External air vent is boxed in - not good?

[olvr]

Hi, glad to find this forum! Very useful.

We have an old metal air vent in external single skin wall. The air vent has effectively been boxed in with bricks to form a three sided box with an open top. As a result it collects leaves and makes the vent hard to keep clear.

Looks like it has been there a long time, I would like to remove it but not sure if it's there for a reason? Makes sense to remove it to improve airflow?

Thoughts welcome (have odour on the inside so keen to improve airflow under the floor).

Image below - house wall at back, vent in centre. Newer brick on right is a flower bed retaining wall which sits on the air brick "box"

Thanks

 

[Flyfisher]

Well at least the airbrick is still open, unlike so many that succumb to rising ground levels and paving etc.

Removing it might improve airflow, but will likely make it even more likely to be blocked by leaves, which is probably why the bricks were added in the first place.

Adding some coarse wire mesh (eg rabbit fencing) over the top of the bricks would make it easier to remove accumulated leaves.

If you're really concerned to maximise airflow, you could perhaps remove the bricks and replace them with a coarse wire 'cage' that would allow air through the sides as well as the top - as long as you keep it clear of leaves of course! A little regular maintenance can make a big difference to things like this.

Ideally, such ventilated spaces should have more than one airbrick, preferably on different sides of the walls, so that any wind will create a small differential pressure around the house to drive the airflow.

 

[Lacan07]

Hi, glad to find this forum! Very useful.

We have an old metal air vent in external single skin wall. The air vent has effectively been boxed in with bricks to form a three sided box with an open top. As a result it collects leaves and makes the vent hard to keep clear.

Looks like it has been there a long time, I would like to remove it but not sure if it's there for a reason? Makes sense to remove it to improve airflow?

Thoughts welcome (have odour on the inside so keen to improve airflow under the floor).

Image below - house wall at back, vent in centre. Newer brick on right is a flower bed retaining wall which sits on the air brick "box"

Thanks

View attachment 12737

That ground level looks to be too high (air brick too low) to me so don't discount the possibility they built that little box wall to prevent rain water from getting under the house. That's often why people unwittingly block / fill air bricks on high external ground. It also might go some way to explaining the odour. Is that a plinth covered in bitumen at the bottom of the wall?

By all means remove the wall but I would then lower the ground levels. The fact the wall is there won't make any difference to airflow but by the looks of your photo the grill doesn't appear to be functioning too well anyway.

 

[a twig]

As an extension to FFs suggestion I would try to angle the mesh at a 45 degree angle which would help falling leaves roll/slide down and off rather than down into the gulley

 

[olvr]

Thanks for your replies. There is no bitumen, just painted mortar, but I like the idea of wire mesh/cage as I think it's just a bucket at the moment. Also turns out the vents are pretty much blocked with soil so hopefully getting under the floorboards and clearing from the inside will help too.

Hard to vent the whole floor due to various extensions but hopefully clearing this one will help .

Many thanks