Salt Damp Treatment in Adelaide — questions and answers
Short answers on salt damp in Adelaide: what to fix before any damp-proof course, what a new course does not do, what the sources say about cement, render and paint, and what a written quote should list. Each answer is a heritage body's, council's or the Act's own line with its read date. This site sets no prices.
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How much does salt damp treatment cost in Adelaide?
We do not answer that with a price, because no government source sets one. What changes a quote is the method, the work around it, the drainage at the wall's base and whether the building is a heritage place. Ask for more than one written quote and compare what each one covers. The costs page sets out each line. The costs page's Salt damp treatment costs and rules check lists each line with its source and read date.
What should a salt damp quote list?
The method and why it suits this wall, the mortar, render or coating it will use, the drainage work, what authority the contractor works under and which work it covers. For a chemical course the 2008 joint heritage guide also names drill hole spacing and depth, and how the contractor will decide enough fluid has gone in.
A salt damp wall in Adelaide
Six things to settle, in the order a wall needs them
Each one is a heritage body's or a council's own line, with the date it was read.
Take the water away from the base
About 200 mm
the clearance the guide's checklist says to maintain between damp-proof courses and ground level
Downpipes should discharge into a sealed stormwater system, not at the base of walls, the council fact sheet says.
Source: Salt attack and rising damp, joint heritage guide (2008) · read
Watch it before a new course goes in
At least a year
how long the guide says to assess the basic housekeeping measures before inserting any form of damp-proof course
The measures are done first and their effect assessed; the course comes after.
Source: Salt attack and rising damp, joint heritage guide (2008) · read
Keep hard cement out of the joints
No hard cement
the guide's instruction for repointing failed lime mortar joints
It says hard cement drives the damp further up the wall and may damage the bricks.
Source: Salt attack and rising damp, joint heritage guide (2008) · read
Find out which course is going in
Not every wall
what the council fact sheet says about injecting a damp course
The guide lists undersetting, slot sawing, chemical impregnation and electro-osmotic damp-proofing.
Source: City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters, rising damp fact sheet · read
Ask what happens to the salts
Salts remain
what the council fact sheet says of the wall fabric above a new damp course
The guide adds that when salts abound a course alone is not enough.
Source: City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters, rising damp fact sheet · read
Check the quote before you accept it
References first
what the guide says to check before accepting the cheapest chemical damp-proofing quote
Drill hole spacing and depth, and how the contractor will decide enough fluid has gone in, are the details it names.
Source: Salt attack and rising damp, joint heritage guide (2008) · read
Each line names its source and the date it was read. None is a quote for your wall or a promise about any approval.
Process
What should be done before a damp-proof course goes in?
Downpipes should discharge into a sealed stormwater system, not at the base of walls, the council fact sheet says, and the guide says not to insert any form of damp-proof course until the basic housekeeping measures are done and their effect assessed over at least a year.
Will a new damp-proof course remove the salt?
No. The council fact sheet says a new course stops new rising damp, but the wall above it still holds salts deposited by decades of earlier rising damp, and the guide says that when salts abound, a course alone is not enough and excessive salts should be removed from above it.
Timing
How quickly can someone get to me?
We cannot promise a time. It depends on the provider's bookings. Form and phone enquiries are passed to a local provider, who contacts you directly.
Can I repoint with cement, render the base or paint the wall?
The sources say not to. The guide says hard cement mortar in failed lime joints drives the damp further up the wall and may damage the bricks, and the council fact sheet says a strong cement plinth at the base of a wall only traps moisture and paint on old masonry can trap it and force it inside.
Permits and approvals
Does damp repair on a heritage place need approval?
It can. In the Port Adelaide State Heritage Area the 2018 guidelines say works that count as development need a statutory approval, lodged with Port Adelaide Enfield Council and referred to Heritage South Australia, and no exemptions apply. In the Colonel Light Gardens State Heritage Area the heritage standards list rising damp repairs among conservation works deemed development. Elsewhere it is for your council to say.
Source: Department for Environment and Water, Port Adelaide State heritage area guidelines (2018) and Heritage Standards for Development, Colonel Light Gardens State Heritage Area; read 6 October 2026.
Service area
Which suburbs do you cover?
Metropolitan Adelaide. Four pages are written around one sourced page each: Port Adelaide, Colonel Light Gardens, Norwood and Adelaide. The rest of the service area is covered on the same terms.
Do you treat the damp yourselves?
No. A marketing company runs this site and passes each enquiry to an independent local provider. The provider inspects the wall, quotes and does any work itself; we carry out no work and have no crews or plant.
Thanks — we have your enquiry. Someone will be in touch shortly. Prefer to talk now? Call (08) 8330 4909.
Last reviewed · Updated · First published