If you have got gas ducted heating with outlets in a timber floor, then this Insider Secret is for you.

Sometimes there are gaps you’re not aware of inside the heating duct that you can locate by lifting the register off the outlet. Underneath that is what is called the “boot”. The boot fits into the register and adapts the round ducting under the floor into the rectangular opening that the register fits into.

How well the boot fits the register opening is important. If there are significant gaps between the boot and the floor, heating can be lost into the subfloor. Furthermore, when the heating is off, there can be a draught coming into your home.

But there is a way to treat this.

If the boot is loose, then you need to secure it. You can do this by putting a screw through it, into the side of the floor so that it won’t fall out. The next step is to seal the gaps between the boots and the floor. This can be done using a sealant. Unless it is a massive gap, I would suggest HB Fuller’s UltraClear or FulaSeal which you can use with a caulking gun.

That will seal up the boot to the floor so no more leakage of your heating and no more draughts from your underfloor heating system!