Blocking off vent in living room. Any advice please.

[Kyle27]

Hi all,

I'm looking to get some advice on this as I don't want to do anything that could potentially cause trouble long term.

In the winters, our living room is the coldest room in the house, so much so that we often vacate to upstairs in the evening just to keep warm!
In my living room I have a wall vent by the patio doors and I am 99% certain the chill is coming from there. So I was looking to block it off to keep in the warmth.

From doing a bit of research, I believe this vent used to be mandatory when we had a back boiler. But now we have a combi upstairs, I don't think its needed anymore.

Some people I have apoken to warned of potential damp and mould, but the thing is we already have a mould issue in this corner by the vent! I can only assume where the cold air meets the warmth..?
My patio doors also have trickle vents in them.

Could I ask whether this is a good idea to do?

Could I cause any long term issues in blocking it off?

Any recommended way to block off?

Many thanks

 

[Mr Chibs]

I'd say the vent is not needed anymore.

Would think your walls are cavity walls, so cold air will come straight in.
There looks to be water ingress probably coming from shonky pointing on the outside.
This will contribute to cold/mould.
Mould is down to ventilation... open the doors for 10 mins a day to see if it improves.

Also the outside ground should be another brick lower than it currently is, you'll get splashback from rain going over the DPC layer (thick mortar layer in green).

As you probably don't want to faff with bricking it up?
Take off the grille, from the inside of your room.

Cut polystyrene/insulation and fill in the void, put a sheet of polythene over then put the vent back on.

 

[Kyle27]

Thanks for the advice. And yes, I've been told the patio is too high.

Would you suggest I just lift up the paving to increase the depth for the time being? It's on the lisoff jobs to re-do the paving anyway.

Thanks again

 

[Mr Chibs]

Wouldn’t worry, do it when the weather is nice. It’s probably been like that for ages, so a few months more won’t make a mass difference.

Cavity walls shouldn’t transmit damp through to the inside... providing the cavity is not full of mortar etc.

If you wanted to sort earlier, try to lower the ground level by at least a brick... or a 200mm trench away from wall filled with large pebbles (not 20mm gravel, as this compacts solid again).

Good luck.

 

[tell80]

The damp signs you can see around the reveal and skirting seem to be a mix of penetrating damp and condensation.
Given the high ground level and the uncertainty about where the DPC is located then its possible that rising damp is also an actor?
Can you locate your DPC?

You will need to remove all the interior trim & skirting shown on the pic.
You could lift the black board to check for flooring damp penetration?
Is the floor solid or suspended?

Knock off all plaster that shows damp signs.
Remove the air brick ie the exterior & interior arrangement that passes for an air brick.
Replace all the damaged and degraded bricks with new brickwork.
When the brickwork is open then examine the cavity for rubble bridging.
You could remove and examine behind the exterior, vertical piece of pvc door trim.
Fit & glue an end cap to the sill.Can you clean up and pic the abuttment of the ground to the wall?

At some time re-pointing of the whole wall (house?) is needed.

 

[Deleted member 292770]

the patio is not too high , well not by enough to do anything about it anyway, and the external dpc is at the right level.
Don’t look like rising damp to me. Looks like condensation together with a badly fitted door. How anyone can say the whole wall needs repointing from those pictures is baffling.

 

[Kyle27]

Thanks for all the advice.

Thank God you say that. As much as I welcome any advice, I had heart palpitations at the thought of all that work lol.

Thanks again.

 

[foxhole]

I would remove and brick it up as it's compromising the door frame integrity allowing in moisture. It's in the wrong position for a vent which ideally should be high on wall.

 

[big-all]

temporary i would place a bit off board in front of the vent outside to stop wind penetration and tape over the inside

 

[Terrywookfit]

It looks like a typical vent for a bbu fitted by a blind plumber.

If you have no bbu or Decorative Effect Fire it is not needed.