Damp proofing in Hartlepool

Three very different Hartlepools

The Headland is a peninsula, so its older terraces take weather on more than one elevation and get the full salt load of the North Sea. The Victorian and Edwardian streets inland from the marina behave like Middlesbrough's terraces: solid walls, old slate courses, cellars and raised yards. Seaton Carew and parts of the south sit on much sandier ground, which drains fast and produces less below-ground damp than the clay elsewhere in the region.

Headland walls

On the Headland, penetrating damp dominates. Mortar joints erode faster in salt-laden wind, render fails at corners, and chimneys take a hammering. Repairs need to be done in the right order and in the right materials, because a cement render applied over a wall that is already carrying salt traps the problem behind it. Breathable repairs, sound rainwater goods and a water-repellent treatment on sound brickwork is the durable route.

Terraces, yards and cellars

Inland the classic pattern returns: back yards concreted level with or above the internal floor, gutters over shared passages that never get cleared, cellars whose grates were bricked up decades ago, and blown, salt-contaminated plaster at skirting level. Reducing ground levels and putting the rainwater goods right are cheap, and they remove the cause of a large share of what gets diagnosed as rising damp.

Estates and mould

Owton Manor, Rift House, Fens and the newer estates are cavity-built, so the issue there is condensation: cold bedrooms, weak or missing extraction, and drying washing indoors through a long winter. Extraction and background ventilation cost a fraction of damp proofing and solve it.

Prices in Hartlepool

Damp proof course with replastering £70 to £120 per linear metre. Repointing £45 to £90 per square metre. Damp surveys £150 to £350. Mould treatment £300 to £900 per room. PIV ventilation £600 to £1,200.