Damp Survey and Damp Proofing in Stony Stratford

The High Street and Market Square frontages developed along Watling Street as a coaching route, and much of the older housing is solid-walled brick or stone, in places with earlier timber framing behind later facades. Buildings of this kind were built to let moisture move through the fabric and evaporate. Problems commonly appear where that ability has been interrupted: cement render or pointing over soft brick and stone, modern impermeable paints on internal plaster, or a raised pavement and modern drainage arrangement that puts water against the wall base. In those cases removing the barrier and restoring a breathable finish often achieves more than any injected treatment.

The town sits beside the Great Ouse, and low-lying properties towards the river and the water meadows can be affected by a high water table, surface water after prolonged rain and, in the worst cases, flood water entering below-ground rooms. A below-ground survey establishes the water source and the condition of what is already there before a cavity drain membrane or cementitious approach is considered.

Later housing at Galley Hill, Fullers Slade and the estates built as Milton Keynes expanded brings a different set of issues: cavity walls that can be bridged, flat and shallow-pitched roofs, and in some cases timber-frame construction where any moisture reaching the frame matters a great deal more than it would in masonry. Airtightness has improved steadily since the 1970s, and where controlled airflow has not kept pace, the result is condensation on cold bridges at reveals, lintels and wall-to-ceiling junctions, with mould following within a season or two.

Timber is central to a proper assessment in a town with this much older building stock. Embedded bressummers, wall plates and joist ends bearing into solid walls are the elements most at risk once masonry moisture content stays elevated, and wet rot in those positions can be structurally significant while remaining invisible behind plaster. Roof timbers in older properties can also carry historic beetle damage that is long dead, and telling live activity from old flight holes matters because one needs treatment and the other does not. Our inspections record moisture content, identify the species of decay where it is present, and state what is and is not structurally important.