Retrofit Insulation and vents - what to look out for

A lot of cold will come in and heat will go out the vents on a windy days

She can use the heating to make up for the lost heat, this will use more fuel which is expensive

A more efficient method would have been to fit a heat recovery system, but this would be a lot expensive to fit, but saves on fuel

People love to invest big to (show off and also) save a bit over the years after, remeber the 30k diesel car was only e150 to tax, woop dee do

Sorry for ranting i had a busy day, and a customer just texted saying her sky box isnt working, and it was working when i left the house

I think you're being overly critical here.

There are 4" cores in the rooms now but its not the end of the world. See how the house is for a while and how much bills are during winter.

Was the house insulated internslly or externally? The house likely had lots of draughts beforehand and these will (hopefully) be reduced following the works so improved ventilation is required. Check whether there are trickle vents in the windows or not?

If you want to improve on the current setup, the aereco vents are about 130e each to buy, they fit the 4" cores and what they do is the gap in the vent expands or contracts to control the inflow of air dependent on the humidity in each room. You still need something to draw air out of the house, you can do with a centralised aereco unit with ducts back to kitchen and bathrooms but that's a big enough job to fit and IMO will never pay for itself in savings unless doing significant other internal works. What we did instead is installed humidity controlled extractors in bathrooms *2, which are always running at a low rpm to promote airflow, these then ramp up significantly when the bathroom light is on (for odours!) or if they detect humidity from baths or showers and then slow down when the humidity decreases again. You can barely hear them standing beside them when on low rpm. We didn't bother with an aereco vent in kitchen, just left as a standard and we tend to leave the back doors open a lot anyway.

On a windy day, but not every day is windy

Air can hold water, the warmer air is the more water it can hold, if there is no ventilation the air in the house will be 100% saturated, by water from sinks, people, sweat from bed and couch

Some parts of the house are colder, the air touching colder parts will cool, so now it cant hold as much water ( i mentioned above the warmer air is the more water it can hold) so excess water is sprayed like a fine mist on the celings, walls and floor, as it cools it falls to the floor and warm air from other parts of the house is pulled into room to replace, and the cooled air rolls out along the floor (open the fridge in bare feet to prove this), the fresh supply of warm air releases more water, this happening 24x7 causes mould to start to grow

Also cleaning chemicles will give of gasses

radon can come up the floor, and can cause cancer

Buring fuel can give off CO

I've just had a retrofit done (external insulation) and vents fitted were similar to those described by the OP. There's a lot of air coming through them (it's been windy the past few days) so I'm worried there's going to be a freezing cold draught in the winter which might cancel out all the effects of the insulation.

There's also a lot of street noise coming in which I'm disappointed about. I'm going to raise these issues at the snagging stage to see what they suggest.

A poster above suggested Aereco vents - something like these? https://www.aereco.com/products/air-inlets/eht2/

But as I mention previously, you need fans to accompany them to achieve sufficient air changes

@Alkers s "you need fans to accompany them to achieve sufficient air changes" By fans you mean extractor fans in Bathroom/Kitchen ?

Yes but they need to run constantly at a low rate so your job extractor isn't suitable and you'll need to change bathroom fan also

Would DCV not be a good alternative to those standard vents?

They just tick the boxes, the fact you pay a lot more to heat the house most likely doesn't compute with them. I think it negates the fact they are trying to get you more green when you use more energy to heat your home. That's just my 2 cents and I'm sure people will explain how I'm wrong.

From my understanding (currently having works quoted on an old house, was my grandparents)

Room vents are essential because a) Your house needs to breathe and b) It helps tackle mould

Having a house fully insulated with no ventilation is, to my understanding, a dreadful idea.

This is information I've received from someone in the building industry and a surveyor. For both of them top of the list was get the vents sorted. It looks like they had been plastered over. One in the kids room was open a little but is a horror show. Took the cover of the wall and it was done dreadfully.

I have someone coming out next week who can hopefully do a ton of work for me, but I am assuming it will just be the Plastic white vents in, and that's fine by me.

A lot of new builds arn't coming with wall vents, instead having vents in windows. But it was explained to me that's just for newer builds, the older styled houses need wall vents.

I've found the entire insulating conversation and discussion a head melt. The only agreement I've found amongst loads of people in the business is that the external wall wrap is dreadful, has no basis in building and to be avoided at all costs.

Your mothers house is newer than the one I'm finalising building. And like I said top of everyones checklist for us is to get wall vents sorted. You can get ones that slide closed, but it seems an essential thing.

Like compared to mine it's just a hole in the wall to an external vent that looks like was put into the house in the 60's :D So we will be getting the modern setup of PVC pipe, expanding foam (probably) and then an internal white plastic vent cover.

*stuff. They are very gently stuffed into the hole. Made sure there was still a good breeze coming through the hole afterwards. It dampens down the breeze. They are in no way blocked.

"Yes DCV/ MHRV would be a better option, there are cheaper PCV options available that work with the vents in situ"

Would you have a link to a passive product?

Have been searching but found nothing with good reviews. No budget for running power to wall vents, don't have wall voids or budget for whole house ventilation.

Could go with a couple of these lads either

There are more expensive options available with decentralised mvhr.

It won't do anything for noise in the house and they need a power supply cable routed to them.

Noise attenuating wall vents are available.

They could be available cheaper somewhere else. Links above are for info only

I've heard those vents with wind flaps make noise themselves in the wind. That one there has an adjuster. Just close it over slightly on a windy night, and remember to open it the next day

Whole house system would cost me a fortune.

2.5 storey 4 bed house. Fire lines etc.

A bungalow with open attic could have mvhr very cheaply. (Insulated ductwork etc)

All depends on the house type.

The decentralised option suits a lot of house types.

A friend just had a contractor out to inspect for the warmer homes scheme due to a disability and he was told because he had window vents he didn't need the wall vents. I found that a bit strange considering his house is riddled with mould and the window vents don't seem to be helping much. He was told the bedrooms and other rooms didn't need them, only the kitchen and bathroom needed to be vented out.

He was also told only half his house would be wrapped externally because there was some insulation in the other half's walls were there's an extension so he will have a step back halfway down the house. Sounds a bit mad but he's getting it done free so I suppose it's better than nothing.

He likely needs a second opinion

I agree.

There is a lot of talk of investing in new tech, like electric vehicles, heat pumps and solar panels. Far less on ventilation. But I think that is wrong. Id urge people to use mechanical ventilation above electric vehicles, heat pumps and solar panels, for one simple reason, it is the only one that makes your life just easier and better. It is really the key tech for having a cosy house with good (not damp) air.