To vent or not to vent ..

A google on vents, draughts, wind, cold, new house brought me to this thread.

This is truly awful. I put over €150k into gutting and refurbishing this house in the past two years and the BER is now B1. It's a lovely, cosy house where the heat is rarely needed, and I've put the fire - an inset stove - on once since we moved in a year ago (and that was just to test it).
However, the vents on these windy days are intolerable. The place is freezing with wind coming from everywhere. In the sittingroom, where the fire is and we therefore have those permanently open vents it is awful given all the money we spent wrapping the whole house up. There's no sense to it. For the record, I strongly suspect that, despite what every "expert" told us, we did not need permanent wall vents here as our Stovax Studio 500 inset stove had in-built vents. But, just in case, everybody covers themselves by saying "You need vents". Also, if we got vents built into our windows, would that have negated the need for these barely covered massive holes in the walls?

The bedrooms, however, are infinitely worse. The plastic flip vents are in every room outside the sittingroom. But they are hopeless as the wind comes straight through them. They do not seal when they are shut. You wake up with sore throats and colds after a few days. Instead of being able to let the air in when we leave the house during the day, these windy days with these vents mean there's constant wind going through the house night and day.

I accept that carbon monoxide, for which we have alarms across the house, is a serious problem. However, surely it does not necessitate this much, eh, "ventilation" in the house? Would anybody have a safe solution to this currently unsatisfactory situation? Thanks.
 
Get vents with baffles or at least with a cowl.

If the wind hits the house directly with no shelter from trees or other houses/buildings it comes straight through.
 
I strongly suspect that, despite what every "expert" told us, we did not need permanent wall vents here as our Stovax Studio 500 inset stove had in-built vents.

No, the regs demand additional ventilation. They're online so you can verify what your experts have told you.

Also, if we got vents built into our windows, would that have negated the need for these barely covered massive holes in the walls?

Unlikely to offer sufficient ventilation.

The bedrooms, however, are infinitely worse. The plastic flip vents are in every room outside the sittingroom. But they are hopeless as the wind comes straight through them. They do not seal when they are shut. You wake up with sore throats and colds after a few days. Instead of being able to let the air in when we leave the house during the day, these windy days with these vents mean there's constant wind going through the house night and day.

I accept that carbon monoxide, for which we have alarms across the house, is a serious problem. However, surely it does not necessitate this much, eh, "ventilation" in the house?

Condensation and the associated mould problems are a significant issue too, particularly as houses become more air tight.

Would anybody have a safe solution to this currently unsatisfactory situation? Thanks.

A bit late now, but heat recovery ventilation could have been planned into the refurb.

You can get [broken link removed] vents that will deal with the through draft issues, but these have a lower effective free area, so you may need more of them.
 
Back
Top