Installing cladding in front of air brick

[paro]

Hi All - I am about to install my cladding and came across a potential problem with the cladding dropping past the telescopic air bricks that vent the beam and block cavity. The site is sloped therefore the air bricks on the far side sit quite high above the ground. My intent was to bring the timber cladding down as close to the ground as I can. To do this I will need to cover over the air bricks. I am not sure if this is a problem or not. 

 

I'm installing vertical cladding so have counter battens giving a 25mm space for air flow. Will this be enough on its own to feed the air bricks or should I to install addtional grates into the cladding directely in front of the existing air bricks, or is none of this permissible and I can't drop the cladding over the air bricks.  I'm really hoping its not the latter as I manged to buy bright orange enginnering bricks that will now stick out like a sore thumb against my black timber cladding. 

 

I can't really find anything on this anywhere so would appreciate a steer. 

 

Thanks, Paul

 

[G and J]

Those air bricks are very frequent, far more so than on our ‘91 build.  I’d not worry about encapsulating them behind vertical cladding.  You want good ventilation behind the cladding anyway.

 

I would worry about plastic air bricks and vermin.  You may wish to carefully protect the void behind the cladding top and bottom with SS mesh.

[paro]

Thanks I've got some perforated aluminum trim to go all the way round the bottom. The top will be effectively shut in by the lead so no access from there. The frequency was due to the lack of bricks around the door opening, Circa 6m, and no cross ventilation in that area. 

 

What's the concern with the plastic air bricks? They eat them? I am in a rural area so plenty of critters around. 

[G and J]

Yep, they eat through them.  Especially if they can sit there, hidden from view behind cladding.  
 

Does that lead at the top allow ventilation?  As I understand it you effectively want to have a chimney effect thingy going on to keep your cladding, etc. dry.

[paro]

So this is what I am worried about at the moment. It doesn't at all. The lead is going to be pretty tight to the top with maybe 3mm open to air coming up and under. This was by design from an asthetics perspective however I am now concerned I have an issue that is going to be difficult to fix as the lead is going on at the moment. 

[G and J]

Ah.  
 

Who spec’d the cladding/lead?

 

Maybe there’s some attractive vent grills you can instal along the top afterwards.

[paro]

That would be me. Just been out to have a look. If I move the top horizontal batten down 50mm I can get some airflow back around to the top. Still only be say 2mm because the lead will sandwich the top of the cladding. I was originally going to go for cladding laid side by side with a small gap which is why I probably discounted this issue. I like the idea of some kind of grill albeit I imagine its going to cost a pretty penny and kind of messes with the look I am going for. I suppose the trouble for me is understanding if this really is an issue or not.