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Beat the draught: How to ensure you retain heat in your home

People of a certain age may remember when older people of a certain age seemed to depend on thick draught excluders in the home. These long, soft materials would lie trustily at the foot of a door, during winter, both helping to keep heat in the room while stopping pesky draughts from sneaking in. Sadly, draught excluders now seem to be resigned to dusty attics and jumble sales, so here are several more simple ways to beat the draught over winter.

The modern alternative

Although the principle remains the same, older houses in particular now have several other methods available for shoring up the gaps in their internal doors and windows that let draughts in. According to energysavingtrust.org.uk, draught proofing the doors and windows of a property can save up to £20 per year, while draught-proofing a chimney can save around a further £15 per year.

With an estimate on the overall cost of professionally draught-proofing a home at around £200, this means that within 6 years it will have paid for itself. However, it will work out even cheaper, and more cost-effective, quickly, if you do it yourself.

Weatherstripping tape

This robust tape, which you can buy from any DIY store, is ideal for shoring up the gaps in exterior doors and the likes of traditional sash windows. It can even be applied around the opening to the hatch of your loft, where heat can escape from your home in a number of ways – more on this shortly. Weatherstripping tape, unfortunately, can be awkward to install properly, so may require a little bit of trial and error while you get used to using it.

Capping the chimney

You can see a bit of a pattern emerging here. Older properties are the most vulnerable to heat loss, simply because they weren’t built with modern central heating systems in mind. The chimney is another problematic exit point for heat, so if your property still has a chimney – even with an unused fireplace – you’ll need to get a roofer to cap your chimney professionally. Choose a professional chimney or roofing specialist like Findley, sunderland roofing contractors, who could even take a look elsewhere in the property too.

Insulate the loft

The reason Findley have been included, as an example above, is because they offer one service in particular that’s great at establishing how well your home is retaining heat. Thermal imaging, or thermography, which, again, people of a certain age may remember from classic 80’s action movie,Predator, allows a roofing or building contractor to see where heat is gathering in the home – as well as escaping from it. Often, this is how heat loss in a loft is identified, and where effective loft insulation becomes paramount.

Fill in the gaps

Just like the tiny gaps around your windows and doors, cracks can appear in your walls too. More often than not, they appear around plug sockets and pipes, and can be taken care of quickly and easily using cements or fillers. However, larger cracks in walls could mean there’s a bigger problem afoot, in which case you should again seek professional assistance from a reputable local builder.

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