4 Airbricks on 1 wall ???

[SadieLovatt]

Hi,

As the cold weather draws in were looking at ways reducing draughts and keeping as much heat as we can in.

Our living room, a typical semi-detached, one external wall type has 4 airbricks in. 3 at ground level (bottom left, bottom middle & bottom right) and 1 in one of the top corners.

Now, the house has a suspended wooden floor and the 3 airbricks are below the floorboards so I'm assuming that these are there to allow air to circulate below the floor. The top airbrick I'm assuming therefore allows air to circulate within the main area of the room.

But still... 4 airbricks on one wall ???

Is this normal, overkill and in short, firstly can we block up 1 (or more) without causing detrimental effects to the house (such as causing damp to form)? and secondly, will it do any good by doing so?

Sadie.

 

[^woody^]

A suspended timber floor needs ventilation to stop any moisture from promoting mould growth and timber decay. So you can't do anything with these

The air brick ventilating the room will balance the air and humidity levels and help to prevent mould in the room.

It may also vent a gas fire if you have one, so should not be removed if this is its purpose

If the room air brick is draughty, then look for an external wind hood, or change it for a plastic " Passive vent kit " which will have internal baffles to reduce draughts

 

[SadieLovatt]

The air brick ventilating the room will balance the air and humidity levels and help to prevent mould in the room.

It may also vent a gas fire if you have one, so should not be removed if this is its purpose

If the room air brick is draughty, then look for an external wind hood, or change it for a plastic " Passive vent kit " which will have internal baffles to reduce draughts

Just so I get this straight, given that we have a central heating radiator, next year we are going to install an electric fire on the chimney and that the only flame based heat in the living room is going to be when other half decides to burn some candles for ambience then do we still need the air brick that ventilates the room?

Shaun.

 

[^woody^]

You may not need the air brick, but if you don't have any other background ventilation (such as trickle vents in the windows) then you wont get the benefit of natural air changes and there could be a possibility of mould growth to any cold parts of the external walls.

BTW, if you are blocking up an existing open chimney, then you will need an air brick at the bottom and top of the flue - and this could replace the wall air vent