When near the sink you experience air coming in around the windows of your home, it means that escape of warm air is taking place. And when there is escape of warm air, it means heat loss. Loss of heat from the house not only makes you cold, it also puts extra pressure on your heater which in turn increases the bills. Many independent surveys have shown that in a typical house, around 20 percent of the heat is lost to draughts and ventilation.

So the first thing that comes to mind is ‘What exactly is meant by draught proofing?’ To say in a layman’s language, draught proofing is nothing but filling the gaps present in between the window and the window sill and thus reducing the amount of cold air which enters your house.  Next question which arises is that which materials can be used for carrying out this draught proofing process. There are quite a few materials which are actually put into practice for sealing those draughts. The most common materials are:

• Plastic
• Shaped Rubber
• Foams
• Brushes
• Strips
• Sealants.

In fact, there is good news for UK residents. There is a Draught Proofing Association located in Surrey which guides households on the type of materials to be used for draught proofing. Thus, one can guess by now that draught proofing is the best and the most cost effective way of reducing the heating bills. Availability of draught proofing materials is also not a problem as these are easily available in any DIY stores.  Ensure that the products you buy for draught proofing conform to the standard BS 7386 so that you get the maximum durability and performance.

As said earlier, draught proofing helps in reducing the heating bills. A statistic based in UK says that heating bills are reduced by £25 per year if proper draught proofing is carried out. At the same time, the carbon dioxide emission from your heater is reduced by 150 kg per year which is very healthy for the environment around us. Here is a table showing the costs, savings and paybacks of draught proofing.

And if everyone in the UK was to go ahead with draught proofing of their homes, it would generate an annual saving of £160m.

Also, in the UK, grants are made available by the government for those going ahead with draught proofing. For households, amount of grant varies with the type of technology used. For large commercial and public sector organizations, grant up to 40%of the total installation costs (excl. VAT) is provided depending on the application. Small enterprises can apply for up to 50% of the total installation costs (excl. VAT). Here again, your application and other background determines the amount of grant.

In case of further questions regarding draught proofing, call your local Energy Saving Trust advice centre on 0800 512 012. Here you will be entitled to free and impartial advice on saving energy in your home.