How Much Does it Cost to Fit an Airbrick?

Job Costs

Job	Description	Labour
1	A builder can supply and fit four clay airbricks on a “clear site” in half a day inc. materials.	£125
2	If he has to move stuff then call it one easy day	£210
3	If he has to remove or cut individual paving slabs or cut away a section of concrete driveway or path and then make good afterwards. 2 days for 1 man inc. all materials and tipping.	£450

“Labour” at £175 a day (tradesman) £100 (labourer), includes incidental fixings etc. and tipping charges. “Materials” if mentioned, are larger things (a boiler) and stuff only you can choose (tiles etc). Also VAT must be added all round.

Information Sheet on Fitting an Airbrick

Poor neglected little souls! Blocked up, paved across, covered with soil and rubbish, obliterated by extensions. These apparently insignificant objects are the definite poor relations of the average building.

Forget them at your peril. Some poor so and so a dozen years down the line will suffer the consequences of your “airbrick abuse”. This could be rotten floors or (make the sign of the cross here), dry rot.

So, have a look at your airbricks, make sure they are all fully exposed and that there are enough of them. Typically this means two or three on each exterior wall or six to nine on an average semi detached home.

If you have less, or they are all blocked by extensions or paving and you intend to live there for a few more years, get them sorted.

There’s not much point in getting a bloke in to fit one air brick. If you only need one sorting out it can wait until other jobs need doing and including it with them.

Broken, cast iron airbricks in Victorian houses attract rats and mice. They just love living under floors so put some poison down under the floor through the hole. Or if you’re a Buddhists, put humane traps down, then risk Weil’s disease, take the rats out into the country and release them to die in a totally alien environment.

New air bricks are the same size as a modern individual brick, which is just a bit smaller than a Victorian brick, so replacement in either house is simple.

Larger sized airbricks are also available for certain situations. For example, an extension or paving laid too high may obstruct two of your airbricks. Your builder can assess whether your other, functioning airbricks still provide sufficient air circulation, or he may recommend replacing the remaining ones with larger airbricks.