Ventilation hole in back bedroom

Yakuza

Hi there,
I just wanted to pick your collective brains on something; my house is a mid 1940's end of terrace, and in the back bedroom (my daughter's), there is a vent about 10"X10" in the back wall, about 18 inches down from the ceiling. As far as I can see, its only purpose is to make the room like an ice cube during winter. Her room is noticeably colder than other rooms in the house, and if it's anyway stormy, you can hear and feel quite a stong breeze coming through.

Is there a good reason for that vent being there in the first place? It's the only room without a chimney (we've removed all the chimneys in the front bedroom and the two downstairs rooms, replacing them with small vents). Would it be any harm if I blocked it up, and if I want to air the room, leave a top window open for an hour a day?

Assuming it's not a bad idea to block it up, what would be the best way about going about this? Shoving some blocks in most of the gap and sealing it with something? I'm not bothered about the look of it - I can just leave the plastic vent cover over it for now; I might get the entire room re-skimmed later on in the summer.

For now, I'd just like to see if I should block up that hole.

Thanks for your time!

Don't block it!. will cause damp, mould etc

It sounds like that wall is exposed to the weather, it should be possible to put a cover of some type on the outside wall to stop the wind blasting through but allowing fresh air into the room. Is there one at floor level as well.

GreeBo

From my own experience if you have an "old style" external vent thats on an exposed wall the draught is very strong and noisy even with a louvred external cover.

GreeBo

GreeBo wrote:

From my own experience if you have an "old style" external vent thats on an exposed wall the draught is very strong and noisy even with a louvred external cover.

Agreed!

I was thinking more of a flat plate, similar to the type used on balanced flue gas heater terminals.

eg. if the vent is 30cm2 fit a 35cm2 plate spaced a couple of cm away from the wall

Yakuza

Thanks for the advice so far. The back wall is south-facing, so it's only when there's a strong southerly wind that you can hear/feel it blowing through the vent.

There was one in the downstairs back room too, but we extended the kitchen into a sunroom at the back of the house, so the builders put in two vent pipes under the floor (going through the cement floor of the extension, out into the back garden).

Will blocking it really bring damp/condensation in? Would opening a window during the day (if it's not too cold that is) not allow enough fresh air into the room? I'd prefer to be in control of how and when the room gets aired, rather than have a hole in the house 24/7

So if I oughtn't to block it, how on earth do I keep the room from pi55ing away heat through this vent? In the age of rising power costs etc I'd like to make my house as energy-efficient as I can. We do have double-glazed windows everywhere as well.

Cheers!

Victor

Yakuza wrote:

There was one in the downstairs back room too, but we extended the kitchen into a sunroom at the back of the house, so the builders put in two vent pipes under the floor (going through the cement floor of the extension, out into the back garden).

Completely different.