Leaking Wall Vent ....

dialer

Winter is rolling in and its times like these that you start to notice just how drafty your house might be even one built 6 years ago.

I noticed a drip stain on the wall under the sitting room vent.
Hmme i said to myself as i peeled off the vent cover having arranged the job for a Saturday morning to investigate.

what i found was half a 4 with inch pipe instead of a full length leading to the outside wall. Well F**k the builder i said as i replaced the pipe and squirted expanding foam around the cavity making a secure cavity just for the vent pipe.
Not only that, but i bought a new cover for the outside brick wall with vent slits angled down so as to stop penetrating rain from gaining access and placed it over the existing vent. Secured it by screws and sealed it with Tech mastic, i even sprayed it brick colour.

Job OxO : or as i thought : It rained Sunday and i had yet to replace the internal vent cover in the sitting-room.
Water dripping in ,( looking through the cavity in sitting-room to outside ) what looks like just above and on the lead flashing just above the external vent fixed in the brickwork.

There appears to be no visible cracks in the external plaster as the brickwork goes only to just above the sitting-room windows.

You know, there are times when your fighting a loosing battle but with water there are so many consequences including water between the cavity which can lead to dampness.

Thinking of inviting a structural engineer in ? or is this excessive.
Talked to the builder 3 times and got him to view it once and got the shoulder shrug, y'know the shrug , to hell with this ........

Any input would be much appriciated........

gsxr1

There was driving rain with us in the last week. Somethings it can be enough to blow through the luvers of a vent.

Is the 4" pipe on a fall to the outside? At first impressions it sounds like its falling into the house.

Also I found with a wet cavity there will be a damp smell coming from it.

Worth checking .

dialer

Yes the original pipe was falling in toward the house, and the original brick vent outside was one with straight horizontal openings. i could imagine rain just wisping through.
So i bought a metal cover from B&Q with 45 degree downward slits and covered the original vent. Cut down on the wind and rain.

However, water during heavy rainfall trickles into the inside cavity block.
(looking through the cavity from sittingroom with internal vent removed)
I can see this as it falls in from above the vent amazingly, because where brick meets block and a vent, there is black plasitc flashing in place just above it.
I have a small container now in the pipe near toward the outside block, toward and under this flashing that i have begun to empty every so often.............imagine......

tred

dialer wrote: »

Yes the original pipe was falling in toward the house, and the original brick vent outside was one with straight horizontal openings. i could imagine rain just wisping through.
So i bought a metal cover from B&Q with 45 degree downward slits and covered the original vent. Cut down on the wind and rain.

However, water during heavy rainfall trickles into the inside cavity block.
(looking through the cavity from sittingroom with internal vent removed)
I can see this as it falls in from above the vent amazingly, because where brick meets block and a vent, there is black plasitc flashing in place just above it.
I have a small container now in the pipe near toward the outside block, toward and under this flashing that i have begun to empty every so often.............imagine......

I wonder would you be better off in that spot, using one of those vents for the tuble dryer, wihtout the flap, the vent opening is facing vertical??...u get me?

http://www.fantronix.com/acatalog/mv_vkw.jpg

u get them for a few euro...

dialer

wouldent mind, but its on the front of house. The panel that i got from B&Q does the job well.. However the rain is not coming from the vent itself. Its finding its way in somehow by another means as in my first post but dripping out just above the vent.

tred

is it worth sealing it up with silicone????? see does that help....have u figured...where its running from is the water running through the inside of the vent in, or do u think its running outside of the pipe in someway..if u get what i am saying?...either or, u should be able to seal all that up with silicone?...

Poor Uncle Tom

You need to do a calculation to see if a smaller section vent would do, say a 75mm diameter instead of the 100mm. If so put the 75mm diameter tight to the top of the ope inside and tight to the bottom of the ope outside giving a good 25mm fall to the outside, eliminating the risk of any water ever dripping inward again. Then seal around the pipe on both sides with expanding foam and put the covers on.

If you can't do the calculation yourself, get in touch with a local AT.