Trickle Vent

xssc32x

Hi,
Hope somebody could advise? We have just moved into new house and windows have trickle vents fitted. Has anybody successfully ‘blocked’ these by removing the vent and placing either tape over the hole in window frame or by using expanding ‘filler’ of some sort? Be really appreciated If you could let me know what you used and where you picked up and any useful tips please.
Many thanks in advance
Cheers
Si

Carrot007

Why would you do that. They are there for a very good reason.

magn8p

You may be thinking of extra insulation but once you block them, your rooms can't breathe and all the humidity as a result of the residents respiration will accumulate until you open the windows.

Don't even try that, like Carrot007 says, they are there for a good reason.

magn8p

And yea, it goes without saying that humidity buildup leads to mould, wet patches and severe humidity also leads to respiratory diseases.

Aylesbury_Duck

If the OP wants to block them for reasons of noise, I sympathise entirely. I have trickle vents on the windows at the rear of my house but would not have them fitted on the front windows because of road noise. The difference in noise between the front room in my house and in my neighbour's identical house is marked, even with his fitted trickle vents closed. They compromise the soundproofing of the double glazing.

OP, I would ensure you have means to regularly ventilate the room (such as opening the window during the day, perhaps?) and adopt other habits to reduce moisture levels. I would also experiment with something you could remove if humidity proves to be a problem. Rockwool insulation stuffed in the vents might be good thing to try first.

shortcrust

I keep mine closed because my house is more than sufficiently ventilated without them (i.e. draughty!). Whether they're essential for the OP or not depends on lots of factors. After all, loads of windows don't have them!

OP - Before doing anything permanent you could try something temporary to be sure that you can get by with them closed.

shortcrust

magn8p wrote: »

And yea, it goes without saying that humidity buildup leads to mould, wet patches and severe humidity also leads to respiratory diseases.

But we don't know whether there would be a damp problem with them closed. Closing them might make perfect sense in the OP's case.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Can't you just close them? I thought all trickle vents had closable flaps. If not, could you replace them with covers that do have flaps? I echo the comments above about them generally existing for a reason so I wouldn't do anything permanent.

magn8p

Fair point. I still think the OP is better off with a open/close vent like http://amzn.to/2zvfDXq rather completely blocking it.

shortcrust wrote: »

But we don't know whether there would be a damp problem with them closed. Closing them might make perfect sense in the OP's case.

Grenage

There was a trickle vent in the kitchen of my old house, and it let through a surprising amount of noise. I used a small amount expanding foam to seal it, and the improvement was dramatic.

If the issue was draughts rather than noise, I would have used duct tape.

I had no condensation or mould problems, but every case is different.

shortcrust

magn8p wrote: »

Fair point. I still think the OP is better off with a open/close vent like http://amzn.to/2zvfDXq rather completely blocking it.

I agree that's much more sensible.:)