With the cold snap continuing, there’s nothing worse than feeling a chill sweep over you when you’re at home. Whether it’s first thing in the morning or when you’re relaxing in the evening, it’s never a wanted sensation. Draughts let in cold air and also ensure the heat escapes.
Luckily there are a number of things you can do to draught proof your house, which in turn can lead to you saving on your energy bills.
- Keep the air flowing in! Yes, you read that right! Not all air coming in is bad, in fact we need airflow in our homes to keep it fresh, dry and healthy, so our first tip is to ensure that no ventilation in your home is being blocked. This can include extractor fans, wall vents and underfloor grillies.
- Wrap up those doors! Doors are one of the main culprits for heat escaping and often ensuring they are always closed can do the job enough. However, if you feel your doors are letting out more heat than you’d like, making small changes such as having a draught excluder for the bottom of the door, or filling in any gaps around the edges with foam or strips or even investing in a letterbox flap can help.
- Cover the cracks! Cracks are never a great thing for your home but can easily be fixed using cement or hard-set fillers. If the crack is a considerable size though, it’s always best to get a professional to check it over.
- Keep the hot air downstairs with you! Hot air rises and so by blocking off your loft hatch with strip insulation or even going a step further and looking into insulating your loft space, you will be making a big impact.
- Wrap up your windows! Just as you do for your doors, your windows can have gaps around them filled using foam strips. If your windows are very old a great investment for your home is replacing them too with modern, energy-efficient versions.
Whilst there are many things you can do yourself to draught proof your home, for the best results having a professional offer their input will really help as they know exactly what to do, what to use and how to do it quickly – likely increasing your energy savings even more.
