thinking of blocking vents in my house?

Question

ive got 2 vents in each room in my house, (the house is 50+ yrs old) these vents look unsightly & let cold air rush through the house in the winter, i have gas central heating ( no open fires ) would it be okay to take them out & block the hole up......one winter it was blizzards outside & the snow was blowing through the vents into the house

these are open vents with no shutters on them., i dont want to replace them with shutter vents as they are situated in a bad area of the rooms

Answer 1

Snow blowing up out of your vents? Suggestion from a professional contractor: Being a sore eye isn't half your problem! You need to yourself or a professional find out why you have this problem and fix it asap. It's a health problem to your home and yourself. Also. a waste of your money because your heat is being robbed from you from your entire home. You have exhaust vents and intake vents and each heating system has draft requirements that seems to be leaking on you. It maybe, and in most cases a simple fix for DIY homeowners by reconnecting duck work.
BTW, find out how snow was getting to that area and close that off as well. Go to your local building supplier and buy new registers to replace that sore eye.

Answer 2

Hi
I've come across this kind of shoddy workmanship before, because the gas fitters are two bloody idle to climb a ladder and stagger the vents it's like you say a gale blows straight through into the room, complain to the gas board, even if the fitters weren't trans-co they would have at least had to have been corgi registered, ask them to fit a cover over the vent for you but one that deflects the blast of cold air and not seals up the vent, one of their favourite tricks is usually to place a vent behind a radiator so it's not obvious what they've done, if you don't get any joy contact watchdog, this type of venting is stupid and wrong, you might as well leave your door open in winter. Hope you get it sorted.
Ray West Yorks U.K.

Answer 3

As you have gas central heating you must have some vents to prevent a dangerous build up of carbon monoxide, and also as your house is fairly old they would have been put there originally to prevent damp patches appearing on the walls. The only thing to do is either replace the existing ones with shutter vents, or move the vents to a less obvious place and then you can fill in the holes.

Answer 4

not all boilers are balanced flued, so you would need to ckeck this out first, secondly if you have a gas cooker you must have an open vent by law in that room. in the fifties a lot of houses had open fires and air bricks were put in to assist air flow, if you pass the gas problem there would be no reason why you can't block up the inside vent but you should replace the outside one with an air brick to allow air flow through the cavity.

Answer 5

Can't see how carbon monoxide would be a problem if you only have gas central heating. Your boiler will have a balaced flue, and as long as it's operating correctly I can't see how this can cause a problem. There should be a vent if you have a gas cooker, or other non room sealed gas appliance.
I also had two huge holes in the bedroom for ventalation. Freezing cold winds came through & noise, completely defeated the point of having double glazing! Bricked them up now & use a dehumidifier to control damp. - Seems to work.

Answer 6

What Ho.
I live in an old farm "cottage" which came with outside vents.
Leading under the flooring to ventilate the show.
During strong winds, the carpet used to billow up in an alarming fashion.
I have now nailed roof slates over the offending external items.
I don't know what the original builder was not thinking about.
So block the things up would be my advice, a bit of timber of whatever. One has to be carefull if mains gas is in use, though.
We don't have mains gas in the village, as we are rural folks, and not worthy of such considerations.
The carpet is now static, and the fires and kitchen range can be alight.
What you do in a non-rural abode is beyond me,But if something offends, such as needless vents, I would make them disfunctional.

All the best,

Bob

Answer 7

Find some way to close them temporarily, but closing them completely is unwise. This can lead to dry rot throughout a building and that, I'm sure you'll realise, is not a good thing either for your house or your cashflow.
You have my sympathy... I've just sold a flat in Aberdeen with underfloor venting. And if you've ever been in Aberdeen in the winter, you'll understand that letting a draught is not something you want to do!

Answer 8

if you are going to do this get a builder to have a look first you will probably need to install air bricks, but if these vents were for ventilation by electric fan for instance you may just be able to take them out and get the hole bricked up. But ask a professional cause you could end up with condensation or even CO2 problems

Answer 9

Its a bad idea to block the vents permenantly. I wouldnt you do this, they are there for a reason which is to circulate air and reduce condensation. you can buy vent covers to close and open your vents. My cousin blocked her vents up (council house) and the council worker advised her to unblock the vent. She obtained some plastic vent covers and during the cold winter nights she shut them off and re-opened them in the morning.

Answer 10

You must have ventilation, otherwise you will get damp problems, also for the prevention of the silent killer, carbon monoxide. Maybe you can resite them, but care must be taken.as vents really need to be in the right place, which so far for you is very much the wrong place. I know what it's like, but if you block the vents an someone dies it will be your fault