Should I cover air bricks?

[JSM]

Hello Wizards,

I built a new bungalow about five years ago - plastic piping under the floorboards with that foamy stuff round the pipes. Two lots of pipes looked to me to be vulnerable to frost so each year because they were near an air brick so I put a block in front of the air bricks. With the extreme frost this year, and not wanting to lift floorboards to deal with a burst, I covered all the other air bricks with plastic bags. Do you think it would do any harm if I was routinely covering all the air bricks from, say November through to March each year?

Many thanks in anticipation of your advice.

 

[JohnD]

Should I cover air bricks?

No

Do you think it would do any harm if I was routinely covering all the air bricks from, say November through to March each year?

yes

insulate the pipes instead

 

[JSM]

Thanks JohnD,

I'll take my plastic bags off and maybe just block the two vulnerable air bricks during frosty weather. The pipes are actually insulated with that tubular polystyrene which slides over them so hopefully that will help.

Thanks again.