What are these holes for!!?!?

[HalfwayUpALadder]

Decorating living room in new house. The fireplace is closed up, leaving the chimney breast in place.

The previous owners had wallpapered the whole room, including the chimney breast, but had drilled three holes in the centre of where the fire place would have been. These had been wallpapered over, but then almost like someone had poked through the wallpaper. The previous owners had had their sofa in front of the chimney breast so would not have seen the holes.

Do you think these holes are for ventilation? We were planning on wallpapering the whole room walls are shockingly bad and not fit for just painting but really don't want to just poke holes through!

Do we need them? What should we do? (I think the answer is probably get a proper vent fitted?)

Holey bump

I have a sealed fireplace in my bedroom and it has a ventilation grill in it so maybe it's a low tech version of that!

Is there air flowing through the holes ? Light a match and blow it out near the hole and see if the smoke goes straight up or is blown out ?
If there's air flow then buy a metal or plastic vent cover for it !

Do you think it should be properly cut out? Ie ina rectangle shape? Is that what's usually behind the vent?

If it is a blocked chimney it should be ventilated, otherwise you can get damp started there. There is usually a vent, this can go on the side of the chimney so it is less obvious, but it is much easier to put it in to the front than the side

Hmmmm I have just emailed a builder contact asking for advice.

We were hoping to do all the wallpapering this weekend but I guess not. Better to get it sorted properly though.

so frustrating that previous owners didn't do it properly

Tbh this redecoration is probably just for the next 5 yrs or so while the kids are little ... Eventually I would want to put a fireplace back into the chimney breast

To you all for your thoughts

a disused chimney must be ventilated top and bottom or it will get condensation inside, which will soak through the brickwork and plaster leaving brown or yellow tarry stains.

It can be done more neatly using a plastic, brass or chrome grill. The plastic ones can be painted (preferably after removing from the wall)

In some cases you can ventilate the flue under the floor, which is even better, as it ventilates the void as well.