Do we really need a vent when we have cavity wall insulation?

jap200

As a result of discussion about insulation on another thread that I started related to central heating, I have investigated the possibility of cavity wall insulation.

I have had a good quote from a company - and a good discount with a grant. However, the man who came round to do the energy survey said that it was part of the new regulations that they had to fit a vent through our cavity wall before doing the insulation - because we use an open fireplace in the living room. He explained about the risks of build up of carbon monoxide without sufficient airflow.

Now this seems totally crazy to me. We recently paid a huge amount of money to install double glazing to reduce draughts and no mention was made of the need for a vent at that time. Surely this has a lot more to do with reducing airflow than cavity wall insulation. In fact I can't see that putting cavity wall insulation has got anything at all to do with reducing airflow in the house - so why is the installation of the vent a necessary part of the process?

The insulation man agreed that having to have the vent was a major drawback and also said that despite using a 'draught-free vent', they are still draughty. Also, they are not allowed to install vents that can be opened and closed as needed - they are open all the time, even though we only use our open fire at the odd weekend in the winter.

His only suggestion (totally unofficially/off-the-record of course) was that if we found it to be unacceptably draughty we could use something to close up the vent ourselves - at our own risk.

Does anyone else have any experience with this?

tr3mor

Stick some candles in the fireplace and tell him it's a feature fireplace and you never ever use it

Honestly some of the regulations these days are ludicrous.

Do you have to fit a vent if you cover the room in vinyl wallpaper?! I'm sure this would lead to a much lower airflow than cavity insulation.

adr0ck

not sure about this

however i do know that all new builds with open fires etc have to have a vent

following link from rytons website advises why you should ventilate

http://www.vents.co.uk/whyventilate.htm

you can also buy vents from them etc

give them a call you may be able to have a vent fitted to keep insulators happy then change the cover after for one you can shut

just remember to open it when the fires going

dawnybabes

We've got a vent in our living room (open gas fire) and we fitted a brass vent that can be opened and shut. We also fitted a carbon monixide detector at the same time - just in case.