About
A reference site that sells no damp proofing. That is rather the point.
Salty Slabs is an independent reference on rising damp, salt damp and efflorescence. It publishes research and a diagnostic tool. It holds no building licence, carries out no building work, quotes on nothing, warrants nothing, and has nothing to sell.
Why that matters when reading anything about damp
The central complaint on this whole site is that in the damp trade, the person diagnosing the problem is almost always the person selling the cure — and the reasoning behind the diagnosis is almost never written down anywhere it can be checked. A two-pin moisture meter reads absurdly high on any wall with salt in it, soaking or bone dry, so a number waved at a skirting board can be made to support whatever the quote needs it to support.
Nothing here earns more when the answer is “you need a damp course” than when it is “move the garden bed and wait six months”. That is why the line-up can afford to tell most people they need nobody, and why the cost research publishes rates the trade would rather keep quiet.
It also means this is not the place to get a warranty, a site visit or a price on a specific wall. Those come from a licensed contractor, engaged directly, who quotes their own work.
What is published here
- Symptom pages — what a white bloom, a tide mark, fretting mortar, bubbling paint, a damp slab or a musty subfloor each actually indicate, and what they rule out.
- The line-up — a nine-question diagnostic that names a likely cause and, more often than not, says no specialist is needed.
- Cost research — published Australian rates for damp-course injection, desalination and replastering, so a quote can be read against something.
- A glossary — efflorescence, sub-florescence, fretting, spalling, hygroscopic salts and damp-proof course, mapped to each other in plain English.
The two remedial methods most of this comes down to
Where a wall genuinely needs treating rather than draining, regrading or ventilating, it usually comes down to one of two methods. Both are carried out by a licensed waterproofer.
- Chemical damp course (External brickwork) — A new damp-proof course injected into the mortar bed, to stop groundwater climbing the wall. Carried out by: a licensed waterproofer or remedial contractor.
- Negative-side slab membrane (Internal concrete slabs) — An epoxy moisture barrier applied to the top of the slab — grind back, prepare the surface, then apply the membrane before the new floor goes down. Carried out by: a licensed waterproofer.
Replacing salt-contaminated render, cutting a physical damp course, installing subfloor ventilation, landscaping, drainage and wet-area waterproofing are all real answers to real damp problems, and each is a different trade again. Where one of those is the answer, these pages say so.
Licensing, and whose it is
This site holds no licence, because it does no building work. Anyone who attends a wall in Queensland and carries out waterproofing or remedial work does need one, and it is public. Ask for the licence number, then check it on the QBCC register under the trading entity's own name before any money moves.
What to ask for and what a competent answer looks like is set out on the page about reading a damp quote, and the method a properly ordered job follows is on the seven steps.
Why the jokes
Because this corner of the trade has earned them. The cartoons are aimed at bad work and at people selling cures for problems nobody has — never at a homeowner, and never at a licensed trade doing its job properly.
Everything a worried person actually needs to rely on — what is wrong, what the published rates are, what is and is not included — is written perfectly straight.
Where to start
With the line-up. It costs nothing, asks for no contact details, and most people who finish it are told they need nobody. Where a wall does need a licensed trade, the form is at contact a licensed waterproofer.
On this coast it often is rising damp. That still doesn't mean the fix is the one you're about to be sold.
Salt water sits close to the surface here, and a lot of Gold Coast brickwork has had the garden built up over its damp course. So it is common — but so is a downpipe discharging at the wall, which costs a great deal less to put right. The difference is decidable, and the reasoning for deciding it is set out across this site so it can be checked against whatever anyone tells you.
Submit your details and they'll be passed to a licensed waterproofing contractor who can assess the issue. This site holds no building licence, carries out no building work, and has nothing to sell either way.