Installing vents in brick 'outdoor toilet'-can I DIY?

cherylypop

Hi,

Any advice would be appreciated. We have a Victorian house with a former outdoor toilet attached to the rear-is about 6'x4'. We, and the previous residents use it to house the washing machine and condenser tumble drier. It has no ventilation. We have a damp patch inside the house where this part meets our house which seems to get better and worse at times.

A builder came round re. damp patch and said he thinks it's a condensation problem from the outside bit and he recommended putting a few vents in the outdoor toilet bit. His advice does make sense. However it feels like we are now having to chase him for a)a quote and b) a date which he can do the works-it's now been 2 months since he first came round.

I think basically he's busy and thought he could fit us in and now, because the weather's better is busy doing better paid/bigger jobs. Anyway I want to get this done and am thinking maybe we could do this ourselves-it seems really straight forward- and I'm not entirely sure how wrong it could go. Has anyone done this sort of thing before/is it easy/how long would it take and what told would I need (we have a decent drill with lots of drill bits, hammer and probably a chisel-people seem to be talking about using core cutters and using electric saws-is it possible without?)

Thanks in advance for feedback

cherylypop

................

smashingyour...

Why not put the vents in the door?

GwylimT

I've replaced a normal brick with an air brick before on a wall that wasn't plastered, I just removed the brick by drilling the surrounding cement and chiseling as much off as I could. When I put the air brick in getting the cement in was a bit tricky, but I had put duct tape on the surrounding bricks so I didn't end up covering them in cement. Not sure if this is the advisable way of doing it, but it worked for me.

keystone

Are you getting condensation on the inside of the house or are you getting condensation in the outside (ex) toilet which the builder believes is penetrating through to the house?

Cheers

cyclonebri1

Condensation in an outdoor bog??? Sorry, NO

Aim more accurately.





;)
You could limbo dance under the door of any outside closet I've ever seen, :D

Stooby2

smashingyour... wrote:

Why not put the vents in the door?

+1 for this - seems the easier route.

smashingyour...

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Condensation in an outdoor bog??? Sorry, NO

Aim more accurately.





;)
You could limbo dance under the door of any outside closet I've ever seen, :D

Do yourself a favor and look up former in the dictionary. ;););););););););)

cherylypop

yup could put some in the door I guess-condensation in the outside toilet building which is coming through-there's a hole where the washing machine pipe goes through which I think it's creeping in through. Condensation in outdoor toilet thing seems viable to me since we have a washing machine/condenser tumble drier-or am I being dim? It gets pretty hot in there when the tumble driers on and the walls can get pretty damp. Makes sense to me that ventilating it would help to solve the problem. Thanks for your replies

cherylypop

cyclonebri1-no room to limbo dance under this 'closet' door

cyclonebri1

cherylypop wrote: »

cyclonebri1-no room to limbo dance under this 'closet' door

They would originally have had a door that left about 4 " from the floor for obvious reasons, the advice to put the grill in the door is fine, if it was put back as was it would allow vermin entrance .

1 at high level and 1 low I'd suggest. (Now it's no longer a toilet;))