Salt Damp Treatment in Adelaide

What salt damp treatment in Adelaide actually involves

Salt damp, the guide says, is a term widely used in South Australia for the high salt concentrations that go with rising damp. The sources name three common repairs as making it worse: hard cement mortar in old joints, a hard cement render band at the base of the wall, and paint on old masonry. The page on cement, render and paint sets out each in the sources' words.

A new damp-proof course

The guide lists undersetting, slot sawing, chemical impregnation and electro-osmotic damp-proofing as the ways a new course goes in, and the council's fact sheet says not every wall can be injected. A new course does not take out the salts already in the wall. The options page covers what each source says and no more.

What goes in the quote

Ask for the work in writing, with the method named and the mortar, render or coating it will use. For a chemical course, the guide names two details to check: drill hole spacing and depth, and how the contractor will decide that enough fluid has gone in. It says not to accept the cheapest chemical damp-proofing quote without checking the contractor's references. Whether the work counts as building work that a contractor must be authorised for in South Australia is a question none of the pages we read answers, so the quotes page states what the Act says and leaves the question open.

The guide's advice is guidance, not law, and two of its lines come from a council fact sheet that applies to listed heritage places in one council area. The costs page lists every line with its source and read date, and the suburbs page lists the areas this site covers.

Salt Damp Treatment in Adelaide — common questions

What is salt damp?

The 2008 joint heritage guide calls it a term widely used in South Australia for high salt concentrations associated with rising damp.

What should be fixed first?

The basic housekeeping measures: the council fact sheet says downpipes should discharge into a sealed stormwater system, not at the base of walls. The guide says to assess those measures over at least a year before any damp-proof course goes in.

Is a written quote needed?

Ask for one. The guide says to check the contractor's references and the details of the proposed works before accepting a chemical damp-proofing quote, and the Act says a domestic building work contract must be in writing, whether or not a given job counts as that.