Air bricks

Plastering questions and answers here please

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Dean123
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Air bricks

Post by Dean123 »

Hello.

Ive been looking at this site for a while now and finding it a great source of info.

we have just brought our first house which is turning into a bit of a money pit.

my question is are air bricks necessary in upstairs rooms?

im planning on stripping these walls back to brick then drylining i was going to board around these and put little vent cover thingys over them but was just wondering if they are still needed or can i block them up and have nice warm rooms :grin:

Thanks

Dean

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Post by ultimatehandyman »

Hi Dean, these are often found in rooms that have had gas heaters in as they were needed for ventillation.

Are there any chimney breasts in the rooms?

If there are then you can put a vent on the chimney breasts and then remove the airbricks.

If there is no other source of ventillation and you block up the airbricks then you could get more problems like condensation!

Perhaps you could fit vents above the internal doors so that air can enter/escape when the door is closed?

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Post by Dean123 »

wow thanks for the quick reply!

there is only a chimney breast in the main room (which has a small vent)
but none in any of the other bedrooms or bathroom

every room has radiators (not sure if this makes a diffrence)

happy to leave them if they are needed.

we have been staying in our spare room since knocking of the plaster in the main bedroom and its b****y drafty just thought id get rid if they wernt needed anymore.

i like the idea of internal vents!

Dean123

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Post by ultimatehandyman »

I'd definately leave the one in the bathroom, unless you have an extractor that comes on with the light, even then it is probably a good idea to leave that one.

The other ones could probably be removed, but you may start to get problems with condensation.

You could try fitting air vents that close over the vents and if you start to get problems you can always open them again?

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Post by leebwk »

HI dean123,

Air bricks were standard build in most houses pre 1980, but not so common now although with todays homes and regs being obsessed with sealing everything up we are seeing more and more problems with condensation and damp related condensation.
If you are the type of person that has the windows on vent or open regulary then you could cover then vents permanently and discard them or you could fit hit and miss covers (as shown by UHM) which are controllable and will still give circulation.

Hope this helps

If you think nobody cares, try missing a couple of payments..

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Post by skiking »

We had cavity wall insulation done a couple of years ago and the guys asked if we wanted the vents sealing. I ended up saying yes (wasn't convinced it was a good idea at the time) and they filled the outside air bricks with silicon and then did the cavity wall. Since then we suffer alot from condensation to the point that, even on the coldest day, we need to have the bedroom windows open for an hour to clear the condensation from the DG windows

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Post by Dean123 »

In that case they will stay and ill get some fancy covers like above.

thanks all for your replies!

Dean123