Air Vents

lawd

Hi,

I've discovered brick air vent in my kitchen and wondered if it could be blocked up. It's type that's about 6" long and in between the block work. As far as I can see it's a double course of breeze block but on the inside (behind the units) it's completly open causing a rather big draft. The floor is concrete so it's not for air flow under any joists.

What's the view on blocking this off completely or partially ?

Any help would be appreciated.

spannerzone

I had something like this in my kitchen, I suspect it was the air vent for the larder, as before the house was modernised there was a brick walled larder in the corner of the kitchen and the vent was in there.... when the larder walls were removed it left this vent blowing in wind from outside. It was a solid walled house with concrete floor and above any damp proof course. So as it wasn't a cavity wall or under wooden joists I assumed it was purely for larder ventilation.

You could play it safe by fitting a shutter air vent over it and then if needed it can be opened or closed, white plastic or aluminium available in B&Q etc, just screw on the inside wall.

jc808

if youve got double glazing, it may be a bad idea to lose your passive ventilation

can you not put a new vent cover on that has a cowl which will still allow ventilation but cut down draughts?

Leif

It might have been required by a boiler. Do you have a boiler, or is there evidence that there was one in the kitchen?

Naybag

Hi there. I wouldn't worry so much about blocking off the air vent because if you have double glazing windows you can put things called trickle vents on them which act as a small air vent. I can't post a link to the item as i'm new but there's a DIY store on ebay which sells trickle vents.
There stores name is GB-DIY Store

ic

Stick one of these on it: http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Electrical/Ducting/Adjustable%20Vent%20/d190/sd3083/p37571