Can I seal up this vent?

bitethebullet · 22-03-2014 6:39pm #1

The vent is on the outside of my bath room. The Thing is there is no vent inside the bathroom. Previous owner had the whole bathroom tiled floor to ceiling. Is this vent to keep an air flow between the red brick and cavity block or is it supposed to just keep the bathroom vented?

Lex Luthor · 22-03-2014 7:14pm

its for ventilation for the bathroom

Should not have been blocked up really. If you want to open it up it shouldnt be that tricky, if you were to locate the position in the bathroom and drill a few holes and remove a small portion of tile and fit an internal vent

bitethebullet · 22-03-2014 7:22pm

Lex Luthor wrote: »

its for ventilation for the bathroom

Should not have been blocked up really. If you want to open it up it shouldnt be that tricky, if you were to locate the position in the bathroom and drill a few holes and remove a small portion of tile and fit an internal vent

Cheers lex. Yeah I was thinking that alright. The problem with the house is that they seemed to have just cangod through the walls from the outside without doing it properly ie installing a pipe so the outside air is getting in behind the dry lining and keeping the rooms cold as opposed to just ventilating the room if that makes sense.
So it's definitely nothing to do with circulating air in the gap between the red brick and cavity wall?

albert kidd · 22-03-2014 8:55pm

looks to me as if that brick vent was always there from day one.

you say the inside is dry lined?

maybe the pipe wasnt taken out/extended and a bigger pipe put in when dry lined.

Robbie.G · 22-03-2014 9:00pm

The vent and duct would be there from build but the duct would have finished flush with block work and the if they dry lined there would be a
Gap between the block and slabs.Just open up from inside put a new duct inside the original and then seal between both fit a new internal vent cover job done.

bitethebullet · 22-03-2014 10:00pm

Would it be OK to block the vent completely and just open the window every now and again to vent the room

bitethebullet · 22-03-2014 10:05pm

Robbie.G wrote: »

The vent and duct would be there from build but the duct would have finished flush with block work and the if they dry lined there would be a
Gap between the block and slabs.Just open up from inside put a new duct inside the original and then seal between both fit a new internal vent cover job done.

There is no duct ...
Same vent is in the bedroom And there is no duct.

Robbie.G · 22-03-2014 10:26pm

If no duct is present get a duct fitted if not it's just the cavity fill up with air.

bitethebullet · 22-03-2014 10:35pm

Fitting duct isn't feasible. Batten in the way in bedroom and fully tiled in Bath room.

Robbie.G · 22-03-2014 10:41pm

Still very possible the batten is probly only 2*1 and easily cut.The bathroom one find centre of vent and drill holes around tiles or if centres work out remove a tile drill slab with 110mm holesaw and fit 110mm wavin pipe if this work is beyond you get in someone to do it a couple hours work in the region off €100-€200

bitethebullet · 22-03-2014 10:58pm

Robbie.G wrote: »

Still very possible the batten is probly only 2*1 and easily cut.The bathroom one find centre of vent and drill holes around tiles or if centres work out remove a tile drill slab with 110mm holesaw and fit 110mm wavin pipe if this work is beyond you get in someone to do it a couple hours work in the region off €100-€200

Thanks for the replies but I'm still not convinced about a large permanent hole in the wall. ... North Facing at that. Opening a window every now and again would surely suffice?

bitethebullet · 23-03-2014 12:05pm

bitethebullet wrote: »

Thanks for the replies but I'm still not convinced about a large permanent hole in the wall. ... North Facing at that. Opening a window every now and again would surely suffice?

I hopped on the ladder this morning and had a look in through the vent. There is no corresponding hole in the cavity block wall at all so it's not to vent the bathroom.

slimjimmc · 24-03-2014 2:09am

bitethebullet wrote: »

I hopped on the ladder this morning and had a look in through the vent. There is no corresponding hole in the cavity block wall at all so it's not to vent the bathroom.

Is the vent in the bedroom open (but just duct-less) or is it blocked like the bathroom? The reason I ask is that building regs require adequate ventilation which generally means wall events or trickle vents and it's possible the room vents weren't installed properly.

However I'm not sure if this reg applies to bathrooms (mine certainly doesn't have one) so I suspect that particular air brick was built-in so that an extractor fan could be fitted later without messing up the exterior finish.

I don't think there's any reason to ventilate the cavity between the brick leaf and the block leaf. AFAIK that's only necessary in timber framed houses and I would expect to find other air bricks low down near ground level to provide cross airflow.

My bathroom has no vents at all and leaving the window open for a while works just fine for me.

bitethebullet · 24-03-2014 10:47am

slimjimmc wrote: »

Is the vent in the bedroom open (but just duct-less) or is it blocked like the bathroom? The reason I ask is that building regs require adequate ventilation which generally means wall events or trickle vents and it's possible the room vents weren't installed properly.

However I'm not sure if this reg applies to bathrooms (mine certainly doesn't have one) so I suspect that particular air brick was built-in so that an extractor fan could be fitted later without messing up the exterior finish.

I don't think there's any reason to ventilate the cavity between the brick leaf and the block leaf. AFAIK that's only necessary in timber framed houses and I would expect to find other air bricks low down near ground level to provide cross airflow.

My bathroom has no vents at all and leaving the window open for a while works just fine for me.

you Are correct the bedroom is vented but no duct. That makes sense regarding the bathroom fan. I think I need to install a proper ducted vent In the bedroom.

Citizenpain · 24-03-2014 5:28pm

bitethebullet wrote: »

you Are correct the bedroom is vented but no duct. That makes sense regarding the bathroom fan. I think I need to install a proper ducted vent In the bedroom.

Or block it up and put a trickle vent in your window....

mad m · 25-03-2014 10:27am

are you showing any signs of condensation in bathroom at present?

slimjimmc · 25-03-2014 5:40pm

bitethebullet wrote: »

you Are correct the bedroom is vented but no duct. That makes sense regarding the bathroom fan. I think I need to install a proper ducted vent In the bedroom.

Probably should have been a cavity sleeve in there but was left out.

http://www.timloc.co.uk/products/underfloor-through-wall-ventilation/cavity-sleeves/

[Edit]
Just a thought but have you asked any of your neighbours if their bathroom has a vent? That would give you a clue at what the designs had intended
[/Edit]

bitethebullet · 26-03-2014 8:33pm

One more thing. In the attic I can stock my hand down between the brick and block leaf. Surely this should be capped?

bitethebullet · 23-04-2014 3:25pm

What's the best way to block it up? Expanding foam?

Can I seal up this vent?

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