I have a 3 1/2 year old 4 bed detached house. Half of the air bricks are blocked with some totally blocked by driveway paving. All bar the front had some kind of blocking.
I hope someone can answer a few questions but first here's a few pictures
In this image the paving slab and guttering is covering half of the air brick. You can also see the small stones that were initially installed by the builder and which covered most of the air bricks at the rear of the house.
Here slate has replace the old small stones and the brick is kept clear by hand as and when needed. Some of the neighbours had half pipe surrounds installed but it is not possible to do that for this house because of short distance between wall and slab. I could put some stone edging in to frame the brick but it's no bother to ensure the stones are cleared if they are disturbed.
These are the bricks at the front of the side driveway. As well as those at the front these two are the only that are unobstructed.
The driveway slopes up away from the front so the air bricks are now getting lower relative to the driveway.
The next one is half submerged by driveway. Before I comment on water run off here's the final air brick for comedic value:
Both this and the previous one slope into the wall so clearly any heavy rain could run into the air bricks.
I have read the NHBC advice on air bricks and specifically about their positioning and proximity to other objects.
According to radonmap this is a low risk area.
1. Is it OK to have some air bricks permanently blocked up. These would be the two that are on the driveway that have the potential for water to run off into the air brick, and the two that are partly covered by slabs so 2, 3, possibly 4.
2. Is there a guideline on the minimum of active air bricks required for a specific size and shape of house.
3. If a guideline is just that, then is there a more stricter rule that states there must be X number of air bricks per sqm or something?
4. What are the implications of having some air bricks blocked. Could this cause damp and affect the NHBC warranty?
5. What are the implications of having the potential for water run off in the driveway airbricks. Could this cause damp issues?
6. Should the air bricks be moved higher up to avoid obstruction and water run off? How much would that cost to do that for say for 10 air bricks?
7. Would you class this as a defect in the build?
8. If this is a build defect the house builder should rectify it right? If they refuse would NHBC cover it? (note: aware that they have an MVC of around £2K)
I hope someone can answer a few questions but first here's a few pictures
In this image the paving slab and guttering is covering half of the air brick. You can also see the small stones that were initially installed by the builder and which covered most of the air bricks at the rear of the house.
Here slate has replace the old small stones and the brick is kept clear by hand as and when needed. Some of the neighbours had half pipe surrounds installed but it is not possible to do that for this house because of short distance between wall and slab. I could put some stone edging in to frame the brick but it's no bother to ensure the stones are cleared if they are disturbed.
These are the bricks at the front of the side driveway. As well as those at the front these two are the only that are unobstructed.
The driveway slopes up away from the front so the air bricks are now getting lower relative to the driveway.
The next one is half submerged by driveway. Before I comment on water run off here's the final air brick for comedic value:
Both this and the previous one slope into the wall so clearly any heavy rain could run into the air bricks.
I have read the NHBC advice on air bricks and specifically about their positioning and proximity to other objects.
According to radonmap this is a low risk area.
1. Is it OK to have some air bricks permanently blocked up. These would be the two that are on the driveway that have the potential for water to run off into the air brick, and the two that are partly covered by slabs so 2, 3, possibly 4.
2. Is there a guideline on the minimum of active air bricks required for a specific size and shape of house.
3. If a guideline is just that, then is there a more stricter rule that states there must be X number of air bricks per sqm or something?
4. What are the implications of having some air bricks blocked. Could this cause damp and affect the NHBC warranty?
5. What are the implications of having the potential for water run off in the driveway airbricks. Could this cause damp issues?
6. Should the air bricks be moved higher up to avoid obstruction and water run off? How much would that cost to do that for say for 10 air bricks?
7. Would you class this as a defect in the build?
8. If this is a build defect the house builder should rectify it right? If they refuse would NHBC cover it? (note: aware that they have an MVC of around £2K)
