Information regarding air bricks

[meanwhileinhell]

Hi all,

I have a couple of very general questions regarding air bricks. I have an end terrace house built circa 1895. I can see two air bricks on the outside; one in the middle of the front, and one in the middle of the gable wall, both at ground level. I know these ones are to vent under the floorboards.

My first question is, is this the sole purpose of air bricks, to just vent under the floor, or can they/should they be used to vent a room also? Our bedroom which is also at the front of the house gets a lot of condensation on the outside wall. It runs just above the skirting board along the whole front wall and up the whole way to the ceiling in the corner (front and gable walls, so both outside walls) which is in an alcove to the left of the chimney breast (this will be the basis of a future question). The radiator in this room is opposite the front wall.

My second question is, could air bricks be used to help vent the bedroom, or should vents be installed in the windows (double glazed) to help air flow and alleviate the condensation problem?

Thanks a lot!

 

[bhm1712]

condensation in a home is usually caused by the occupants rather than it being a problem with the house. Usual suspects:

Drying clothes on an indoor line or on radiators,
Cooking without a cooker hood fan that vents to outside
no extractor fan in the bathroom and having baths and showers regularly
Never opening the windows during the day to let fresh air in and moisture out.

If your doing any of the above, id suggest thats the problem and if you altered your way of doing things the moisture/condense would stop.

The reason it is appearing on the outside walls is because the outside walls will be colder than the rest, and when humid air contacts this, it causes the water to condense out of the air. Do you have cavity insulation?

 

[meanwhileinhell]

I think the house is too old to have been built with a cavity. However, when we had an outside wall in our dining room stripped back to the brick, we noticed that the were like the "typical cavity wall" in this site, and not the "typical solid brick wall". This is something I have been meaning to check out.

http://www.thinkinsulation.co.uk/do-i-have-cavity-walls.htm

We occasionally would use the radiator in the room to dry some clothes, but very seldom. We notice the windows are covered in water first thing in the morning, so this is something we can't change. We open the windows every day to air and vent the room, but the next morning its the same. Would relocating the radiator to the outside wall help at all?

One other thing I should mention, where I mentioned the condensation is (above the skirting boards etc...) it is actually a white mould that accumulates. Would this be caused by condensation? I know the house has a wooden header running the length of the house. This however is about a foot lower than the floor on the first floor. Could this be caused by cracks in the mortar allowing rain to soak into this header? I kind of disregard this theory as the mould runs up the corner of the room (and a tiny part of the same corner in the very top of the living room (room immediately below). Also, there is no "tide mark" that I presume would show that the wall is soaking. Also, if this was the case, would the mould be white?

Thanks.

 

[bhm1712]

sorry i misread the date of the property! i read it as 1985 not 1895!!