Rising Damp Ipswich arranges damp assessments across Ipswich and the western corridor.
Not sure which of these you need? That is what the assessment decides, and it is the cheapest item on the page.
On-site assessment
An hour on site, then a written finding. The only fixed price here, because it is the only item that does not depend on what is found.
What this includes
- Moisture readings at intervals up every affected wall
- An external check of ground levels, paving, downpipes and built-in-under work
- A written diagnosis naming the mechanism, not just the moisture
- A plain statement when the cause is condensation, drainage or clay movement
What it does not
- Any treatment - this is diagnosis only
- A structural assessment of cracking, which needs an engineer
- A flood insurance report
- A fixed price for the repair, which follows the assessment
ImportantAn assessment that never leaves the house is not an assessment. The cause is almost always outside, and a quote written without looking is a guess.
Chemical damp course injection
Drilling and injecting a barrier into the mortar bed of a wall that never had one, or whose original course has failed.
What this includes
- Drilling the mortar course and injecting a silicone cream or fluid
- Treatment across the full thickness of the wall
- Making good the drill holes
- Single skin, cavity and solid masonry - the price differs, the method does not
What it does not
- Removing the salt already in the wall, which is the next section
- Modern houses on a slab, which have a membrane and cannot rise
- Flood residue, where there is no ongoing water to stop
- A cracked wall that is moving, which needs the movement dealt with first
Indicative price
- Single skin wall, good access$180 - $220 per metre
- Cavity wall, interwar brick$210 - $260 per metre
- Solid 350mm masonry, pre-1900$260 - $320 per metre
Request a call back
ImportantThe barrier stops NEW water. It does nothing about the water and salt already in the wall, which is what you can actually see.
Salt-affected render and making good
Usually the larger half of the bill, and the half a cheap quote leaves out.
What this includes
- Removing contaminated render and plaster above the visible damage
- Allowing the masonry to dry - months on a thick wall, not weeks
- Re-rendering in a system that accommodates residual salt
- Finishing in a permeable paint rather than a sealing acrylic
What it does not
- Lining over the affected wall in plasterboard, which traps the moisture
- Painting a damp-seal product onto the inside face
- Any finish applied before the wall has dried
- Cosmetic patching that leaves contaminated render in place
Indicative price
- Render removal and replacement$120 - $260 per square metre
- Drying time before finishingabout 1 month per 25mm
Request a call back
ImportantMasonry gives up moisture at roughly a month for every 25mm of thickness. Any schedule that has the room repainted a fortnight after injection is about to seal the moisture in.
Subfloor ventilation
On a timber house this is frequently the entire answer, and no damp course is involved at all.
What this includes
- Additional vents, and clearing whatever is blocking the existing ones
- Powered extraction on a humidistat where passive airflow is impossible
- Getting water away from the perimeter
- Grading the ground under the house so it drains
What it does not
- A masonry wall with wet ground against it - ventilation will not stop that
- Anything on a concrete slab, which has no subfloor
- Condensation inside the rooms, which is a different ventilation problem
Indicative price
- Additional passive vents$1,800 - $2,800
- Powered extraction, humidistat controlled$2,900 - $4,500
Request a call back
ImportantA Queenslander on stumps cannot get rising damp in its timber walls. If someone has quoted you a damp course for one, ask them which wall they mean.
Ground levels and drainage
The cheapest item on this page and frequently the one that does the most.
What this includes
- Lowering garden beds and paving away from the wall
- Cutting back a path or driveway that laps over the damp course
- Correcting falls so water runs away from the building
- Taking downpipes into a line instead of discharging at the base of a wall
What it does not
- Structural retaining work, a different trade which may need approval
- Council stormwater connections
- Landscaping beyond what the damp problem requires
ImportantIf a garden bed or a driveway sits above the damp course, it is carrying water past a barrier that is working perfectly well. Moving dirt is cheap, permanent, and sometimes the whole job.
What a damp job costs in Ipswich depends on far less than people expect. Wall thickness, access, and how much salt-affected render has to come off account for most of the variation. A single skin nineteenth century wall in the CBD is a different job from an interwar cavity wall in Eastern Heights, and the quote should say which one you have.
The item that surprises owners is not the injection. It is the making good. Removing contaminated render, waiting for a thick wall to dry, and re-rendering in a breathable system is usually the larger half of the bill, and a quote that leaves it out is not cheaper — it is incomplete.
Where a built-in-under room is the cause, the numbers change again. Sometimes the answer is a barrier in the new blockwork; sometimes it is ventilation and drainage and no barrier at all. That is decided at the assessment, and it is the reason we will not quote a treatment over the phone.
The cheapest useful work on this list is frequently the groundwork. Lowering a garden bed, cutting back a path, or taking a downpipe into a line costs a fraction of an injected course and, where the ground outside is the cause, does more. Any assessment worth paying for looks outside before it recommends anything.
Two quotes on the same Ipswich wall can differ by a factor of three and both be honest, because they are not describing the same job. One may be injection alone; the other may include stripping the render, waiting for a thick wall to dry and finishing in a breathable system. Ask each of them what happens to the render, and the gap usually explains itself.
Where the house is a Queenslander with a room built in underneath, the quote should say which part of the building it is pricing. Treating the original timber walls is not a thing that can be done or needs doing. The work, if there is work, is in the ground floor enclosure, and a quote that does not distinguish between the two has not understood the house.
The number nobody quotes is the drying time, and it is the one that governs when you can repaint. Masonry gives up its moisture at roughly a month for every 25mm of thickness. On a solid nineteenth century wall that is most of a year, and any schedule that has the room finished a fortnight after injection is either not treating rising damp or is about to seal the moisture in.
Why two quotes on the same wall can differ by a factor of three
- How much salt-affected render is included. The biggest single variable, and the easiest to leave out.
- Wall construction. A 350mm solid wall is not an interwar cavity wall.
- Whether drainage and ground level correction are in scope, or assumed to be somebody else's job.
- Access, and whether the wall can be treated from one side or two.
If two quotes are far apart, they are usually not quoting the same work. Ask both what happens to the render.
Prices are indicative ranges only. Every fixed price quote follows an on-site assessment.
Rising Damp Ipswich