What this site is, and what it isn't

Information, not advice about a building

Everything published here is general information about how damp behaves in masonry. It is written carefully and sourced where it can be, but it is not an inspection, a diagnosis, a specification, a report or professional advice about any particular building.

No two walls are the same and the differences are the whole subject. Any decision that costs money — excavating, regrading, injecting, replastering, replacing a floor — should be taken on the advice of a suitably licensed and insured person who has seen the building.

The line-up

The nine-question tool is deterministic: it applies published rules to the answers given and returns the cause those answers best fit. It cannot see the wall, it has no way to verify what it is told, and it says so on every result.

Its output is a starting point for a conversation and not a finding. Where the answers do not match a pattern cleanly, it says that too, which is the correct answer more often than people expect.

No building work is offered here

This site does not carry out, offer to carry out, arrange, supervise, quote, price, warrant or guarantee any building work, and holds no building licence. Nothing on any page should be read as an offer to do so.

Cost figures published here are research about what this work costs in Australia, drawn from published sources and general market rates. They are not a quotation, an estimate for any specific building, or an indication of what anyone will charge.

The contact form

Submitting the form passes the details entered to a licensed waterproofing contractor who can assess the issue. That is all it does.

• It is not a booking, an engagement, or a contract with anyone.
• No response, timeframe, price or outcome is promised — by this site or on anyone else's behalf.
• Any contractor who makes contact does so in their own right. Their advice, conduct, pricing, workmanship and licensing are theirs, and any agreement reached is between them and the person who engages them. This site is not a party to it and takes no commission on the outcome of it.
• Anyone attending should be asked for their licence number and checked on the relevant public register first. What to ask, and what a competent answer looks like.

Standards, sources and other sites

Where a standard, code or published guide is referred to, it is referred to for context. It is summarised rather than reproduced, summaries can be wrong or go out of date, and the current published version always governs.

Any link to another site is for reference. This site does not control those pages and is not responsible for what is on them.

Liability

This site is provided as it is. To the extent the law allows, no liability is accepted for loss arising from acting on general information published here without advice specific to the building. Nothing here excludes any right that cannot lawfully be excluded, including under the Australian Consumer Law.

The content itself

The writing, illustrations and the line-up are the site's own. Quoting a passage with a link back is welcome. Republishing pages wholesale, or reproducing the diagnostic, is not.

Questions about these terms

Use the contact form, or write to hello@saltyslabs.com. These terms are governed by the law of Queensland, Australia.