New House - Vents

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

bertson

Registered User
Messages
398
Hi,
We recently moved into our new bungalow


Each room has an air vent. The problem being is that the house doesn't have trees around it yet, so no shelter. The draft from the air vents is quite strong, so there is a constant breeze.

Should there be anything between the exterior vent cover and the internal vent cover.??

Its so breezy that I am contimplating sealing the bedroom and sitting room vents

Any suggestions welcome

B
 
bertson said:
Its so breezy that I am contimplating sealing the bedroom and sitting room vents

Any suggestions welcome
Click to expand...
Be very, very careful. Watch the ads with tall, blonde Duncan on RTE pointing out the importance of ventilation. People have died from carbon poisoning as a result of blocking up vents.
 
I'm in a 3 year old own door apartment with air vents only from 2 landlocked bathroom extractor fans and in the gas cupboard. None in bedrooms (except one bedroom has those vent thingies in the windows) or living area/kitchen. Count yourself lucky.
 
Can you replace them with the ones that slide open and shut? I had them before but did notice on a very wind night they tended to rattle a little bit, maybe they are not available anymore?
 
We got the ones that slide about a month ago in a diy shop in Dublin (one of the big ones, but I can't remember name...).
 
Vents are there for a reason and should not really be closed off even temporarily!
 
If you install a propper boiler-one that has it's own independent air supply- and if you close the fire places for good than you won't need air vents.
 
I put trickle vents on the windows and abandoned the idea of wall vents. Changing the covers to ones with a sliding open/close control that works should sort your problem though.
 
Our house has no vents in the bedrooms. Built in the 80's - we bought last year. Looking at the neighbours, none of them appear to have vents either.

Should we be getting them installed? We have a fireplace in occasional use and an external oil boiler.

Has anyone paid a builder to install vents only? Any idea of costs?
 
Your house was built pre Irish building Regulations and whether vents were fitted to houses built during that time was largely a matter of personal preference on the part of the builder and cost also of course. If you have double glazing, weather sealed doors etc you would benefit from having vents fitted, esecially if you notice problems with condensation within the dwelling or poor draw on the chimney flue. Retro-fitting vents is quite straightforward nowadays with the advent of core drilling. A core drill can be used to drill a 100mm or 150mm diameter hole in the external wall, this is then sleeeved with a short length of uPVC pipe, grilles are then fitted to each face of the wall, internally and externally. The worst aspect of the job is the dust created, but if the cores are drilled from the outside face in this is minimised especially if done with care. You could probably ask a tradesperson to core the holes alone for about €75 per hole (dependant on wall construction and thickness) and do the remainder of the work yourself. Thousands of dwellings were built pre Regulations without permanent background ventilation, so weigh up the cost and the perceived benefit. Personally I'd prefer to have proper background ventilation, in addition to improving the draw on a solid fule open fire it would also impact on the effectiveness of any extract fans fitted in the house (kitchen, bathroom etc.).
 
Carpenter, what's a core drill? Can you hire them, and if so are they easy for the amateur to use?

I have 9inch solid block walls in my 1940's house and want to install vents in the bedrooms - I was just going to drill several holes through the wall with a long drill bit, knock out the waste, and put in airbricks. Is the core drill better/easier?

Thanks in advance.
 
Hi Sherman,

A core drill is like a hole saw, basically a drill bit with a cylinder attached. On the end of the steel cylinder are a series of tungsten carbide teeth which act like a saw and cut the masonry. You could do the job as you describe with a long drill bit but you'll probably burn out your drill with the number of holes you'll have to drill, it's labour intensive (very) and is messy. If you have more than 1 vent hole to drill you'd be better off hiring a core drill.
 
Thanks for the info carpenter. Are there any possible structural implications for drilling holes in load-bearing external walls though?
 
If you're worried about not having vents, perhaps you could buy one of those special detectors- we have them at home ( we do have vents, but its a precaution) and in my office( very old building, no vents as such, plenty of drafts though, especially on a day like today!). I suppose they detect carbon monoxide?
 
Braveinca

I'm not an engineer but for conventioanl brick/ blockwork construction coring up to 150mm diameter should not pose a problem, it's not normal practice to incorporate a structural lintol over such a small ope in any case. A neatly executed circular core would not significantly affect the structural fabric of the wall- but care must be taken in relation to their location relative to windows/ opes lintols etc. If in doubt consult any experienced tradesperson.
 
Hi Carpenter !
The building regulations demand adequate ventilation, but certainly no holes in the walls. No home would stand a blower door test if punctured. Any energy rating pass for a home where the wind blows through -as explained by the original poster- would be useless. Adequate ventilation could be arranged in many ways, for example by windows....The holes in the wall are a cheap solution used by builders who want to cut corners without breaking the rules.
 
heinbloed said:
The holes in the wall are a cheap solution used by builders who want to cut corners without breaking the rules.
Click to expand...
Can you explain this please? Our house (1995 build) has holes in the top corner of the walls in each room covered with plastic vents. My mother's house (1950s build) is the same. Is this really a cheap way to implement ventilation and, if so, what are the alternatives either (a) at build time or (b) after the fact? Thanks.
 
Heinbloed, I feel you are being somewhat pedantic with your last point. Building Regs demand (passive) background ventilation equivalent to 6500mm2 per habitable room (kitchens and utilities/ shower rooms and bathrooms have different requirements- mechanical and rapid ventilation required also). This is most easily and effectively obtained by use of "hole in wall" ventilators. Irish homes are certainly not constructed as airtight and would have some passive air infiltration through the building fabric of itself, but unlikely to amount to 6500mm2 per room. No builder/ developer in Ireland would contemplate building a house first, testing for passive air infiltration and then deciding whether the requirements for passive ventilation were being met by infiltration through the building fabric alone. However the Technical Guidance Docs. in the Build. Regs. are a guide only and not the sole and exclusive means by which to satisfy the requirements of the Regulations. Most dwellings are not constructed in factory like assembly conditions where things like air infiltration can be monitored so for the moment the TGDs offer the best minimum requirements.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top