Air Bricks Causing Frozen Pipes

stupidbeagle

Hi guys

We have an extension on our house that has always suffered from a freezing cold floor, that spreads up into the cupboards and along the side wall. So much so that the internal cold water pipe from the stopcock froze last night

We have two plastic air ventilation bricks in the kitchen wall (which I can't show you as the forum thinks by adding a picture I'm a spammer?!), which I think are the cause of the issue.

So what I would like to do is to get them replaced with something better, maybe that can be controlled or even closed. Has anyone got any advice and whether I can do this myself or whether I'd need a builder to come in to replace them?

As the extension is only 20 years old, or there abouts, I'm surprised that such a poor solution to ventilation was installed when it was built!

Hoploz

Are you sure the floor and bottom of the walls are just cold? Could they be damp?
Why does the room need these ventilation bricks - do you have an open fire in the room?
Was the extension built properly with cavity walls and decent insulation? All seems a bit odd to me.

stupidbeagle

"Could they be damp" - I don't believe so, they is no signs of damp on the walls.
"do you have an open fire in the room" - there were two open fire places when it was built, one is now a gas fire and the other has a log burner.
As far as insulation goes, I believe so, though I would need to check the paperwork, but that has me wondering now.

It only affects the rear corner of the house, and along the back wall - Right where the air blocks are located, which is why I had made the assumption they were the cause.

System

I may be missing something, but a habitable room in a house has huge problems if the temperature can drop below freezing for long enough to freeze internal pipework!
How close is the pipework to the vent?
First off, get the pipes lagged to stop any further freezing, but after that I'm not sure, it sounds like there are potentially big issues with the building so you really need to get someone to properly investigate

phill99

Just block the ventilation brick off.

FreeBear

stupidbeagle wrote: »

there were two open fire places when it was built, one is now a gas fire and the other has a log burner.

phill99 wrote: »

Just block the ventilation brick off.

If you do this, please get a Carbon Monoxide alarm - Even if you don't block the vents, you really should have one anyway.

Carbon Monoxide is an odourless killer.

phil24_7

These vents were likely put in for the open fires. Make sure you leave enough ventilation for the log burner unless it has it's own air feed from the sub floor etc.

firefox1956

Do a Google search for 'air brick covers' or similar.
You can buy ones that you can open & close, depends on your air bricks.
Cheapo option is to get some duct tape & tape over them on the outside for the winter.
Then remove the tape for the summer.
HTH

nofoollikeold

The gas fire may well need ventilation. The wood burner will need ventilation. Using either of them with the air bricks covered in whole or in part could easily cause Carbon Monoxide to be released through incomplete combustion. Carbon Monoxide kills and with little or no warning.

If you must close off the air bricks, replace gas fire and wood burner with electric heaters or hot water radiators.