Cover up air brick

[duffydj]

Hello everyone,

I have a question and I'm looking to get some advice.

I live in a 1930 flat (I live on the first floor) and I have 3 air bricks: one in each bedroom and one in the kitchen. I had a conventional boiler installed, but now there's a combi-boiler in the property, there is no gas fire and the gas hob is going to be replaced by an induction hob. Plus, all external walls are going to be insulated.

The question is, do I need these air bricks or can I just cover it up, either using foam or doing it properly with brick work?

There is one air brick in an old chimney that I will keep open.

The property has solid walls.

Thanks.

 

[Burnerman]

Historically these vents were there to feed solid fuel fires (coal and even paraffin in some cases). Your combi takes its combustion air from the outside and therefore the vents are now redundant......however, they do provide air exchange which may help prevent the growth of mould, so don't permanently block them off just yet. Better to tape some cardboard over the vents just to see how things go.
John

 

[duffydj]

Thanks John. Is just that the living room is not far from a main street and the noise coming from and cold is just too bad. Plus renovating the house and leaving the air vent there it just doesn't look pretty.

I understand that the problem here can be condensation, but there are always windows to open I guess

 

[Burnerman]

More than likely the problems occur upstairs where the bathroom is - which is no longer relevant anyway if you have an extractor.
Personally if it was my property, the vents would go.....you don't see them on more modern constructions.
John

 

[duffydj]

It's true, the modern buildings don't have it anymore. The bathroom has indeed an extractor. And what's the point of spending large amounts of money heating the house to see the heat go through the air brick

 

[foxhole]

You can put baffles on the vents to prevent noise, block at your peril, homes need good ventilation, modern homes have it but it is provided in a different way to the old style vents.

 

[duffydj]

If I'm going to block it, let' say with foam, do this stop the noise coming from it?

 

[foxhole]

Yes foam will do it, look forward to your posts on mold and condensation.

 

[duffydj]

Yes foam will do it, look forward to your posts on mold and condensation.

I lived before on a house of the same period, with air vents all over and that didn't stop the mould and damp coming over.

 

[foxhole]

Yes foam will do it, look forward to your posts on mold and condensation.

I lived before on a house of the same period, with air vents all over and that didn't stop the mould and damp coming over.

They were probably blocked or you dried washing indoors?

 

[duffydj]

I dried washing indoors in the living room, but the all the areas were covered with damp and mould and the air vents weren't blocked.

There was no insulation in that property at all.

 

[Burnerman]

Aint no holes in the wall in my properties......aint no mould either.
John

 

[duffydj]

What's the secret?

 

[Burnerman]

Maybe more luck than judgement.....
I'll stick by my original post though.....many houses up here (particularly local authority) had these brick louvre vents in many rooms. No houses were centrally heated, and if therefore people decided to use fossil fuel appliances, combustion air was naturally necessary.
It was also usual to see square holes connecting the rooms together above the doors....again for ventilation.
However, with the coming of central heating, folks didn't bother with solid fuel so much......if the heating boiler came in the form of a Baxi with back boiler, this drew its combustion air from the room and naturally external ventilation was and is necessary......installers would undertake a spill test to see if the ventilation was adequate.
So.....I cant see any point in a bloody great gaping hole in the wall that lets cold air and moisture through - effectively reducing the room temperature even more, although naturally enough, ventilation is necessary in all properties. This is often in the form of weep vents in the windows, or natural gaps in doors and window sashes.
My formula? Bathroom and kitchen extraction, use of an external vented tumble drier and a well maintained property.
John

 

[foxhole]

I dried washing indoors in the living room, but the all the areas were covered with damp and mould and the air vents weren't blocked.

There was no insulation in that property at all.

It was the washing causing your problem , simple.