

It is worth being clear about scope in Godmanchester. Procure Group does not undertake full basement or cellar waterproofing installations. Our waterproofing work is limited to appropriate localised applications encountered as part of damp investigation and remediation, which in practice means the base of a wall, a floor-to-wall junction or a short below-ground return found wet during an inspection. Where the water is arriving from outside — ground held against the wall, a failed gully, paving falling towards the building — correcting that is the work we would recommend first.