Draught coming from under the kitchen cabinets

ordnancesurvey84

Hi, I'm wondering if someone could offer me some advice.
We recently moved in to an 1860s semi-detached house, we occupy the ground and first floors, and there's a basement flat beneath us. The vendors had replaced the kitchen prior to sale. Since we moved in, there has been a stale smell (sometimes incoorporating the downstairs neighbour's cooking odours) which blows into the kitchen from gaps around the toe-kick. I removed the toe-kick to take a look, and it seems to be coming from where the (suspended timber) floor meets the exterior wall. I can see on the outside of the building that there is an air-brick at around that location, so it's likely communicating with that. (Incidentally, I'm not entirely sure if there is a need for air bricks, as there's a basement flat below us, so the air brick is in fact ventilating the space between our floor and our neighbour's ceiling).
Is there a straight-forward way to seal the gap where the draught is coming through from, bearing in mind that I can only get my arms, but not my head in the space under the cabinets!

Emmia

An expanding foam gun with a long nozzle to seal? It will probably look hugely messy, and you may or may not be able to get everywhere...

ordnancesurvey84

Many thanks - I'll have a look into that

Slinky

Do you have a gas boiler in the kitchen? You'll need ventilation for that.

Can't wait for our gas boiler to be moved, we've got 3 old vents and a current one with vents in the kickboards because of the boiler, on our kitchen wall, and the inside of the cupboards always seem really chilly. Goodness knows what's gone on behind the kitchen cupboards in the past.

FreeBear

Emmia said: An expanding foam gun with a long nozzle to seal?

Use a foam gun with a long length of tubing (1/4" bore would probably do) attached to the nozzle. Tape the tubing to the end of a stick so that you can poke it in to the gaps. A foam gun is much more controllable than the cans with a built in nozzle.. Cover the flooring that isn't under the units with plenty of newspaper, sheets, or blankets. You will dribble foam around and it is a pig to clean up. If you do get any on a surface by accident, leave it to harden. Don't try to mop it up when wet or it will just smear and stick to everything.

If you don't think you can get in there with a foam gun, a sealant & caulking gun would do the job.

Emmia

We had our floor edges sealed with wire wool and expanding foam when the kitchen was replaced last year, and our 2yr old combi gas boiler is in the kitchen - ventilation isn't an issue for us.

TELLIT01

Slinky said:

Do you have a gas boiler in the kitchen? You'll need ventilation for that.

Can't wait for our gas boiler to be moved, we've got 3 old vents and a current one with vents in the kickboards because of the boiler, on our kitchen wall, and the inside of the cupboards always seem really chilly. Goodness knows what's gone on behind the kitchen cupboards in the past.

Modern balanced flue boilers draw all their air from outside through the flue.

Hasbeen

I would just stick some insulation in ?  

ordnancesurvey84

Hmm thanks all - I'm a little nervous about the expanding foam (I've never used it before, so I'm not quite sure what its consistency is once it's set) - because it may well adhere to gas pipes and other important structures running behind it. Is that a reasonable concern?
I might try the insulating wool and see if I can prod it into the gaps with a long stick.

Our gas boiler is actually in the attic, so that's not a problem. 

Hasbeen

ordnancesurvey84 said:

Hmm thanks all - I'm a little nervous about the expanding foam (I've never used it before, so I'm not quite sure what its consistency is once it's set) - because it may well adhere to gas pipes and other important structures running behind it. Is that a reasonable concern?
I might try the insulating wool and see if I can prod it into the gaps with a long stick.

Sorry I meant fill the whole void space under units from wall to kickboard.

Alanp

The only thing I can think to do is to get some loft insulation and put it under the cabinets, when you put the plinths back you won’t see it, I’m sure someone will tell us if this is advisable due to any regs and such