Air Bricks

[gillbrone]

Hello all,

I've just bought my first house, a 1928 3 bed semi.

The property has a single skin rear utility room with a solid floor. Whoever built it managed to pour the floor level so high that it has covered over the original rear air bricks. This basically means that it would need a complete rebuild of the utility to sort it out (making a uniform floor level).

Instead I have considered adding some air bricks on the side of the property towards the rear, to allow some ventillation of the kitchen floor. To make what i'm talking about easier to understand, please see the floor plan below:

Do you think this will work, or is having air bricks on the side a big no, no. Obviously, for financial reasons (having just bought a house) I would ideally like to avoid having to undertake significant remodelling so early on - if I can get away with a few air bricks (albeit in a sub-optimum position) i'm happy with that.

Thank you in advance for any help.

Thanks,

John

 

[DavidB]

I would have thought it was better than nothing, but I was talking to a building conservation specialist the other day and I asked asimilar question about putting air bricks on just one side. His view is you need to have a through draft otherwise it's a waste of time. Could you cut a channel where the old air bricks are and have a grated floor vent I.e uncover the vents? You could get a nice floor vent and put it into the flooring and make a bit of a feature.

 

[plasticpigeon]

Is there an air brick at the back of the dining room? If so I would imgine your idea would work. If no then your dining room won't have any airflow under it.

 

[TheRoost]

Hi,

Which walls have airbricks currently, and how many, is it just front and back? does the conservatory floor block the airbricks on the dining room wall, or do they vent inside the conservatory?

My semi has airbricks on the side walls as well as front & back, and underfloor openings in the party wall, so in theory air can travel across both houses.

Did the building survey not highlight this as an issue?