The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:17 am**

My neighbour called me over last night in a right flap.
Our houses are 1930's and there are ventilation bricks just above the DC in various areas around the house.
Where he is in the process of having paving put down the contractors have paved as high as half way over a vent - which tells me it aint't dug down deep enough.
Now is the time for him to stop the job - but can you confirm ...
What is the desired depth below any vents that the top of the block paving should be?
Thanks in advance for any info I get

Posted: **Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:39 am**

the top surface should be 150mm below the dpc

andy

Posted: **Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:40 am**

o i meant to say at least 150mm ...

andy

Posted: **Sat Apr 07, 2007 11:36 am**

The air bricks are likely to be sat on the DPC, so you need, as Andy said, to have the paving at least 150mm below that.

Posted: **Sat Apr 07, 2007 10:21 pm**

at least it is not as bad as one sloping block paved drive i looked at. The "pavers" had used the air bricks as drains for the surface water run off from the drive, and told the customer "that is what they are there for"!

Posted: **Sun Apr 08, 2007 1:59 pm**

dont forget in 1930's houses that the airbricks are always below floor level and DPC is sometimes 150mm below finished floor level.
the problem is that you end up having a 300mm step out of the house to the flags, a picture would be handy but they must NOT block any ventilation
cheers LLL

Posted: **Thu Apr 12, 2007 9:02 pm**

Thanks for all your replies.
The contractor has dropped the level by at least 150mm which is adequate for the job.
Nothing like a second opinion - thanks you all again.

Posted: **Fri Apr 13, 2007 6:16 am**

Good news Andrew - many thanks for taking the time to report back - many don't!

The Brew Cabin

More bad workmanship - House ventilation blocked