When the wind blows

[Chade]

I've got a small single glazed unheated conservatory that leads from the main house to a small unheated utility room. It sufferers both from condensation in the winter and draughts that blow back into the main house. I'm currently resealing the all the windows with silicone. Then I'm planning to install secondary glazing of the heat film and double sided tape variety over the fan lights.

In the utility the tumble drier vents through a ribbed tube that connects to a plastic pipe that goes through the wall and then right angles downward. Whilst this keeps the rain out is this normal or is it more usual to have some sort of anti-blow back vent?

In the utility room the washing machine discharges into a large stainless sink before the water drains away. I'm thinking of installing an extractor fan in the utilties' external wall to try to cut down on the damp. Last year we ran a dehumidifier in the conservatory, but now we've got a wireless electricity meter. If I did the whole conservatory with secondary glazing it would be a relatively big area. How hard would it be to knock a tidy hole in a 1960's external wall?

[Peter Andrews]

First I would plumb the washing machine into the sink waste pipe if possible - at the moment, IIUC, your hot waste water is swilling around in a large sink giving off lots of steam!

Assuming your exterior wall is 9/11" brick you can relatively easily drill through for an extractor using an SDS and suitable core drill - hire one if necessary.

Peter

[Bob Minchin]

yes but why bother? if the door is kept shut on the drier no draught should come through

Plumb in the drain properly. As it is it will cause steam/condensation as the washer drains hot water. I'm thinking of

??? What is the link here? If I did

You can get/hire a drill to cut a hole for 110mm soil pipe or drill lots of little holes in a circle and join up the dots with a chisel. Use a long drill in the centre to make sure the ends line up for inside to outside. The extractors usually use 100mm and come with a kit to seal the ends. Or use builders expanding foam ( not too much!! practice first and see how much is expands) Make sure you are not pumping your humid air into the cavity.

Bob

[Chade]

I've had a look at the pipes under the sink. Immediately under the sink is a metal right angle bend leading to a short metal pipe another right angle (plastic) joins this to a vertical plastic pipe. This disappears into a lump in the concrete floor. assuming the utility was formally a brick lean too for an outside toilet I'd say someone had stuck the pipe where the toilet had attached to the floor and concreted around it. All the pipe work under the sink has had several thick coats of paint. I've tried measuring the plastic pipe and I reckon it's one and one quarter inch. Currently bits of felty stuff are caught in the grill in the plug hole. Presumably I'd need to add some sort of trap to the waste pipe below where I plumb in the washing machine. I've had a quick look in the screwfix catalog and I see their are pedestal traps that would fit a straight pipe. Are these easy to clean? What would happen to the washing machine if they backed up? I see there is a fitting for plumbing a washing machine into a straight pipe would this connect direct to the trap? What would be the best way to remove the coats of paint from the plastic pipe without damaging it?

I don't know what 9/11" brick is.

[Chade]

The conservatory floor is tiled with uneven quarry tiles. I'm going to add a brush type excluder to the bottom of the door but my hopes aren't high.

The cost of running a dehumidifier!

Interesting.

I don't think it's has a cavity wall. I think it was built as a lean too.

[Andy Champ]

9 inch or 11 inch.

Andy

[js.b1]

Due to the "relatively variable" construction industry right now, you may find places like Hire Station will do a same-day delivery n collect or weekend-hire of a 107mm core drill & diamond core drill w/ transformer. Typically =A330-35 excluding the core drill.

Beware there is a charge for core drill breakage, but you can buy insurance for this (ask) or simply buy a Blue Spot core drill online somewhere (Amazon, Ebay, ?Toolstation?) for about =A320 and sell it back out on Ebay for about =A310+postage.

You can do it by stitch drilling with an SDS (which you can also hire), however it is not as neat.

For cheap wallplate (square plate, 4 screw holes, central 102mm hole)

• tube (300mm long) + spigot (for tube to dryer hookup) + outside backdraught shutter (brown or white) go to and they do not cost much. You can also get them on Ebay and B&Q. Do not use a "co- axial expanding duct" because they can leak past the seal and create a damp spot in the cavity.

Properly extracting moisture makes a huge difference and far cheaper than trying to use a dehumidifier (375W/hr does not sound like much, but the core drill will pay for itself in under a year I suspect). At the same time if you do not have a kitchen cooker hood extractor, you can fit one of those - =A320 will get a slightly scratched unit of Ebay, use the same core drill to make a 107mm hole.