Installing Air Bricks Problem

[DevlinT]

Hello all

Had a damp survey done on my 2-bed semi Victorian cottage house. For reasons I do not know all air bricks around the house have either been covered with cement render or removed and then rendered over. So no ventilation under the floors at all.

One of the recommendations of the survey was to install air bricks on the front and side, however, the side of our house is on the neighbours property as there is a pathway he owns leading to his back yard that our house is adjacent to.

I spoke to a builder and he said that in order to install or get to the side air bricks he'd need to dig up the neighbours path to ensure they get below our internal floor. The neighbour is unlikely to approve this.

He then suggested to install a couple more air bricks (2 originally required) on the front of the house and some how extended them into the house more to get some ventilation further into the house. Exactly how this would be achieved is not clear to me but would involve lifting the floorboards which needs to be done anyway.

Appreciate there are lots of constraints here. After any advice or confirmation of the above approach.

Thank you

 

[cdbe]

You could probably core drill down diagonally from your neighbours side, a 50mm hole every metre or so should do it with plastic vent covers screwed over and employ someone who did geometry at school. However, it sounds like the ground level is too high at the side of your house and this should really be addressed.

 

[DevlinT]

Thanks cdbe

To address the problem properly would be to dig up our neighbours drive and side path. Whilst I haven't asked I can't see how he would approve this. Literally nothing in it for him.

Having a diagonal hole also sounds complicated and risky. A novel idea granted.

Would a telescopic/periscope air vent work here even though we have solid walls?

To say this is frustrating is a massive understatement.

 

[IT Minion]

Air bricks often go front to back or side to side. Apparently if you have front and side then the airflow can skip the furthest corner entirely.

Most houses that have that as the design also have dwarf walls with lots of ventilation in them dividing the back and front (if any exist at all).

Could you go front to back?

 

[DevlinT]

Hi IT Minion

It gets worse I'm afraid. The ground floor is essentially made up of the kitchen and front room. The kitchen has an extension toward the back. The muppets used concrete underneath with the remaining part of the house having timber joists. See the attached quite pic I put together. So any chance of having a front to back air flow is gone. I just cannot understand why it was done like this.

 

[IT Minion]

Concrete floors are the standard these days. It's just easier (and cheaper).

You could try dividing the house as seen on the diagram from left to right, then use fans to suck air in from the left front and exhaust on front right, but that seems a bit excessive and quite possibly a terrible idea.

On the subject of terrible ideas you could mole drill under the concrete floor and through the foundations, but that's probably nuts.

 

[DevlinT]

Thanks IT Minion.

It may be the standard these days but surely when they did it they must have thought about the ventilation.

Your ideas may seem nuts but I think we are in the realm of thinking outside the box.

What about the telescope/periscope vent? What are people's thoughts on the feasibility of that?

 

[cdbe]

A bit unconventional I suppose but nothing hugely complicated or risky about diagonal holes. Just a matter of drilling at the right angle and being aware of where the joists are so you come out between them if they run side to side or below if they run front to back and are close to the wall. You could put periscopes in, it's just going to be more of a messy way of achieving the same thing - a diagonal path for airflow and because you don't have a cavity for the vertical section it's going to end up behind your skirting board covered with a dollop of plaster

 

[DevlinT]

Just thinking (err, typing) aloud here. I wonder if this could be done...

Use these Manrose bends:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/manrose-rectangular-flat-channel-vertical-90-bend-white-225mm/78560

In combination with a Manrose duct:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/manrose-225-x-25mm-flat-channel-1m-4-pack/59715

To create a thinner telescopic vent which can come in and hide behind the radiator and down, something like the attached.

 

[jacko555]

Whilst I haven't asked I can't see how he would approve this. Literally nothing in it for him.

Ask. Confirm the path will be reinstated to its former glory.
I think you are allowed access, legally, onto adjoining property to carry out maintenance on yours? Dont say that to him, but, isnt that the case?

It's only a path. He may not care and it sounds far easier to find out before planning something else.

 

[DevlinT]

Hi Jacko555

You are right, however, I’m not sure it would be correct to say it’ll be reinstated as to do this properly I would need to lower the ground to allow the air brick to go under my internal floors which essentially means permanently amending his configuration to allow for that.

 

[jacko555]

Pity. Don't discount it though.
Another out the box idea, and I qualify this with not being a builder, is an external telescopic vent?
Dig down, add vent and face with brick slips, so they look like mini buttresses?

I am assuming solid wall no cavity, so, like the below, but, the grey telescope bit would be on the outside with brick on either side, and brick faces/slips covering its front?

That way its part od your building, only a brick's width depth, won't involve lowering the path etc.

Potential idea so you dont have tbe telescope on the inside...

 

[DevlinT]

Hi Jacko555

This isn't a bad idea. As you say it puts the shaft and 90 degree bit at the top outside of the building and means no messing around with the neighbours path too much. Although there probably will be some minor work to get the bottom 90 degree bit into the building it's nothing compared to the alternative. I'll have a word with him and see what he says.

 

[Bullet-Proof_Biscuit]

Would chopping trenches into the concrete extension be feasible? So air bricks front & rear with a clear path through? 110mm PVC waste pipe is used to duct the air from the air bricks to far reaches of the sub floor in other instances, and these can be used to duct through the concrete trench, then back fill of course.

 

[DevlinT]

Hi Bullet-Proof_Biscuit

It is feasible. A bigger job than I would have liked. I'll keep that one in mind as we're having our flooring re-done in the kitchen so could possibly be done then.

Cutting into concrete - sounds mega noisy and dusty.