Looking for a bit of advice, this will probably cover a number of different forums but feel the building forum most appropriate.
We live in a fairly large extended 4 bed semi detached property which has a total of 12 airbricks which go into the cavity and not into the rooms.
Now this time of year with temps -7 degrees and the cold wind breeze it does not matter how much we pump out the GCH there are always cold drafts from under the upstairs floorboards, under the skirting boards, around the waste water pipes etc.
Even in rooms with thick carpet the floor is cold, I lifted the carpet and put my hand through a floorboard and the draft is freezing cold.
Last year we had cavity wall insulation fitted and now wonder why we need the airbricks at all as the cavities are now filled with polystyrene beads.
I have read that downstairs they are often needed for wooden floors to ventilate below, however our downstairs floors are all concrete, although the airbricks at the bottom I would leave alone and only block the higher ones that are just below the guttering.
I did an experiment a couple of weeks ago and covered a small number of the upper airbricks, inside the property stayed warmer longer and the thermostat kept switching the boiler off.
There are other properties along my row of the same design that have no upper airbricks, they were removed when the properties were re rendered.
So are these cavity airbricks still required? Should they have been blocked when the cavity wall insulation was installed? What is the best way to block them, possibly with the option of opening them again should they be required, i.e silicone sealant
Or are there better designed one of the market these days that do not allow drafts in, it just seems like we are throwing £££ out the vent and it defeats the object of cavity wall insulation.
We live in a fairly large extended 4 bed semi detached property which has a total of 12 airbricks which go into the cavity and not into the rooms.
Now this time of year with temps -7 degrees and the cold wind breeze it does not matter how much we pump out the GCH there are always cold drafts from under the upstairs floorboards, under the skirting boards, around the waste water pipes etc.
Even in rooms with thick carpet the floor is cold, I lifted the carpet and put my hand through a floorboard and the draft is freezing cold.
Last year we had cavity wall insulation fitted and now wonder why we need the airbricks at all as the cavities are now filled with polystyrene beads.
I have read that downstairs they are often needed for wooden floors to ventilate below, however our downstairs floors are all concrete, although the airbricks at the bottom I would leave alone and only block the higher ones that are just below the guttering.
I did an experiment a couple of weeks ago and covered a small number of the upper airbricks, inside the property stayed warmer longer and the thermostat kept switching the boiler off.
There are other properties along my row of the same design that have no upper airbricks, they were removed when the properties were re rendered.
So are these cavity airbricks still required? Should they have been blocked when the cavity wall insulation was installed? What is the best way to block them, possibly with the option of opening them again should they be required, i.e silicone sealant
Or are there better designed one of the market these days that do not allow drafts in, it just seems like we are throwing £££ out the vent and it defeats the object of cavity wall insulation.