Trickle vents (Y/N)?

[Gazman16]

Personally I just open my windows.
In the summer I always have a few windows left open even if only on the night vent.
In winter just occasionally, While and after showering, Cooking etc. I also always have my bedroom window a little as I like the fresh air.

If you live near a road trickle vents are going to let quite a bit of noise in.
The built-in insect screens are rubbish, They are always full of insects.
As virtually no company fits trickle vent sleeves cold air will get to the inside chambers of the windows making the whole thing colder.
They can whistle in the wind sometimes.

Just open your windows a little occasionally at least you can close and fully seal them when its very windy/noisy or super cold. A 2mm flap of plastic on a trickle vent wont block these things.

The only time I recommend trickle vents (other than when you have to have them) is for rented properties when I work for landlords but even then most of the time you find the tenants just block them up with tissue or something.

Seems like a recipe for a damp mouldy property.

I fully understand the need for ventilation. We make our houses air tight now and you need to get the moisture/stale air out and fresh air in.
Ideally every house would have a heat recovery ventilation system but its not in everyone's budget.

Trickle vents are just a bad bodge fix of the problem I feel. If your car had been flooded and was full of water would your first idea be to shoot some holes in the bottom? (got to love Top Gear lol) It would work but there are much better ways to go about it.

 

[foxhole]

Personally I just open my windows.
In the summer I always have a few windows left open even if only on the night vent.
In winter just occasionally, While and after showering, Cooking etc. I also always have my bedroom window a little as I like the fresh air.

If you live near a road trickle vents are going to let quite a bit of noise in.
The built-in insect screens are rubbish, They are always full of insects.
As virtually no company fits trickle vent sleeves cold air will get to the inside chambers of the windows making the whole thing colder.
They can whistle in the wind sometimes.

Just open your windows a little occasionally at least you can close and fully seal them when its very windy/noisy or super cold. A 2mm flap of plastic on a trickle vent wont block these things.

The only time I recommend trickle vents (other than when you have to have them) is for rented properties when I work for landlords but even then most of the time you find the tenants just block them up with tissue or something.

Seems like a recipe for a damp mouldy property.

I fully understand the need for ventilation. We make our houses air tight now and you need to get the moisture/stale air out and fresh air in.
Ideally every house would have a heat recovery ventilation system but its not in everyone's budget.

Trickle vents are just a bad bodge fix of the problem I feel. If your car had been flooded and was full of water would your first idea be to shoot some holes in the bottom? (got to love Top Gear lol) It would work but there are much better ways to go about it.

A flooded car will empty without additional holes , it is ventilated like a home for the same purpose, to prevent damp and mould.

 

[ronniecabers]

Personally I just open my windows.
In the summer I always have a few windows left open even if only on the night vent.
In winter just occasionally, While and after showering, Cooking etc. I also always have my bedroom window a little as I like the fresh air.

If you live near a road trickle vents are going to let quite a bit of noise in.
The built-in insect screens are rubbish, They are always full of insects.
As virtually no company fits trickle vent sleeves cold air will get to the inside chambers of the windows making the whole thing colder.
They can whistle in the wind sometimes.

Just open your windows a little occasionally at least you can close and fully seal them when its very windy/noisy or super cold. A 2mm flap of plastic on a trickle vent wont block these things.

The only time I recommend trickle vents (other than when you have to have them) is for rented properties when I work for landlords but even then most of the time you find the tenants just block them up with tissue or something.

Seems like a recipe for a damp mouldy property.

I fully understand the need for ventilation. We make our houses air tight now and you need to get the moisture/stale air out and fresh air in.
Ideally every house would have a heat recovery ventilation system but its not in everyone's budget.

Trickle vents are just a bad bodge fix of the problem I feel. If your car had been flooded and was full of water would your first idea be to shoot some holes in the bottom? (got to love Top Gear lol) It would work but there are much better ways to go about it.

A flooded car will empty without additional holes , it is ventilated like a home for the same purpose, to prevent damp and mould.

not quite true... a car will empty to a certain point through badly fitting door seals and rubber grommits, and as in Gazmans analagy a couple of bullet holes allows it to empty quicker , just like opening a window ...purging the excess moisture. If you leave a car locked up with no windows open and its damp inside it will steam up and the upholstery will start to go mouldy.
Houses these days are being built to have no natural ventalation ...hence the need for trickle ventilators. Years ago with single glazing and wooden windows there would be gaps and draughts and air bricks were very common ..not so much these days

 

[foxhole]

"If you leave a car locked up with no windows open and its damp inside it will steam up and the upholstery will start to go mouldy."

Not true, cars have ventilation built in , thousands of cars are locked up with damp seats etc during the winter months without ill effect.

 

[ronniecabers]

Well i beg to differ as i have seen it with my own eyes ...having had it happen to two of my own cars! And i mean leaving it for say two weeks...because if you open a door it has been purge ventilated

 

[Rad1o]

As said above, condensation on walls / black mould is caused by an imbalance of how much moisture warm can hold and how much much condensation a cold spot on a wall or window invites.
The best protection for this is no moisture in the air (air conditioning) and warm walls. Does not happen, so insulated walls - dry wall insulation for solid walls -, i.e. warmer walls, do not promote as much condensation and good ventilation to have PROPER air exchanges will help. Proper air exchange you get through wide open windows for a brief period of time and not an open window / trickle vent for the whole day. This will effectively cool down the surrounding walls and you loose the heat sink effect of the walls. Often you get condensation and black mould just around the vents.
We had an extension done and put triple glazed tilt and turn windows with a minimal opening option in and we could avoid the trickle vents.
BC wer happy and opening wide regularly but briefly gives you fresher air and keeps the warmth in the house.

 

[HawkEye244]

My victorian terraced has a basement that was better ventilated through the use of retro fitted trickle vents than tanking the entire area and fitting some kind of active air ventilation system.

Not just cost, but I didn't like the idea of the stone cob walls sitting there saturated in water 365 days a year.

The walls were still rendered with cement + waterproofer although I considered using lime for a time but not sure how that would have worked with tenants in there.

I checked up part E of the regs and went to excess of every trickle vent regulation for every room. Found the largest and most expensive ones I could find on the net.

Before fitting them, if the kitchen was used condensation would stay in the air for some time to the point where it looked like an amazon rain forest, especially if water was being boiled.

I didn't want to fit external extraction to the hood because I sensed the tenant wouldn't use it + involved core drilling a 500mm hole through a stone wall.

The problem was solved with trickles and the flat still feels warm all year round with just 25-32mmmm plasterboard insulation.

When I originally bought the place there were two spots that had developed mould and now they no longer do.

Personally I wouldn't consider them a bodge job, they solve the problem and if you've got a build up of moisture you need that removed. If you are one of those that likes a perfectly sealed house you better have a good ventilation system to go with it. Not a reality for the majority of people who live in buildings built before 1980