air gap between bricks for air flow?

I have an room in my house which gets very cold in the winter, it's an upstairs room and is just above the living room.

The house is a few years old, all brick construction. The room in question has 3 long vertical windows, 2 of which are narrow, and the middle one is quite large. The ventilation in the room has only one 5 inch duct which is located under the center and largest window.

Without inspecting for correct insulation which would likely involve removing trim around windows and stuff, or cutting holes in the drywall. Could it be possible that the air gap between the bricks (there's about 5 or 6 of them) under the three windows is a major source of this cold air?

The room faces north and does have strong winds during the winter months.

I suppose I could temporarily block the air gaps to see if it has any affect, before making a permanent solution. Any ideas out there?

Arthur

 

I would not block the weep holes, espcially in the winter. You could check for air intrusion on the interor of the window trim, though.

My guess would be a small amount of interior air circulation combined with a lot of window area.

 

I am assuming you do not have an all brick house, but a wood frame house with brick veneer.

The gap you see is designed to be there. This is just the same as any air behind any other siding material. The brick is an attractive, up-scale, high quality, low maintenance exterior facing.

Behind the air gap is the primary moisture barrier and then the insulation. The openings you see at the bottom of the wall are called weeps and are designed to allow any water in the gap to drain out. You will also probably have similar holes near the top of the brick veneer that allow the gap to breathe.

If your room is cool, it must be because of the amount and/or quality of the insulation or a defect in the design or installation of the heating system. your major heat loss is probably through and around the windows, as is common in most homes. A 5" (probably fles pipe) is not much of a supply for a north facing room with no sunlight to provide additional heat.

Beyond the sound control benefit, there is one benefit of the masonry veneer that is not obvious, and that is the ability of the masonry to moderate the daily temperature swing and provide some additional thermal comfort.

Dick

 

Concretemasonry> your right...it's wood frame with brick veneer.

I'll leave those weep holes alone and focus my attention on the insulation around the windows then.

FWIW, I forgot to mention that the room also has a cathedral ceiling; and the distance to the furnace is quite long.

Thanks.
Arthur

 

Arthur -

Sounds like it was a room sized by square footage and not volume, location and orientation.

Good luck.

Dick