Although builders take insulation very seriously these days, this was not always the case and, historically, homes in the UK have been notoriously bad for wasting heat. Many contend that this is still the case but, fortunately, there are many things now that homeowners can do to help keep their houses warm.
A good place to start is with the external doors, where the gap between door edge and frame is often wide enough to let the chilly air in and the warm air out. Even the space underneath internal doors can be problematic, as the warmth from the main living areas leaches away to the colder parts of the house.
The best way to weatherproof your front and back doors is to attach strips of self-adhesive draught excluder to the edges. This comes in rubber, foam and brush pile versions. For interior doors you just need to find something put at the bottom; you can always buy the traditional stuffed snake, or even make your own out of a very long sock!
Older windows can also lower the temperature in your home. If you can't afford to replace them with new, double glazed units, there are plenty of other ways of blocking off the chill.
Again, you can attach the same type of foam or brush strips to your opening windows as you can to your doors. Brush seal is better for sash windows, although there are other sealing products that are specifically designed for them. Also inexpensive and effective are the glazing films that attach to your window frames with double sided tape. More expensive, but also more sophisticated, are the glazing panels fitted with magnetic tape. Both types of glazing are ideal for fixed windows.
Bare wooden floors are a popular feature of houses these days, but those which are over unheated spaces such as cellars or garages can let precious warmth escape, as can the suspended floors that you often find in older buildings. You can either get a professional in to fit insulation sheets between the floor joists, or you can insulate your floors yourself by other means.
The most obvious solution is to put down a carpet with a nice, thick underlay below, but if you have a beautiful timber floor you may not want to cover it up. Fitting insulation material between the joists underneath the floor is very effective, but it's not something that everyone can do for themselves. A more accessible alternative is to buy a roll of flexible seal; this can be easily pressed down in between the individual floorboards to make an invisible barrier. Any gaps around the skirting boards can be plugged with silicon based filler.
As you can see, it's not prohibitively expensive to proof your house against draughts, and with current energy prices it should pay for itself quickly. With the money you save, why not invest in fitting new loft insulation? If you can get up there quite easily, it's not a particularly difficult job to carry out. Thus, you can save yourself even more money!
A good place to start is with the external doors, where the gap between door edge and frame is often wide enough to let the chilly air in and the warm air out. Even the space underneath internal doors can be problematic, as the warmth from the main living areas leaches away to the colder parts of the house.
The best way to weatherproof your front and back doors is to attach strips of self-adhesive draught excluder to the edges. This comes in rubber, foam and brush pile versions. For interior doors you just need to find something put at the bottom; you can always buy the traditional stuffed snake, or even make your own out of a very long sock!
Older windows can also lower the temperature in your home. If you can't afford to replace them with new, double glazed units, there are plenty of other ways of blocking off the chill.
Again, you can attach the same type of foam or brush strips to your opening windows as you can to your doors. Brush seal is better for sash windows, although there are other sealing products that are specifically designed for them. Also inexpensive and effective are the glazing films that attach to your window frames with double sided tape. More expensive, but also more sophisticated, are the glazing panels fitted with magnetic tape. Both types of glazing are ideal for fixed windows.
Bare wooden floors are a popular feature of houses these days, but those which are over unheated spaces such as cellars or garages can let precious warmth escape, as can the suspended floors that you often find in older buildings. You can either get a professional in to fit insulation sheets between the floor joists, or you can insulate your floors yourself by other means.
The most obvious solution is to put down a carpet with a nice, thick underlay below, but if you have a beautiful timber floor you may not want to cover it up. Fitting insulation material between the joists underneath the floor is very effective, but it's not something that everyone can do for themselves. A more accessible alternative is to buy a roll of flexible seal; this can be easily pressed down in between the individual floorboards to make an invisible barrier. Any gaps around the skirting boards can be plugged with silicon based filler.
As you can see, it's not prohibitively expensive to proof your house against draughts, and with current energy prices it should pay for itself quickly. With the money you save, why not invest in fitting new loft insulation? If you can get up there quite easily, it's not a particularly difficult job to carry out. Thus, you can save yourself even more money!
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