Covering Air Bricks with a Patio? Important Advice


As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases made on our website. If you make a purchase through links from this website, we may get a small share of the sale from Amazon and other similar affiliate programs.

Air bricks are essential for airflow to the basement. However, if these bricks are covered, they could ruin your home and pollute your family. Are you covering them with a patio? Here’s some advice to follow.

Covering air bricks with a patio is not advised. It could stop critical airflow or block drainage from exiting the area. This could cause a buildup of radon gas and mildew, which can be detrimental to your health and the value of your home.

Don’t throw out an overdue project because you heard it wasn’t possible. Instead, read on and learn all about covering air blocks with a patio.

Why You Should Not Cover Air Bricks with a Patio

Air bricks serve an essential purpose that some people might not understand.

Covering them up will deprive your house of a steady airflow that will promote dryness and help remove bacteria that could grow into a black mold and possibly radon gas. Keeping them clear and ready for airflow protects your home and your family’s respiratory health.

Reasons Air Flow is Important for Your Home

You might not think about airflow when you think about good things for your home. Yet, you protect it against molds and other bits that could lie dormant in your crawl spaces by having excellent airflow to certain home parts. Restricting this flow could upset the healthy balance in your home and bring it and your family down.

A few reasons that airflow is important to your home are:

  • Mildew – One of the most essential things to beat back mildew is fresh air. When your home has a stale flow, it allows mold to grow on surfaces that could face potential structural damage if not removed. Mildew is water that hasn’t evaporated and can be like cancer for the wood beneath your home or porch.
  • Foundation – Your home foundation is one of the most critical parts. It provides a stable platform to support your home. If there’s water that can’t escape, the foundation will crack and erode over time. Air bricks enable air and water to enter and exit the area.
  • Radon Gas – Another big thing that air does is keep radon gas from building up. Radon has a notion of creeping through the cracks in your floor and your home’s vents. A buildup could potentially be deadly for you and your family.

Air is an essential part of protecting your home. The critical thing to remember is that air bricks and vents should be left uncovered to prevent these bacteria and molds from forming. These things can be toxic to your family and break down the materials in your home.

What Do You Need to be Aware of When Dealing with Air Bricks?

You need to remember when dealing with air bricks that they must not be covered or obstructed. However, there are ways around covering them that make them functional without breaking the aesthetic of your home.

Air Bricks
Photo 151930987 | Air Bricks © Wutthichai Changkhit | Dreamstime.com

Can’t Cover Air Bricks? What to Do?

Now that you realize covering the airbricks on your home with a patio is bad, we need to discuss alternatives. An unsightly patio can dip your home’s value and ruin your family gatherings. Adding a few additions to the air bricks, you should be able to upgrade or replace the patio and improve your situation.

A few ways to ensure your air bricks are protected from your new patio are:

  • Window Boxes – You often see these in older homes on city streets. Large concrete or fiberglass forms stand out around the window’s frame. They allow air to flow into the house while still allowing concrete to be built around it.
  • Brick Vents – There’s another option called brick vents that allow you to replace your air brick with a sturdy upgrade. These brick vents work well against water and allow heavy materials to be placed atop them.
Brick Vent
Photo 2313706 | Air © Brad Remy | Dreamstime.com

Specific standards for air bricks must also be followed for the other options. For example, please ensure that an air brick is not installed with the lawn moving uphill. This is because water can easily flow inside, and the ground outside the air bricks must move away from the home to prevent excess water from getting inside.

Can Some Patios Cover Air Bricks and Others Not? (Examples)

Wood is the main reason that air bricks are essential. The airflow around them ensures that the wood can breathe and doesn’t attract a host of mold and bacteria that could slowly cause rot. If you are working with a patio made from a different material, you could forgo the air bricks and ventilation.

A few types of materials that don’t need air bricks are:

  • Concrete – If the area under your home is made from concrete and not wood, you could not need air bricks. Airflow to concrete does nothing to protect or improve it. Concrete density makes bacteria die on its surface, and airflow does not need to carry it away.
  • Synthetic Wood – Synthetic wood is made from a wood pulp bonded with a hard type of plastic. It is then molded into long planks that resemble 2×4 and other types of wood. It doesn’t need ventilation because it is nonporous and will be the same density forever.

Some things that can be replaced do not need air bricks. Covering the vents is a mistake if you work with wood, under the home, or on the patio. You don’t have to replace anything with nonporous materials like concrete and synthetic wood.

Conclusion

Air bricks are essential to keeping your wooden home and patio from rotting and harboring dangerous mold. They should not be covered with stone or nonporous materials that don’t allow air flow to reach them. You can arrange a way to protect the bricks and continue construction, but the airflow must not be interrupted.

There are ways to get around needing air bricks, but they require having homes that aren’t made with wood but with more nonporous materials like concrete. These materials do not need air and can protect your home without the threat of mold buildup. Covering air bricks with a patio is not a good idea to protect your home.

Are you a landscaping enthusiast and want to help me grow Landscapingplanet.com? I am looking for writers! Just send me an email at [email protected].

Lars

I am always happy to share all my knowledge about how to keep your garden in good condition and make it special.

Recent Posts