where can I buy an internal plaster vent for a chimney breast?

[drivenfromdistraction]

We need to vent the chimney breast in one of the bedrooms (blocked up chimney causing damp).

I don't want an ugly plastic vent, but a plaster one that can be painted the same colour as the walls. Can't seem to find one anywhere! Does anyone happen to know where we could get one?

Any builders merchants will sell them. Go to a local place, much cheaper. Builders merchants are open to anyone ,not just tradesmen. I say that because years ago I worked in one and people were forever asking if they needed to have an account with us.

Thanks upup. Do you know anything about them? As far as I understand it, we need to knock a hole through the wall, remove a brick from the chimney and replace it with an airbrick and then a vent cover over the top. Does that sound right? I am not entirely sure what I will be asking the merchant for...

We have one but it is on the external wall not into the room. It is just a brick with holes in. The builders merchants will know. I don't think there will be a cover-some of the bricks can look ornate (ours didn't)

The merchant ( proper local one ) will advise.

I have a similar problem. I do have the internal vent, bug I'm about to pay to get a "chimney thing" put in my roof, in the hope that it sorts the damp. You'll get an air vent in b&q or builders yard, I think.

if you are only cutting out one brick, you don't need an airbrick.

If you try to knock a hole in a wall or chimneybreast, you will end up with a bigger hole, and more cracks, than you expected.

You can paint plastic MAP vents. I don't think I've seen plaster ones on sale for many years, but perhaps they are still sold.

Disused chimneys need to be vented top and bottom, or they get internal condensation. The top vent can be inside the loft if you want, or you can use an elephant's foot pot.

Pigletjohn, I presume an elephant's foot pot is a fake chimney thing. Once I get that done, do you think it will solve my damp wall problem? And I'm getting my sandstone wall reprinted with lime mortar. It's going to be hugely expensive, but I need to solve the problem.

clay, goes in/on a chimneypot but flat top, with holes where the toenails would be.

ventilating a disused flue is always the first thing to do.

You may have additional problems with flaunching or leadwork, but start with the ventilation and any visible defects. If there is rain penetration you may see the marks from the loft.

found one

Thank you. There is no chimney on the roof at all now, so I'm getting one put in and will get that for the top. There's no rain penetration from the roof - it's in patches on the wall on what would have been the loft (converted) which the repointing should solve. The damp is in the room below where the fireplace originally was.

if there is no chimney on the roof, it's OK to leave it capped, but ventilated.

You can even have the brickwork removed and the stump of the chimney taken back into the loft, and roofed over, with the flue open at the top. Then there will be no rain getting in.

As somebody mentioned up thread. The chimney can be vented to the outside if on an external wall, or vented into the solum if you have access to do it.