How to stop Draughts in your House
Do you have problems with cold draughts in your house. Have you got new windows plus all the walls insulated. But still have a problem with draughts. Have you rang trades men back saying your new windows are letting draughts in or that new insulating you got in the walls is just not working.
Is you heating bill just going up and up. But yet your house is still cold. Maybe its not your windows or insulating. But something a lot more simple to sort out. So were do you start just keep reading and maybe some or a lot of what is written below will sort out your problems.
The first thing you need to know is something that most people already know, and that is hot air rises and cold air sinks to the bottom. Because of this simple principle it can cause a lot of problems with draughts in your house.
Sitting Room : So lets take this principle and apply it to your sitting room were the heater is on a solid wall instead of under your window. As your room heats up your window area is still the coldest spot in the room even if you have the best triple glazing fitted. Plus the deeper the window board the colder the spot will be. So as your hot air rises up past the window the cold air comes down under it. Which will feel like a draught coming in from your window. How long will this last, well it all depends on how much heat your heater is producing and how cold it is on the outside. If your heater is not producing enough heat to cancel out the cold air coming of the inside of your window than you will just have a draught coming from your window all night. How some people overcome this is by using a set of full length curtains but the curtains must touch the floor when closed or else you will only have a draught coming out from under the curtains.
Spare Room : Now lets take this same principle and apply it to a spare bedroom that you have. Some turn the heater of in this room to save money. But in fact it ends up costing you more. How this happens is the cold air from the spare room keeps coming into the rest of the house causing a draught plus this than stops the thermostat from switching off and costing you more money. If you are going to turn the heating of in a spare room than make sure you keep that door shut and a draught excluder on the bottom to stop cold air coming out under the door. It may be more cost effective to leave the heating on in the spare room plus it will stop dampness in the room as well.
Attic Door : The same goes for the attic door. Even if there is just the smallest of gaps when it is closed this will cause a big draught. Because the air in the attic will never warm up the same as the main house you will always have a draught coming in unless you seal it up fully.
Fireplace : If you have a coal or a log fireplace but don't use it. Than it is no good just putting a cap on the chimney pot, because the cold air in the stack will still cause a draught down into your room. What some people do is block the bottom with an old pillow the difference this will make is huge.
External Doors : This applies to a lot of the newer door's with multi point locking systems. When your door is just closed over it is not draught proof. You must push the handle up to activate the multi point locking system. Because this is what pulls your door in tight against the seal.
Conclusion : You will never stop all the draughts in your house simply because air will move around once you start heating it. But what you can do is close of the colder air spots in your house to keep the draughts down as much as possible.
