Chimney + wall ventilation

[peca27]

Mornin all

A mate of mine has just bought a new house, it's a late 1800's brick built semi in Yorkshire. Just got a few questions about the vents in the house pls:

- Seems to have a vent (in the bedroom above the living room) on the chimney stack wall. Is it venting the actual chimney stack? If so how + is it safe?
- Vents in the bedrooms upstairs generally, located close to the windows. Can these be covered / papered over, or do u have to maintain some kind of ventilation?

Any advice would be most appreciated. He is gonna get a Corgi to give the whole place a once over also.

 

[JohnD]

- Seems to have a vent (in the bedroom above the living room) on the chimney stack wall. Is it venting the actual chimney stack? If so how + is it safe?

this is usually done when fireplaces are blocked up. it is to ventilate the chimney and prevent damp. It is safe unless (1) the fireplaces start to be re-used and (2) the vent is into a flue which has smoke in it, including if the divisions between flues are leaky. There is a slim chance that it is part of a victorian system intended to gather warm air and distribute it round the room, but these are rare, especially in UK.

Vents in the bedrooms upstairs generally, located close to the windows. Can these be covered / papered over, or do u have to maintain some kind of ventilation?

Yes you do have to maintain ventilation or the house will become damp with condensation. remember these houses were built with open fireplaces and draughty windows. sealing then up prevents ventilation, which is essential. especially as we have far more baths and showers these days, and some insane people will not use extractor fans, and even drape wet washing about the house or on radiators

For neatness you can put a white plastic grill over the vents. If you really want to you can paint it to match the wall.

 

[peca27]

Cheers JohnD

- the fireplace is still in use, hence the concern of the safety of the upper bedroom occupants. I guess Mr Corgi will check to make sure that, if the vent is serving some kind of ventilation to the flu, it is not leaking + dangerous. Just seems a bit unusual.

- the house has got double glazing (approx 5 yrs ago, but can't recall if they have trickle vents), therefore is it necessary to have these vents in bedrooms? A modern brick + block house is better insulated + has less ventilation without any damp problems.

 

[JohnD]

better insulation means the walls will be warmer so less prone to condensation

cavity wall will prevent moisture transmission in rainy weather

the modern house will have extractor in bathroom and hood in kitchen

also it will be on a concrete slab with DPM so no moisture rising through the floor

even so, if the occupants insist on draping wet washing about the house or turning off the fans, it will get damp.

 

[Delinquent]

Cheers JohnD

- the fireplace is still in use, hence the concern of the safety of the upper bedroom occupants. I guess Mr Corgi will check to make sure that, if the vent is serving some kind of ventilation to the flu, it is not leaking + dangerous. Just seems a bit unusual.

- the house has got double glazing (approx 5 yrs ago, but can't recall if they have trickle vents), therefore is it necessary to have these vents in bedrooms? A modern brick + block house is better insulated + has less ventilation without any damp problems.

The vent in the upstairs wall is probably a seperate chimney - are there 2 pots on top? Probably find the bedroom had it's own fireplace which has been blocked up and it is the chimney for that fire that is being vented.

We had exactly the same thing, only are having the chimney capped so that it can be sealed on the inside as well. The vent might not cause too much of an eyesore if done nicely but if it's anything like our place the room will just vent any hot air straight out into the atmosphere! The temperature falls in that room at 10 times the rate of any other.

As to the wall vents, we also have those - and are also getting rid of them for the same reason. The vents on the double glazing do the job.