Baby its cold outside, err inside.

Postings are like buses. Wait for ever and 2 come along at once.

The coldest winter in the UK for the past 20 years has revealed yet another dodgy bodge in the dung heap. The kitchen wall. We'd noticed how everything under the sink was freezing cold and there was a draught coming from behind the cabinets. Turns out there are 2 bloody great holes in the wall.

The house of course was built before indoor plumbing became common so the kitchen and bathroom drains go out through the wall and down the outside of the house. All well and good. Except when the previous owner had the kitchen remodelled. Its obvious they moved the sink as there was a plugged hole in the wall when we moved in. I mistakenly assumed it had been sealed. Erm, no. The space around the existing drain pipe had been covered by mesh and something black that again looked like it had been sealed.

 

The first hole had a plastic green cap in place. Removing this shows a 2.5" hole that goes all the way through the brickwork and to the back of the cabinets. The pic shows the before and after. My good friend expanding foam to the rescue again.

 

The second hole was covered by a mesh screen. I had assumed it was a previous vent that had been sealed up. What we found was mesh stuck to the wall with a layer of duct tape beneath. DUCT TAPE for f**k sakes. Not even Red Green would have used duct tape for that. Behind the duct tape was a disused vent which was exposed again back to the cabinets. No wonder it was so cold in there.