1. Fill Gaps Around Your Door And Window Frames With Silicone
Draft-proofing windows and doors is one of the most powerful ways you can warm your home, according to chartered architect George Omalianakis of GOAStudio London.
2. Add Draft-Proofing Strips To Doors And Windows
When exploring the world of front-door ideas, draft exclusion may not have been in the center of your thoughts. Door color, yes. Door furniture, yes. Draft excluders? Not so much. However, whether you are renovating an existing front door or fitting a new one, draft-proofing strips, which can also be used around to fill and seal gaps in a window frame's opening parts, can be transformative in keeping the cold out of your entryway.
3. Block Drafts With Old Fashioned Cushion Excluders
As we said above, you shouldn't just seal the bottom of your front door to keep drafts out. Interior doors, if they don't reach right to the floor, will increase airflow from room-to-room. Wonderful in summer, not so much in winter.
4. Hang Thermal Drapes
No matter how well sealed your windows, glass is not as good an insulator as a solid wall, so you will often feel colder in a room with a large window or glazed door. While sunlight in the day might offer some relief and welcome natural warmth, this isn't the case in every zone and every home, and at night, you will be glad of thick drapes.
5. Tackle Keyholes And Letter Boxes
While the front door is the main draft problem, with perhaps exposed keyholes and letterboxes that allow cold air free access, interior doors with keyholes can also allow drafts to pass through.
6. Seal Up Unused Chimneys
Of course in winter you will want to be using your fireplaces and woodburners to keep your rooms toasty, but there may be a chimney or two that aren't being used that will still be letting cold air in and warm air out.
7. Make Original Wood Flooring Feel Warmer, Fast
Original wood flooring is wonderful, but it can be drafty. A long-term fix is to pull it up and insulate beneath it, or to fill gaps between floorboards. But let's not kid ourselves that these are quick DIY jobs.
8. Don't Forget Hatch Openings To Your Attic
In some cases, the attic is one of the most valuable spaces in your home. However, if yours is accessed via a ceiling hatch, it is worth insulating the upper side of the hatch door to stop warm air escaping.
9. Close Doors To Rooms You Don't Use Much
Closing doors to rooms you don't use means you won't have to heat them and that cold air won't move from them into the rooms you are heating. Closing doors of upstairs rooms during the day will have a similar, insulating effect, as will keeping the door closed to the room you are in – perhaps your home study.