Any suggestions on how to deal with this:
Bathroom in 1920/30 house had an old extractor fan in the bathroom. Removed it and found it was plastic ducted to an airbrick. I don't feel we need the vent (no gas appliance) as we use the vent / lock facility on the window.
I feel I should allow the air brick to ventilate the cavity and I am considering mortaring a bit of breeze block into the inner wall and then plastering it over prior to tiling.
Should this be acceptable?
Are you sure the purpose of the airbrick was to ventilate the cavity? My house is of a similar age and the bathroom and smallest bedroom both originally had a metal ventilation fitting on the inside that connected directly to an airbrick. Neither room has ever been supplied with gas, so I'm guessing that there might have been a requirement to provide additional ventilation in small rooms back in the '20s and '30s. I bricked them both up many years ago. In my case I found there was no cavity to ventilate - while the ground floor exterior walls are conventional double-skin construction with a cavity, the upper storey is actually solid.
Maybe a previous occupant has removed the original internal ventilation fitting and replaced it with an extractor fan? Have you tried removing the plastic ducting to see what's there? You may find that the cavity is closed-off with slate or something similar to provide a tunnel between the airbrick and the inner wall - as is normally the case with an airbrick that ventilates the void under a suspended floor.
Mike
I can't see any sort of lining - it looks a bit rough. I also don't think the house has a typical cavity wall - more of a double thickness with a bit of a random gap. The airbrick is high up in the corner of the house.
I suppose I could use some fill foam - but I though having some ventilation in the outer layer may be beneficial.
Then it's a solid wall; I don't think cavities started to appear anywhere until well into the 30's. Doesn't much matter what you fill it up with as long as the outside is weatherproof and the inside looks nice!
Depends where you live. My parent's house circa 1901 had cavity walls, and my sister's was even older and had cavity walls (and batswing gas lights in the cellar).
|> I can't see any sort of lining - it looks a bit rough. I also don't think |> the house has a typical cavity wall - more of a double thickness with a |> bit of a random gap. The airbrick is high up in the corner of the house. |>
|Then it's a solid wall; I don't think cavities started to appear anywhere |until well into the 30's. Doesn't much matter what you fill it up with as |long as the outside is weatherproof and the inside looks nice!
My son in law has a brick built house dated 1927 with a 1 inch cavity, He believes it to be one of the earliest examples.
Our house was built in 1903. For some reason it has a solid front wall and a cavity rear wall.
It sounds just like the upper storey of my house. In some areas there's a gap of up to 15mm, but in most areas it's just a few millimeters or non-existant. The 'gap' is often filled with mortar that's been squeezed out as each course of bricks was laid. It's effectively a solid wall. In my case the outside is finished with render and pebbledash to prevent water penetration.
I put a slate behind the airbrick to prevent water ingress, bricked up the hole on the inner skin and finished it off with plaster. It's been like that for years without problems.
Mike
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