Who to hire for rust and salt damage on a coastal home

Short answer

A painter who does protective coatings. The job is washing the salt off, taking rust back to sound metal or replacing what is past saving, then priming and recoating with a system specified for coastal exposure. An ordinary repaint over salt and rust fails early, because both keep working under the new film.

Plan itThere is time to get more than one quote, which is where the money is.

Salt is what makes the coast different. It settles on every surface, draws moisture out of the air, and keeps steel wet long after the weather has dried. That is why the underside of a balcony or the back of a downpipe bracket rusts before the open face of the roof does, and why preparation on a coastal job starts with fresh water rather than sandpaper.

Makers of pre-painted steel and coating systems publish guidance for coastal sites, and roofing and fencing warranties can depend on how far the building is from breaking surf and on the recommended washing being done. Ask for that guidance before choosing a product, not after it fails.

When it is someone else

Calling the wrong trade costs an attendance fee to be told so. These are the cases where this problem belongs to someone other than a Painter.

  • a builder or remedial specialist

    concrete is cracking or flaking off around rust stains — on a balcony slab, a lintel or a column. That is reinforcing steel corroding inside the concrete, sometimes called concrete cancer, and paint only hides it.

  • a roofer

    roof sheets, gutters or flashings are rusted through rather than rust-marked. A sheet with holes is replaced; a sound one can be treated and recoated.

  • a builder or damp specialist

    the salt is a white, powdery crust low on a wall and the paint above it is bubbling. That is usually moisture moving up through the wall and carrying salts with it, which is a damp problem before it is a paint problem.

What to do before anyone arrives

  1. Walk the outside and note every rust mark: fixings and screw heads, balustrades and their base plates, window and door frames, flashings, gutters, garage doors and roof sheets. Sheltered spots under eaves and balconies, which rain never rinses, are usually the worst.
  2. Push on anything structural that is rusted. A balustrade that moves, a base plate that is swollen or a fixing that has lost its head needs repair or replacement, and should be fenced off until it is done.
  3. Look at any concrete near rust stains for hairline cracks or pieces that have come away. Photograph it, because that changes who you call.
  4. Hose the salt off with fresh water before anyone quotes. It shows what is corrosion and what is just salt deposit, and it is maintenance the finish will need from then on anyway.

What to ask when you book

  • How will the salt be removed before priming, and how do you check it is gone? Primer applied over salt does not hold.
  • How far will rust be taken back — wire brush, grinding or blasting — and which items will you replace rather than paint?
  • What primer and top coat are you specifying for metal and for render, and are they rated by the manufacturer for coastal or marine exposure?
  • Where fixings are replaced, with what? Stainless steel touching galvanised or aluminium parts makes the galvanised or aluminium one corrode faster unless the two are separated.
  • What maintenance does the coating system need, and does the warranty depend on it being done?

What changes the price

No dollar figures here: this directory holds no price data and an invented range is worse than none. What follows is what makes one of these jobs cost more than the same job next door, which is the part you can actually use when comparing quotes.

  • How much metalwork there is and how far gone it is. Surface rust is preparation; pitted or perforated steel is repair or replacement.
  • Exposure. A house facing breaking surf needs a heavier system and sooner recoating than one a few streets back. Australian Standard AS 4312 classifies how corrosive the air is by location, and coating specifications refer to it.
  • The preparation method. Hand tools, power tools and abrasive blasting are very different amounts of work.
  • Access to balconies, upper storeys and roofs.
  • Whether repairs to concrete, timber or render have to happen before any coating can.

What you can do yourself

Is this licensed work?

Painting falls inside building work licensing thresholds in several states at higher values. Balcony balustrades are safety barriers, so a corroded one that is loose or perforated is a repair, not a recoat, and replacement can bring building approval requirements.

There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state the work is happening in.

Licensing thresholds and certificate requirements differ by state and change with amending regulation, so this page describes the mechanism rather than quoting a figure. The regulator’s own page is the current answer.

Common questions

Who should I hire for rust and salt damage on a coastal home
A painter who does protective coatings. The job is washing the salt off, taking rust back to sound metal or replacing what is past saving, then priming and recoating with a system specified for coastal exposure. An ordinary repaint over salt and rust fails early, because both keep working under the new film.
Why does rust come back through new paint near the beach?
Because the rust or the salt under the paint was never removed. Paint over active rust traps moisture and salt against the steel and the corrosion keeps spreading underneath until it lifts the film. A coastal job lasts when the metal is cleaned back to sound steel, the salt is washed off and checked, and the primer is one specified for the exposure.
Is the white powder on my render salt damage?
White, powdery or crystalline deposits on render or brick are usually salts left behind as water evaporates from the surface, called efflorescence. Brush it off dry. If it keeps coming back low on a wall, or the paint there is bubbling, the source is moisture moving through the wall and that needs fixing first, otherwise any new coating will be pushed off the same way.
Should I paint stainless steel or aluminium balustrades?
Usually not. Stainless steel and powder-coated aluminium are maintained by cleaning, and tea-staining on stainless near the coast is surface staining that cleaning removes. Painted mild steel and galvanised steel are the ones that need a protective coating system and periodic recoating.

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