Why should I draught proof my home?

Energy use in homes causes more than 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions^[1], so saving energy at home is a high-priority climate change action. Check out our ideas below for some low-cost, efficient ways to stop draughts.

Draught-proofing is one of the most cost-effective insulation methods, with a payback time of just a few years and an instant improvement in living quality, so it’s worth doing sooner rather than later.

How can I stop draughts at home?

Badly fitted double glazing, wooden doors, and cracks in walls and floors let the cold draughts in and the heat out. Fortunately, it’s easy to spot where the problem areas are because you feel cold when you go near them!

The solutions to draught problems vary in effectiveness, cost and appearance.

• Draught excluders are an old-fashioned but effective solution. Draught excluders can be brush strips or tubes of fabric stuffed with insulating material which you fix to the bottom of your door to block the cold draught. They can be used on external doors, or internal doors if the room on the other side is unheated.
  However, Which? magazine found that the most effective way to prevent draughts under a door was simply placing a towel along the gap!
• Weather sealing strips are foam or brush strips that you cut to size and stick in place around the edge of the frame. They’re cheap, but they aren’t a permanent solution and the glue could mark the frame.
• Keyhole covers stop draughts by swinging into place to seal the keyhole shut when it isn’t in use.
• Letter boxes can be draught-proofed with a brush strip, or sealed up completely and replaced with an external box.
• If you don’t use your chimney, fit a chimney draught excluder or have the chimney professionally capped. Chimney draught excluders are either inflatable bags or natural products like wool (which prevents heat loss while allowing airflow). Remember to remove the draught excluder if you decide to use your fire!
• Use a flexible filler to block gaps in skirting boards, floors and around pipework. For larger gaps, use expanding foam.
• Use cement or Polyfilla to seal cracks in walls (but get a professional to check larger cracks in case there are structural problems).
• Seal up old, unused extractor fan outlets with bricks and mortar.
• If you can’t upgrade your windows, or your landlord won’t do it, consider using window insulation film to seal the gaps at the edges of your window. You stick the clear plastic sheet to your window, then use a hair dryer to shrink it so it clings tightly to the frame. It’s cheap and should be removable, but the downside is it makes the glass look cloudy and you may end up with creases. (Carefully check the specific product you buy and follow the instructions to ensure it’s fully removable.)
• A cheap, temporary solution to heat loss through windows is to tape bubble wrap to the glass.
• Hang thick, well-fitting curtains. Curtains lined with cotton interlining (batting) are most effective, but expensive if made professionally. However, you can take them with you if you move, so they are a good long-term investment.
• Wooden shutters can be as effective as curtains at keeping the heat in, depending on which aesthetic you prefer
• Old, badly-fitting wooden doors can be replaced with modern composite doors with a low u-value (the lower the number, the better).
• Replace blown double glazing with a new, air-tight unit. You don’t have to replace the whole window – you can fit new glazing into the existing frames to keep the cost down.
• The most expensive but effective solution is to upgrade your windows from single to double or triple glazing.

When fitting draught proofing, remember some ventilation is necessary for all houses (even Passive Houses) otherwise you may have problems with mould and condensation. Do not block intentional ventilation (like trickle vents, air vents and extractor fans).

Draught-proofing is just one of many ways to save energy at home – don’t forget to check out our other ideas!

^{_{[1] Hannah Ritchie, Max Roser and Pablo Rosado (2020) – “CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions”. Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: ‘https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-greenhouse-gas-emissions‘ [Online Resource]}}

_{^{Image credit:
Cottage window with thick curtains: photo by Rob Wingate on Unsplash}}