How To Replace Vent Register Cover

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Working foundation vents help prevent damage to your house sill plate due to rot or termites. — Working foundation vents help forestall harm to your house sill plate due to rot or termites.

What Are Foundation Vents?

The foundation vents on your home provide airflow and help prevent moisture from getting nether the business firm (which can lead to rotting woods and termites).

When to Open and Close Them

Keeping the vents open up during the summer allows air to flow nether the home, keeping it cooler and drawing out wet. They also help to ventilate when propane or gas lines are running nether the home.

Endmost them during the winter, or even during potent summertime storms, helps foreclose snowfall and rain from going directly nether the dwelling. Closing foundation vents during the winter too help to keep the pipes under the house from freezing due to common cold winds.

How to Replace Foundation Vents

Loose, missing, or damaged foundation vents require replacement. They are unremarkably made of steel, have a screen, and are installed with mortar. In that location is a handle that allows y'all to quickly open or close them depending upon the weather and the season. Replacing them requires making certain the hole is free from whatsoever loose mortar from the previous vent.

What You'll Need

Common cold chisel
Hammer
Stiff wire castor
Quick-drying mortar
Bucket
Trowel

Step ane: Remove the Existing Foundation Vents

Pull loose foundation vents out of the hole if the vents are then loose that they take no mortar holding them in place.
If they're mortared in, flake the mortar away from the perimeter of the hole with a common cold chisel and hammer. Avert digging into the foundation; the mortar is relatively thin and should chip abroad with trivial difficulty.
Pull the center of the vent. If it doesn't budge, go into the crawl space and look for mortar adhering from behind. Chip away the mortar and remove the foundation vent from the pigsty.
Remove the old mortar from the hole with the chisel and hammer. Brush the inside perimeter of the hole with a stiff wire brush to remove all traces of the quondam mortar. Pay special attention to the corners of the hole.

Coil to Continue

Step ii: Install New Foundation Vents

Mix quick-drying mortar and water in a bucket, according to the directions on the mortar bag. The mortar consistency should be like thin oatmeal.
Employ a sparse layer of mortar forth the inside perimeter of the foundation vent hole with a trowel. The layer should be less than i/4-inch thick.
Position the new metal vent into the hole. Apply some other layer of mortar along the outside perimeter with the trowel. The mortar should overlap the edges of the vent and the inside of the foundation vent hole an inch on each side. The mortar should as well be less than a one/ii-inch thick.

Vent Options

Metal is the about mutual material for foundation vents.
Plastic replacement vents require no mortar and are instead secured with a serial of screws. (The vent hole still requires cleaning just as yous would when installing a metallic vent.)
Automated foundation vents remove the guesswork of when to open up and close the vents, as they open and close automatically depending upon the weather and temperature. (Refer to the manufacturer's instructions for installation and to determine if an electrician is needed for wiring.)

Follow the directions that come up with the replacement vent you purchase.

This article is accurate and true to the best of the author's cognition. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does non substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.

Ken Crawford (writer) from Yreka, California on December 17, 2014:

Lowes or Abode depot

Lee on November 22, 2014:

Where tin I find the foundation vents that don't demand motar? I do not want the automatic ones. All that I tin can find are the mortar types.