Water coming through vent in attic.. into the bedroom

jade1986

Myself and my partner brought our first home and moved in a couple of weeks ago, and on the second night there was terrible rain and wind and in the morning we went in the spare room and water had came in.. wet patches on the walls, water running down the window and the carpet was very wet below the window.

Initially we were really concerned thinking there was a serious problem.. The windows are only 2 years old, and a full damp proof course was done 2 years ago also, both with 10 year guarantees.

My partner's stepdad looked on the outside property and said straight away 'there's your problem'. There is a vent above the window, which I believe must be into the attic, which I believe is called a 'gravity vent' with about 5 flaps.. and with the wind these were pretty much horizontal.

We put the heating on in the room to dry out the patches and it was okay until the other night when it happened again, but only a very small amount of water.

My partner tried to get into the attic today but he said it is blocked with only a tiny hole which no-one could fit through. We have asked a friend with ladders to come round to measure the current vent and to see whether it is a square or round hole, but he can't get until the weekend.

My question is.. Does anyone know the best type of vent to ensure the least possible chance of water coming in? and is it a pretty simple job to fit it from the outside?

Alternatively.. Could we block up the vent? Ideally we would of done this from the inside of the attic but obviously we can't get in, so it would have to be from the outside? Would this cause problems?

Thanks in advance

jade1986

I've just spotted something in another post about a ceiling extractor fan in a bathroom.

It didn't occur to me that the vent could be for this?

There is a vent on the ceiling of the bathroom, and outside the bathroom above the door is a switch which currently says 'off' but we don't know what it is for?

WestonDave

The switch above the bathroom door probably activates an extractor which pulls air out of the vent in the bathroom, through a tube and out the vent you describe outside. It may not actually operate unless the bathroom light is on so if you've tried switching it and had nothing happen try the combination. It could also be a humidistat one and if the switch is on, will activate when the bathroom gets steamy.

I would be a bit surprised if the volume of water you are implying managed to get in through a gravity vent - the area of the vent simply wouldn't be big enough.

If you can't actually get into the loft, can you stick a video camera and a light up through the hole so you can scan around to see if you can see any problems up there?

1984ReturnsForReal_2

Does it say they had a problem in the HIP?

jade1986

WestonDave wrote: »

The switch above the bathroom door probably activates an extractor which pulls air out of the vent in the bathroom, through a tube and out the vent you describe outside. It may not actually operate unless the bathroom light is on so if you've tried switching it and had nothing happen try the combination. It could also be a humidistat one and if the switch is on, will activate when the bathroom gets steamy.

I would be a bit surprised if the volume of water you are implying managed to get in through a gravity vent - the area of the vent simply wouldn't be big enough.

If you can't actually get into the loft, can you stick a video camera and a light up through the hole so you can scan around to see if you can see any problems up there?

I checked and that switch is definitely off, I will ask my partner to have a look at what it says on the switch before I meant to look again this month. It does get steamy in there, but we just open the window when having a shower or bath.

I was quite suprised too, but the rain was non-stop and really heavy all evening, night and morning.. with extreme wind also.

That is a good idea, I'll try having a look myself later on when I'm home from work.

Thanks

jade1986

1984ReturnsForReal wrote: »

Does it say they had a problem in the HIP?

No nothing mentioned at all. But there doesn't appear to be any evidence of water coming in previously, the walls are perfect

jade1986

Right.. the switch has a little fan symbol at the top, then a big switch that is 'off' and then below it says 'isolater' with a picture of an open circuit switch

irisandalex

jade1986 wrote: »

Right.. the switch has a little fan symbol at the top, then a big switch that is 'off' and then below it says 'isolater' with a picture of an open circuit switch

Yep, that's an isolator switch for the bathroom extrctor fan. As the other poster said when this is on the fan will probably come on with the bathroom light.

Have a look outside with the fan on - it should blow the slats on the vent outlet open. Otherwise they should be shut.

WestonDave

Yep that sounds almost identical to our extractor fan switch. I suspect that if you turn this switch on, the extractor above the vent in the bathroom will being to operate, either when the bathroom light is on (some have a delay so they don't come on in the night if you just nip in to use the loo - you may have to wait a minute for that sort to fire up), or as I said when the humidity hits a certain level if its a humidistat fan (probably less likely if the fan is actually up in the loft).

When activated the fan will draw air from the bathroom up through some ducting in the loft and out via the "gravity vent" you saw outside.

irisandalex

Any joy with this?