What is this? Can I get rid of it?

[JakesDaddy]

Untitled

• JakesDaddy
• 9 Jul 2008
• 1

OK, so fairly obviously its an air vent - so that answers 'What is this?'. I guess the real question is can I get rid of it.

Its in my bathroom which I am currently refitting and decorating. I think the vent goes into the kitchen chimney which has been bricked up and unused for years (bricked up in the kitchen - its probably open at the top ??). As far as I can tell the only purpose this vent has is to let large spiders and other creepy-crawleys into my bathroom, and to look ugly !

Of possible interest / relevance - all the bedrooms of the house also have a similar vent (but are on an outside wall so vent directly outside) and the previous owners have 'plated' them all over with a piece of wood (hmm, nice )

So, I want to remove it. Rather than 'plate' it over as above, I'd like to do it properly by cutting it out, bricking up and plastering over.

Can I / should I do this? or is the vent really needed ??

Cheers

JD
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[2scoops0406]

Of primary concern is to ensure that you do not starve any gas appliances of air.

 

[big-all]

what other source of ventilation do you have in that and other rooms!!!!!

you should idealy have a extractor fan in toilets bathrooms shower rooms and kitchens

you should have ventilation in every room in the house somtimes this can be trickle vents on the d/g units
as said above if you have any gas appliances you will need sutable ventilation for the appliance

reducing ventilation can cause damp the one in the bathroom may be nessisery for airflow to stop the stack getting damp as well
why do you assume it goes it goes into the kitchen chimny it could be a chimnie in its own right!!!!!

 

[JakesDaddy]

Thanks for your replies;
No gas appliances in the bathroom (or upstairs at all for that matter), so hopefully should be OK on that front.

Hmm, the double glazed units are quite old and I dont think they have 'trickle vents' (certainly not seen anything on them that looks like a vent ??), so maybe its not such a good idea to remove it.

The only reason I think the vent goes into the kitchen chimney is cos its roughly where I think the kitchen chimney is


Hmmm, might have to give this some more thought ......

 

[big-all]

The only reason I think the vent goes into the kitchen chimney is cos its roughly where I think the kitchen chimney is


Hmmm, might have to give this some more thought ......

the way chimnies work is the supply the back to back rooms with a further pair per floor till they exit the roof
sometimes stacks would combine in the attic if a halway was in between

remember old houses did not have toilets or bathrooms in house and the only source of heat was a fire so your bathroom backing onto the kitchen would have its own fire as a habbitable day room

 

[Symptoms]

JD - do a smoke test (get a box of smoke matches, about 50p a box of 12 or some smoke pellets, about £2 from plumbers merchant) to detect where vent exhausts - you'll have to get somebody to hold these whilst you go outside to observe.

Lots of old houses have these room vents, as they used to suffer from condensation/dampness; people put these things in as a way to reducing the problem.

Anyway, in the day before central heating/water boilers many of the original bathrooms had wall-mounted gas water heaters (sometimes known as Ascots) and this type of vent was often also installed 'cos of the appliance. The flue arrangement of these things (often a 4 or 6" asbestos pipe running along the bathroom wall ) weren't that great; these appliances used to give off loads of water vapour as a by-product of combustion so create even more condensation - hence the vents.

So long as you have some form of ventalation in the bathroom it is safe to remove this old vent. Use the existing hole for a wall-mounted bathroom fan maybe. Otherwise chisel off the old vent & make good. Install you new fan elsewhere (ceiling & pipe out via eaves/soffit)