DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

We moved into a 1940s semi a year or two ago and keep finding DIY disasters. We've finally come round to stripping / skimming our living room and have discovered the previous owner covered a drafty air vent in the living room with wallpaper. They had a Baxi Back Burner in their living room, which we have had replaced with a modern combi. The central heating has been reconnected in the cavity and we've had it all bricked up. We don't have any kind of fire in our living room but may, in the future have a multi-fuel burner put in. The question I have is what to do with the vent? We've got a plasterer booked in in a few weeks' time so will need it to be resolved by then. Do we need it? Or, is it a good idea to get someone in to seal it up? Any thoughts very welcome. Thanks

If you have humidity issues and condensation on windows-if single glazed then not sealing the room up too much might be beneficial. We've in a very old property built before air bricks etc. We have a fireplace that was boarded over by previous owner and eventually like you would like to open it up, have a burner but not just now. Anyway, they had just boarded over it and put 3 tiny holes in the ply board as vents. So i actually created a bigger letterbox hole and put a proper metal vent in but ours is behind a sofa so no one see's it. How much it will help to lower condensation we'll find out in winter..

Good chance it was for the gas fire. But i would keep it if you are thinking of a multi fuel fire as if its over 5.5kw it will need an air vent. Maybe fit a vent with shutter on it.