Airbricks necessary for home with solid floor built in early 80s??

Markos88 · Post by **Markos88** » Sat Oct 24, 2020 5:48 am

Hi. I recently bought a house and there are a couple of air bricks located one above the other, separated by ~40cm. Theyre located on one of the kitchen’s external walls, above the DPM in the brickwork. Wall is an insulated cavity wall, floor is solid floor throughout the ground floor of the building (concrete>polystyreneInsulation>polytheneDPM>chipboard). The airbricks were plasterboarded over. I’m wondering if their purpose was to provide ventilation for the backs of the plasterboards. Or maybe they were retrospectively boarded over? Any ideas?

My reason for wanting to remove the airbricks and brick up the void with regular bricks is because I’m wanting to reduce the heat loss from the house. I plan on reducing the heat loss in as many areas of the house as I can to improve the home’s energy efficiency and lower heating bills.

Thanks for any and all advice!
Markos

wes56 · Post by **wes56** » Sat Oct 24, 2020 7:53 am

Probably OK to brick them up.
You dont vent cavities or behind D&D.
Was the house built with solid floors?

big-all · Post by **big-all** » Sat Oct 24, 2020 9:31 am

iff there are any gas appliances in that or a connecting room it may be required for ventilation

Markos88 · Post by **Markos88** » Sat Oct 24, 2020 10:25 am

Just the boiler but that has its own dedicated vent. Used to be gas hob, but having electric hobs/oven now. House was built with solid floor, yes.

stevei · Post by **stevei** » Sat Oct 31, 2020 6:01 am

How old is the house? How are the cavity walls insulated?