The Essential First Step in Home Comfort: Why Draught Proofing Should Be Top of Your List
As the seasons shift, ensuring the comfort and energy efficiency of your home remains paramount. Yet, a critical aspect often overlooked by many homeowners is the effective management of air leaks, or what is commonly referred to as draught proofing, weather stripping, or air sealing. Addressing these air leaks is not only crucial for maintaining ideal living conditions but also for controlling energy costs and enhancing overall home sustainability. By understanding the importance of sealing up these vulnerabilities, you can transform your living space into a comfortable haven, no matter the weather outside.
Why Focus on Draught Proofing? Draught proofing is arguably the most cost-effective way to enhance your home’s energy efficiency. It’s the first and most crucial step before considering other retrofit activities such as insulation or installing new windows. This is because draughts—the uncontrolled flow of air through gaps and cracks in your home—can undermine Reverse Cycle Air Conditioning (RCAC) systems, forcing them to work harder and increasing your energy consumption dramatically.
Some Startling Numbers! It’s estimated that if you add up all the small unsealed gaps, cracks, and holes in a typical home, they can be equivalent to having a window open all the time. In fact, the cumulative size of these gaps can sometimes equate to a 1-metre square hole in the wall of a house.
Research suggests that draught-proofing can block unwanted gaps that typically let out around 20% of the heat from a home, leading to noticeable energy savings. By sealing gaps, homeowners can typically save around 10-30% on their heating bills annually, depending on the original state of the home’s draught-proofing. The ecoMaster test home saw reduction of 50% of our heating bill plus a few degrees warmer (and we didn’t think our home was draughty at all!)
A typical unrenovated home may have an air change rate of about 1.5 to 3 times per hour purely through gaps and cracks, which means all the air in the house can be replaced several times an hour just through these leaks.
The Compounding Benefits of Sealing Draughts Air leaks might not be as dramatic as a broken window but can be just as costly over time. They are often found not only in obvious places like around doors and windows but also in less noticeable areas such as in and around floorboards, access atches, and architraves. Each of these weak points can contribute to energy loss, making your RCAC system less efficient and reducing the overall comfort of your home.
Sealing up draughts provides immediate improvement in your home’s thermal retention during winter and helps keep it cool during summer. By tackling draughts first, subsequent energy efficiency measures you take, such as bolstering insulation or upgrading to secondary glazing or the more expensive double-glazing, will be more effective. Insulation, in particular, performs best in a draught-free environment because it reduces the heat flow by trapping air, rather than letting it leak through unsealed nooks.
How Do You Learn About Effective Draught Proofing? Navigating the world of draught proofing can be overwhelming, especially if you visit big box stores filled with a vast array of products, each designed to serve a slightly different purpose. Finding knowledgeable assistance in these stores can be a challenge, as very few staff know what each product does, which type of door or window it suits, and how it should be best applied.
By contrast, ecoMaster provides an extensive Draught Proofing Information Hub, Product Guides, and a YouTube Channel nearing 2 million views, offering accessible and detailed information including How To videos. Hours of research have been distilled into these resources to help you determine the best products for your specific needs.
Alternatively, you can engage a professional assessor with draught proofing experience through ecoMaster’s Home Energy Efficiency Assessments, who can inspect your home and develop a tailored checklist for you.
Introducing “Find and Fix My Draughts” If you prefer the achievement and cost savings of a slightly more DIY approach, consider “Find and Fix My Draughts“. Recognising the need for a comprehensive approach to this issue, we’ve developed the “Find and Fix My Draughts” course. This programme goes beyond the basics, providing you with a deep dive into identifying and fixing draughts throughout your home. From the attic to the basement, we cover the common and uncommon areas where draughts may lurk.
The course is structured to not only educate but also empower homeowners. With over 40 detailed video lessons, you’ll learn practical, real-world techniques to detect and seal draughts. Additionally, the course includes the downloadable resource – Draught Proofing Bingo card, which helps you track your progress and ensures that you address every potential air leak.
Guaranteed Savings Enrol in “Find and Fix My Draughts” and you are guaranteed to save more than ten times the cost of the course in the first year alone. This guarantee underscores our confidence in the effectiveness of the programme and its potential to drastically reduce your energy bills.
By the end of this course, you will not only have sealed up your current draughts but also gained the skills and knowledge to maintain a draught-free home going forward. This means continuous comfort and ongoing savings on your energy bills—benefits that extend well beyond the initial investment in the course.
Take Control of Your Home’s Energy Efficiency If you’re ready to reduce your energy costs and enhance the comfort of your home, “Find and Fix My Draughts” offers the tools and insights you need. Prepare your home for any weather, reduce your ecological footprint, and enjoy a snug, efficient living space year-round. Start your journey to a draught-free home today and feel the difference immediately.
People Also Ask:
⇒ Where can I learn more about this from an industry expert?
ecoMaster has been working in the energy efficiency / retrofit arena for over 20 years. During that time we learnt an enormous amount about diagnosing issues, distinctions on various products as well as developing the best installation practices. We have done the research, so you don’t have to. All that information has now been condensed into a series of ecoMasterClasses. Click here to gain access.
⇒ How much energy can you save by draught proofing your home?
Answer: Draught proofing your home can lead to substantial energy savings. On average, homeowners can save about 10-30% on their heating bills each year by effectively sealing leaks and gaps that lead to unwanted air flow. This not only reduces energy consumption but also enhances the overall warmth and comfort of the living space.
⇒ Why is draught proofing important for energy efficiency in homes?
Answer: Draught proofing is crucial for energy efficiency because it minimises unwanted air leakage that forces heating and cooling systems to work harder. By sealing gaps and cracks, you reduce the amount of heat lost during winter and keep cool air inside during summer, thereby decreasing the overall energy required to maintain comfortable indoor temperatures and significantly lowering utility bills.
What’s Next?
We hope this article has helped you learn the importance of effective draught proofingl. This in turn will help you on your energy and thermal efficiency retrofit journey to make your home more comfortable all year round, and reduce your costs and carbon emissions.
If you found this article helpful, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel. You’ll find many more helpful “How To” videos there. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay in the loop. For more great information on how to make your home more energy and thermally efficient subscribe NOW to ecoBites. ecoBites are free bite size chunks of the latest energy efficiency information making it quick and easy for you to absorb.
Recent Comments