Living room and bedrooms ventilation

Manuito

Hi,

We just bought a house which is 20-25 years old and are in the process of refurbishing it a little bit. This is our first house here in Ireland (we used to live in a block of apartments before), so we are not really used to having ventilations all over the house.

Our house has got a ventilation in the living room (which we were told that was installed due to the gas fire fireplace that we have in the house). Can this ventilation be closed when the fireplace is not being used (we also plan to install a carbon monoxide alarm, just in case)?

Two of the bedrooms uptairs have had their ventilations blocked in the past. I have read that this can cause condensation problems (although we have stripped wallpaper all over the house and have not found anything strange), but we normally open the windows for a while every morning or two to air the house a little bit (plus the bathroom has got a window, instead of an air extractor, which we also open sometimes). Would that be enough, considering that the rear door to the garden will be opened daily as well, or should we consider reopening those two ventilations?

A third bedroom has got its ventilation still intact. Could we cover/close that one if it's too cold outside? Could we be damaging the walls somehow by doing this?


Thanks very much!

slimjimmc

You must not block the vents in any room with the gas fire, not only is it illegal if the fire is not a sealed system (sealed burner, external air supply) but it is very dangerous. You might think you will remember to open the vent every time the fire is lit but it's very likely you'll will forget sometime. The consequences could be fatal.
Do not rely on a CO alarm to protect you. A dead battery that you forgot to replace, faulty sensor or other failure would leave you will no protection and a false sense of security. By all means use one in conjunction with an open vent but do rely on it alone.

The vents in the other rooms maintain a constant change of air throughout the day and night, and in doing so removes stale and moist air, and possibly Radon gas. Don't forget that moisture come from all sort of sources including people sweating and exhaling.

However if you find that leaving the window open works for you then I can't see much harm in temporarily blocking the vents, many come with a sliding grill which you can close. Don't permanently block them as this may be against building regulations.

Manuito

Thank you! We will leave the ventilation as it is downstairs and we will try to unblock and reopen the other two ventilations in the bedrooms (although I still think that we will have to close these two in winter when it's very cold outside).