Electrics and gas

The air brick for a boiler cupboard has been painted over. What should you ask next?

Ask a Gas Safe registered engineer whether that cupboard still has the air the appliance needs. The survey can see paint across the holes. It has not measured the free area, and it has not combustion-tested the boiler. Paint is a visual note, not a gas safety record.

Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.

What is the fuller explanation?

Air bricks and louvres are easy to lose under masonry paint, render or a new plinth. The surveyor should say which vent looks blocked and which room or cupboard it seems to serve, if they can tell. They should not invent a square-centimetre rule, and they should not say the boiler is unsafe solely because the paint is fresh. HSE’s domestic gas guidance puts gas work with engineers on the Gas Safe Register. A painted vent is a reason to use one. It is not a calculation the survey has already done.

Other vents may still be open, inside the cupboard or on another wall. The visit may not have seen them. Say so, rather than declaring the air supply gone. Service paperwork, if the seller has it, may be silent about the brick. An owner-occupier does not have to have produced a landlord gas certificate for the sale. Do not scrape the paint out yourself and call the problem finished. If the engineer wants the vent cleared or altered, that is their instruction. Keep it off the electrical report. An air brick is not an EICR code.

What should you ask your surveyor?

Which air brick or grille was painted over, and what does it appear to vent?
Did you see any other vent that was still open?
Are you sending this to a Gas Safe engineer rather than measuring it yourself?

What are the typical next steps?

Do not drill the paint out on viewing day.
Show the painted vent to a Gas Safe engineer if the boiler is to be relied on.
Ask the seller when it was painted. The date is background, not a test.

Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.

Also asked about this

Is every painted air brick a boiler defect?

No. Some vent the subfloor. Ask which opening the survey means. Do not mix them.

Does a working boiler prove the painted brick does not matter?

No. The boiler running is not a ventilation check.