Path built half way up air brick. Can I sanity check my planned fix

[ElCI]

.

Hi all, looking for a sanity check here. We bought a house last year and I noticed that on one side of the house the path has been built up and is partially covering 2 air bricks.

There doesn't seem to be any specific issues in the inside, talking to neighbours this was done maybe around 4-6 years ago .

My relatively easy (I think) plan here is to remove the first row of paving bricks and then add some pea gravel. I assume I'll need to dig down to some to some extent however I know there is cabling in the area, at least the cable going to garage, also my electricity meter is mounted in this external wall so assume mains is coming in here. So basically would prefer to not risk digging too much.

Is there anything else I should be considering here? I'm guessing that generally the paving bricks are just placed in dirt (not sand or cement etc)

Is there anything I should do differently? Or a better solution?

Is there a general recommendation for depth of pea gravel and also distance to air brick (I'll struggle to get significant gap to be honest)

Thanks

 

[jj4091]

As long as rain water is not running into them you don't really need to do anything. Do you have a suspended floor that they vent underneath or are they just venting the cavity. Either way the ventilation should be OK as long as air can circulate.

 

[Tigercubrider]

As above.
However rather than lifting an entire slab, you could use an angle grinder with cutting disc or stitch drill an area just in front of the air brick and break out a bite of the slab. I doubt that it’s worth it,, but it’s easy to do.
Cables shouldn’t be so close to the surface and you can cut shallow and slowly. Then break out the bite.

 

[noseall]

View attachment 379480. View attachment 379481

Hi all, looking for a sanity check here. We bought a house last year and I noticed that on one side of the house the path has been built up and is partially covering 2 air bricks.

There doesn't seem to be any specific issues in the inside, talking to neighbours this was done maybe around 4-6 years ago .

My relatively easy (I think) plan here is to remove the first row of paving bricks and then add some pea gravel. I assume I'll need to dig down to some to some extent however I know there is cabling in the area, at least the cable going to garage, also my electricity meter is mounted in this external wall so assume mains is coming in here. So basically would prefer to not risk digging too much.

Is there anything else I should be considering here? I'm guessing that generally the paving bricks are just placed in dirt (not sand or cement etc)

Is there anything I should do differently? Or a better solution?

Is there a general recommendation for depth of pea gravel and also distance to air brick (I'll struggle to get significant gap to be honest)

Thanks

Might be a silly question - how do you know that are not 9" x 3" air bricks?

 

[ElCI]

As long as rain water is not running into them you don't really need to do anything. Do you have a suspended floor that they vent underneath or are they just venting the cavity. Either way the ventilation should be OK as long as air can circulate.

Hi

Not sure how best to describe the construction to be honest as it's the first normal/modernish (mid 90s) house I've lived in. It's built on a slope so this side is shallow to the ground level but the opposite side has a huge drop so is built up to about 5-6 feet with brick. I assume them that there's a large void under the floor. I also assumed that this air brick was to vent the void but that's a guess.

Thanks for response though, I had assumed this was a fairly major thing that needed fixed.

 

[ElCI]

Might be a silly question - how do you know that are not 9" x 3" air bricks?

Hi, I'm 99.9% sure they aren't as outwith of this path I can see the other bricks on this wall and they are all standard size. I also know that this path was built up in last few years so fairly confident that these are full size.

Also, my main issue here is that during rain there will be water getting into these holes and potentially causing issue on the inside so even on off chance they are shorter bricks then same issue would apply

 

[Tigercubrider]

You could build a small concrete barrier around the vent a couple of inches high, or if you cut a small section away, make an upstand to divert any excessive water away. Something simple like a tile would do.

I’s be tempted to do nothing but keep an eye on it.