I've recently moved into a 1930 house which has had cavity wall
insulation put in during the last few years. All the air bricks (just
above the damp-proof course) are blocked by brown stuff, presumably the
insulating material.

Is this correct? I'm suffering from damp walls low down in the kitchen.

TIA

Another Dave
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On Tue, 16 Oct 2007 09:41:37 +0100, Another Dave
wrote:

I've recently moved into a 1930 house which has had cavity wall
insulation put in during the last few years. All the air bricks (just
above the damp-proof course) are blocked by brown stuff, presumably the
insulating material.

Is this correct? I'm suffering from damp walls low down in the kitchen.

TIA

Another Dave


What did your HIP say?
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On Tue, 16 Oct 2007 09:41:37 +0100, Another Dave wrote:

I've recently moved into a 1930 house which has had cavity wall
insulation put in during the last few years. All the air bricks (just
above the damp-proof course) are blocked by brown stuff, presumably the
insulating material.

Is this correct? I'm suffering from damp walls low down in the kitchen.

TIA

Another Dave

No. They should have been lined. Wooden floors can rot *very* quickly
when not properly ventilated and I would get them cleard ASAP.

Andy

On Tue, 16 Oct 2007 09:41:37 +0100 someone who may be Another Dave
wrote this:-

I've recently moved into a 1930 house which has had cavity wall
insulation put in during the last few years. All the air bricks (just
above the damp-proof course) are blocked by brown stuff, presumably the
insulating material.

Is this correct? I'm suffering from damp walls low down in the kitchen.

The work was done by cowboys. Check any paperwork you may have,
there is generally a ten year "guarantee" and then chase this up
with Uncle Tom Cobbleigh and all.

If you leave it you will find your floors rotting remarkably
quickly.



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David Hansen wrote:
The work was done by cowboys. Check any paperwork you may have,
there is generally a ten year "guarantee" and then chase this up
with Uncle Tom Cobbleigh and all.

Thanks for the reply.

The company is Miller Pattison. I haven't attempted to contact them yet,
but if they're out of business or unco-operative what sort of remedial
work is involved? Do I simply scrape out the gunge to clear the airways
or what? I'm reasonably handy.

Another Dave
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Another Dave wrote in message
...

The company is Miller Pattison. I haven't attempted to contact them yet,
but if they're out of business or unco-operative what sort of remedial
work is involved? Do I simply scrape out the gunge to clear the airways
or what? I'm reasonably handy.


Normally there is a nylon brush (looks like the end of a toilet brush but
longer)
fitted up into the cavity via the outside airbrick to stop the insulation
blocking the airbrick.
Unfortunately over time and the weight of insulation this can fall down and
block the airbrick completely.
Ideally you need to take the floorboards up to get at the inside,
and push rolled up chicken wire up into the cavity like ^ around the
inside air slot, doing it this way will give you a chance to inspect joists
and sleeper plates for the first signs of Rot !
Alternatively take the outside airbrick out and fit a plastic cavity sleeve,
and hope for no rot.


-

When we had ours done the company replaced our airbricks with plastic
sleeved versions that stopped the filling blocking them.

Pete

Mark wrote:
Normally there is a nylon brush (looks like the end of a toilet brush but
longer)
fitted up into the cavity via the outside airbrick to stop the insulation
blocking the airbrick.
Unfortunately over time and the weight of insulation this can fall down and
block the airbrick completely.

From the look of things no attempt was made to stop the insulation
simply exiting the cavity via the air brick at the time of installation.
I'm sure it's not a later event.

Ideally you need to take the floorboards up to get at the inside,
and push rolled up chicken wire up into the cavity like ^ around the
inside air slot, doing it this way will give you a chance to inspect joists
and sleeper plates for the first signs of Rot !
Alternatively take the outside airbrick out and fit a plastic cavity sleeve,
and hope for no rot.


Fortunately the ground floors are concrete so hopefully rot won't be too
much of a problem.
Removing the air brick seems to be the solution.

Thanks

Another Dave

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Another Dave wrote in message

Fortunately the ground floors are concrete so hopefully rot won't be too
much of a problem.
Removing the air brick seems to be the solution.


Hmm.. 1930 house with air bricks and concrete floors ?
Not originally I would have thought
Were do you live.



-

Mark wrote:
Another Dave wrote in message
Fortunately the ground floors are concrete so hopefully rot won't be too
much of a problem.
Removing the air brick seems to be the solution.


Hmm.. 1930 house with air bricks and concrete floors ?
Not originally I would have thought
Were do you live.

I live in NE Staffordshire (near Ashbourne)

According to neighbours the house was renovated about 15 years ago by a
developer and an extension built on the back housing the kitchen amongst
other things. There's evidence of a chemical damp-proof course down one
side of the original part.

Are you saying a house with a concrete floor doesn't need air bricks?

Didn't they have concrete floors in 1930 or didn't they have air bricks?

Is it just the combination of the two that's unusual?

Sorry about all the questions.

Another Dave
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On Fri, 19 Oct 2007 09:59:21 +0100, Another Dave
wrote:



According to neighbours the house was renovated about 15 years ago by a
developer and an extension built on the back housing the kitchen amongst
other things. There's evidence of a chemical damp-proof course down one
side of the original part.

Are you saying a house with a concrete floor doesn't need air bricks?

Didn't they have concrete floors in 1930 or didn't they have air bricks?

Is it just the combination of the two that's unusual?

Sorry about all the questions.

Another Dave

Concrete will have no air gap underneath it so doesn't need
ventilating. If you have a part concrete and part wooden floor with
gap underneath) you need to still ventilate the wooden floor bit. You
might need additional ventilation with new style airbricks which might
give better airflow or more airbricks.
If the extension has covered exits of old airvents rather than them
being tunneled through you might need more ventilation at the sides
and front.

Australia is miles ahead and have some solar fan vents which look very
funky and would increase air flow
http://www.solarvent.com.au/products.htm

I suppose it's possible you have concrete floors that have replaced
the the old wooden floors and might still have the vent covers on the
outside. Do you have floorboards?
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Another Dave wrote in message
...

Are you saying a house with a concrete floor doesn't need air bricks?

Didn't they have concrete floors in 1930 or didn't they have air bricks?

Is it just the combination of the two that's unusual?

Sorry about all the questions.


Well the purpose of low level airbricks is to ventilate the underfloor void
and to a lesser extent the cavity space.
Modern houses with solid floors have much smaller trickle vents higher up.
I have seen lots of Victorian and later houses with concrete
kitchen-scullery floors but none had air bricks at this location.
I have seen 30s houses with _suspended_ concrete floors which did have air
bricks, but these are quite rare down south.
Which is partly why I asked were you were.
I have also seen many Victorian and later houses were the ground floor void
has been filled in with concrete for whatever daft reason, they usually
suffer chronic damp problems as the internal DPC is inevitably breached.



-

On Fri, 19 Oct 2007 09:59:21 +0100 Another Dave wrote :
Are you saying a house with a concrete floor doesn't need air bricks?

Didn't they have concrete floors in 1930 or didn't they have air bricks?

Is it just the combination of the two that's unusual?

They may have had both, though it is unusual: the airbricks would be there
to ventilate the cavity. As previously pointed out here, the original
reason for cavity walls was to keep out damp, not for thermal insulation.
IIRC in Scotland cavity walls are still ventilated.

--
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wrote:

If the original suspended floor was replaced with a solid floor then the
airbricks would be superfluous.

Is the upshot of all this that Miller Pattison were correct in blocking
the air bricks and that I have no claim on the guarantee?

Another Dave

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