Should i sleeve wall airbricks that are open to cavity?

moneypit9

Hi guys

I have a 50s brick house and the wall airbricks (not subfloor) are completely open to the cavity. I thought air bricks should go straight through from inside to outside, shielded from the cavity. Should I sort that or will it cause more problems?

In the bathroom someone before my time put an extractor in place of the vent, to the outside air brick without sleeve... which may explain why the plaster has gotten deformed in that area as the condensation is obviously going into the cavity too.... sigh.

I get critters in the house upstairs like woodlice which is gross. Think they come from the airbricks. No visible damp up here now. Supposedly cavity wall insulation was pumped in (don't ask) although I see no sign of that upstairs- so it was either a bodge job or they didn't actually do anything (preferable tbh)

We've had a lot of damp problems in the past with condensation buildup, poor air flow and leaking dreadful concrete gutters. So obviously I'd like to move on from all that. So... should I sleeve the air bricks?

Thanks for any advice.

Furts

In an attempt to answer should you sleeve them, what is the purpose of the air bricks and where are they located?

If the air bricks were built in to ventilate the cavity and keep the house dry you would not have sleeves.

If they have grilles on the inside of the house then this suggests the airbricks were to ventilate the house and sleeves could be installed.

If you have cavity insulation pumped in then, there should be signs of this at the the cavity adjacent to the air brick. Perhaps these walls were not pumped because no sleeves were present and nobody was prepared to put them in?

If you have poor cavities and the air bricks compensate for this by keeping them dry, then sleeving could result in damp problems.