Our series of blogs exploring home retrofit hints and tips continues with a look at draught proofing. Read about windows and doors in the first blog here. 

Draught-proofing and ventilation are 2 sides of the same coin – Seal Tight, Ventilate Right.  

Some ideas to think about:

  • Sealing up the biggest and most obvious draughts is usually the easiest and cheapest way to save on heating bills (think letter boxes, around pipes and cables that run out through the external wall, open fireplaces, putting a carpet with underlay on a suspended timber floor and sealing around the edges) 
  • Some draughts are harder to find and harder to deal with. Many houses have cold air coming in through bricks, blocks or mortar joints, and this air can come through plug sockets or flow unseen in the gap between the ceiling of one room and the floor of the room above, leaking heat out of every room. 
  • Cold outside air moving behind plasterboard can wick heat out of a room even if there isn’t a crack or gap in the plasterboard to allow cold air into the room or warm air out. The heat transfers through the plasterboard and is carried away by the cold air on the other side. 
  • An airtightness test with thermal imaging is one way to measure how draughty a house is, and to show where the cold air is getting in.

What’s wrong with air escaping through cracks and crevices in my walls? Well, if that warm, damp air from your home cools and condenses in the walls, then you could get damp and mould hidden in the walls.  

What’s wrong with air coming in through gaps in my walls, ceilings or floors? Surely my house needs outside air to come in? Well, yes, but if mould has developed hidden in the walls, in the loft or under the floor, incoming air could pick up the mould spores and the quality of that air may not be what you really want to breathe in! 

It’s  better to bring fresh air in through deliberate pathways such as a ventilation system inlet or trickle vents than through random gaps in the building.   And better to control when and where this fresh air comes in – when you need it, not just when the wind blows! 

If you are sealing up draughts and adding insulation, you need to have a new ventilation strategy. It might be time to consider a whole house approach – find out how we can help you here. 

 

To find out more about draught-proofing, take a look at our free video Eco-retrofit Webinar – #airtightness – YouTube