Bad or stale air is not good for you or your children to continuously breathe in. You will find that wallpapers, carpets and other materials will start to feel damp by absorbing the moisture held in the air within the property. Improving the air flow will remove these problems from your property. See our projects on condensation. Installing or fitting trickle vents in your doors and windows is an easy and safe way of dealing with the problem.
The hot air gathers inside your home and gravitates towards the cooler surfaces. These are often windows and doors. The windows and doors are usually in a recesses so the warm air is trapped. It rises to the head of the window or door where if there is an open trickle vent it can escape.
The window shown in the image below is an office window and a continuous trickle vent is being placed on the frame. This is a grid vent which cannot be closed so the owners of the building know that the rooms are being continuously vented. Mark a centre point on that line, if you are installing lets say a mm by 30mm trickle vent, you will firstly need to measure mm each way from the centre point you have marked.
Next, you will have to drill a small pilot hole at each end of the mm mark through the window. This will allow you to repeat the procedure on the inside of your window making sure the holes cut to create your trickle vent match up. Next, you will need a 20mm wood bit for wooden windows or a high speed bit for PVCu windows. Lets say your window frame is 50mm thick. Get some insulation tape and mark a depth on the drill bit of 25mm.
When drilling PVCu windows you will need to use a high speed bit designed for drilling metal. All PVCu windows should have a metal reinforcing strip within the frame. This strip is not very thick and quite easy to drill through although we suggest using a smaller drill bit initially, then increasing to a larger bit for the actual ventilation holes.
The smaller bit is essentially a pilot hole. Using one of your pilot holes as a starting guide, drill holes in the window frame to the depth marked on your drill bit with the insulation tape. Keep your trickle vents open and they should help reduce moisture — they really do work.
Our advice is to leave them fully open at all times. The information around the use of trickle vents is clear from reputable installers.
The same applies to doors. Some fitted with trickle vents, some without. Yet these doors are sold and installed every day. There should be no issue with most of the bifolding and sliding door brands on the market having trickle vents. Some use an additional aluminium profile at the head, other brands are able to house the vent in the existing frame, without an add-on. Our advice is ask the question and then double-check the answer with a reputable organisation such as the Glass and Glazing Federation offering correct advice.
Aesthetics are subjective. So whether something is unattractive is down to the individual. What we can tell you is some installers are unaware of how slim and minimalist modern trickle vents are. Trickle vents are no exception. With some models looking nearly invisible within a frame and also colour matched, the arguments around trickle vents being unattractive are quite weak with trickle vent products available today.
But neither are bay windows or specific configurations and yet we still buy these. This is a confusing message. Building Regulations are different for Energy Efficiency and Ventilation. The fact remains you need them in new build projects and when replacing old glazing already fitted with ventilators.
Our view is the benefits of air quality in the room is important for general health and especially given how airtight we now make our homes. And if you leave your home to go on holiday, trickle vents are a benefit in keeping the home fresh.
People feel the draught and close the vent or think the room loses its heat. The purpose of trickle ventilators is providing a consistent flow of fresh air. Any cooling of the internal temperature in winter from a trickle vent is marginal. Keep your trickle vents open. Another potentially incorrect statement. There are trickle vents for windows and doors with soundproofing as standard. A good installer should have the knowledge and ability to source these. This involves partially opening a window vent around 10mm or more and then locking your window.
This is not an alternative to ventilators in windows. The main issue I have is the amount of noise and air they let in, particularly the noise. At times it sounds like the windows are wide open. Any ideas on how to best reduce it? Reluctant to have to pay out for new windows after such a short space of time! New builds have to have trickle vents as standard fit. The only way to reduce the noise is to move.
In reply to Lewis and Stevie, Builder can use better trickle vents and there are Acoustic Trickle Vents available, if Builder will not come back a local glazing company should be able to help.
New builds do not have to have trickle vents, if mechanical ventilation is fitted, which in my opinion should have been standard many years ago. Unfortunately this has been an ongoing problem for years without a satisfactory solution. Building Regs are wanting healthier homes with a regular change of air to freshen up properties and provide healthy living.
Customers want nothing of the sort, they block up air bricks, tape up vents and any gaps in windows. The new build windows provided to the trade are cheap and cheerful … Read more ». Jeff, Occupier education is the key as there is actually less heat loss than you would expect, this however depends on the type and design installed.
Air quality in the property is the key as well as removal of the 2 litres of moisture we all breathe out inside our homes per day. Garry, Trickle vents are required in new builds, it is just the required equivalent area that changes. Even with mechanical ventilation EQA is required per room, this is system 3 under the building regulations part F. ONLY system 4 — full mechanical heat recovery systems probably installed in a new build do not require any background ventilation.
Many consumers say they do not want them when replacing windows that already have them. Lost count of how many orders lost when saying they must have to comply with CPS regulations. Hi, appreciate this is an old post but did you ever get the acoustic vents fitted. If so were you happy with the results and were there any issues getting them fitted.. Lewis the trickle vent is probably an old design. You could try the replacement vent Link vent DIY from Glazpart, 38Db open and 51 Db when closed this should reduce noise level depending on the rout size.
This vent fits most 10 to 13mm mm rout sizes, also less draughty. Thanks Dean. The trickle vents in my new triple glazing are not airtight, and you can feel the draft even when there is not much wind outside. Hi Eran There are a lot of questions here. Are the windows in a new-build or did the previous windows have them in? If so, by law the windows have to have them.
The nature of trickle vents is to let air through constantly. Even when closed they will still let a small amount of air in. The point is to give homes background ventilation which benefits the house in terms of allowing moist, warmer air to exit the building and is better for the health of the person living in it.
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