Install a high level air brick or not

Chrisroz

Ive just had my buyers survey back and their surveyor has listed a red ( or no 3 ) fault which states that the render on the front of the house is covering the higher level air brick. The render was on before I bought the house and my survey at the time didnt even mention it. This was 11 years ago.

Now, ive walked down 5 other roads in my area all with the same design looking at every other house and none of them have this mysterious air brick at the bedroom levels. They all have them at lower level which ventilate the space underneath the house living room.

Is it a requirement or just a surveyor making something up that isnt really a problem ? My buyer is taking their surveyors word carte blanche and wants me to arrange this before she completes. House dates back approx to 30's I believe.

EssexExile

From a purely practical point of view, you've lived with it as it is for 11 years so no, it isn't really a problem. That doesn't help persuade your buyer though! Is there any hint of where this mysterious air brick is? It would be easy to reveal it if you can find it, a bit difficult to uncover it if you can't.

I think my answer would be "There is no air brick, your surveyor is mistaken".

Chrisroz

No. As I mentioned I walked around all the local houses so I could see if I could see one in any other house and none are showing. Has every house in the area....and im talking about hundreds as they are old style terraces....covered theirs ? Doubt it.

konark

These vents were often included in houses built from the 1920s to the 60s and are a complete liability. People spend good money on having their cavity walls filled then have what is effectively a hole in the wall letting cold wind and God knows how many insects in (wasps love them). They may have served some function when people had coal fires to vent but today they need to be bricked up and forgotten.



TBH a surveyor should know better.

Grenage

Aye, as above - you're not likely to need such airbricks unless internal air is being used for a combustion source. Perhaps an open fire or low KW stove, etc.

Chrisroz

Thanks. Buyer has come back and said the Surveyor has said its to avoid damp buildup. Still cant see why I would want to install one, its not standard on any houses in the area and my suggestion was to do what we do now....open a few windows to ventilate the house.

stuart45

Some of the houses of that era had high and low level air bricks to vent the cavity. This was found to cause cold spots on the inner skin in that area so this method is not used any more. Blocking them up was found to be the best thing to do.

Mistral001

konark wrote: »

These vents were often included in houses built from the 1920s to the 60s and are a complete liability. People spend good money on having their cavity walls filled then have what is effectively a hole in the wall letting cold wind and God knows how many insects in (wasps love them). They may have served some function when people had coal fires to vent but today they need to be bricked up and forgotten.



TBH a surveyor should know better.

The airbricks were put in all rooms which did not have a open fire up until the 1940's - and for a very good reason, namely that people were not obsessed with airtight houses and recognised that healthy houses should have natural ventilation in every room.

This forum has threads every week and sometimes every day on condensation-related matters where vents or window trickle ventilation has not been installed or blocked up. And those are usually only when there are cold walls where the increased humidity and stagnant air has a cold surface to produce water droplets. When there are no cold surfaces, the moisture produced by humans, cooking showering just hangs around.

Maybe we can learn a few things from those 1930's architects about how to produce a healthy home environment.

EssexExile

Mistral001 wrote: »

Maybe we can learn a few things from those 1930's architects about how to produce a healthy home environment.

There's no point, using fossil fuels to heat air that just goes out through the air brick will finish us off soon enough.

If you need ventilation, open a window.