Is covering a kitchen wall air vent allowed?

I'm getting a new kitchen in my Victorian PPOR, soon to be an IP. There's a wall vent high in a kitchen exterior wall, which is double bricks. The kitchen has a window exhaust fan which does not work and I may have that window replaced. The new kitchen will have a rangehood with the duct going to the outside. The duct will be close to the wall vent and the vent may be used for the duct.

The cupboards over split the wall vent, about half of the vent being concealed and the other half being visible. I want to do all the plastering and painting before the kitchen is installed. As far as I can determine it was a requirement for rooms to have wall vents, but now it is not, especially with the range hood. If a wall air vent is no longer needed, as half is covered by the cupboards I'd like to plaster the visible half and paint it.

Advice is sought - is it legal to plaster the wall vent? TIA.

 

Yes - legal. Commonly done to reduce drafts.

The only issue (I seem to recall) would be if you had a gas heater and no other source of external air as some of these heaters need a fresh air source.

 

Thanks. The only heating and cooling will be a split air con. I can now get plastered, painting later.

 

I'd suggest you wait until Friday or Saturday night......midday drinking is frowned upon

 

I waited and both plasterings have been done. The heat delayed the painting a bit. I put strips of mesh over the vent, plaster on, smoothed it and waited for it to dry. There was a little concern a few hours later as I could clearly see the bars of the vent. However, when it was totally dry the bars could not be seen. I suspect that the thin layer over the bars dried first, leaving the thicker layer between the bars taking longer to dry, and was hence visible for a while. Breakfast was nice.

Breakfast by Burramys posted 28th Jan, 2019 at 10:11 AM

 

Cereal washed down with a huge glass of (ceiling) white.

I believe that needs to be drunk reasonably young. Store upside down to prevent too much air getting into the can.

 

The paint was young, only a week old from Bunnings.

While I had the insect screen out I washed it in the shower, water, spray on cleaner, brush and rinse, wiping the sides thoroughly, then air dried. When I was about to put it back I saw that it was not clean. Bother. I put the screen on the table and was able to get a lot more grime off with a brush; more pressure could be applied. The table was black! If cleaning screens I suggest that putting the screen on a clean hard surface and scrubbing is a good method.