Draughts & Air Leakage
Draughts mean uncontrolled air leakage carrying heat out. A blower door test measures and locates it so sealing is targeted, not guessed.
Why is my house so draughty?
A draughty house feels cold even when the heating is on, because uncontrolled air is moving through the building, carrying warmth out and pulling cold air in. Draughts are not just an irritation at the doors and windows — they are the visible end of a whole-house air leakage problem, and most of the leakage is in places you cannot feel or see. Understanding how and why air moves through a home is the key to stopping it.
Read the guideWhere do draughts come from in a house?
Most people assume draughts come from the windows and doors, because those are the gaps you can feel. In reality, air leaks through dozens of paths spread across the whole building — many of them hidden at floor level, in the loft, behind units and around every pipe and cable. Knowing where draughts genuinely come from is the difference between sealing the right gaps and chasing the obvious ones.
Read the guideHow do I find and stop draughts?
You can find a few draughts by feeling for cold air, but the leaks that cost you the most are usually the ones you cannot feel. Stopping draughts effectively means locating every significant air leakage path, sealing them in the right order, and keeping the controlled ventilation your home needs. This guide explains how to do that properly, from what you can do yourself to what measurement reveals.
Read the guideShould I seal all the draughts in my house?
It is tempting to seal every draught you can find, but doing so without thinking about ventilation can cause as many problems as it solves. The right goal is not a hermetically sealed house — it is to stop uncontrolled, wasteful leakage while keeping the controlled fresh-air supply a home needs. This guide explains the balance, and how to seal safely.
Read the guideWhy can I feel a draught but can't find it?
A draught you can feel but cannot find is one of the commonest puzzles in an older home, and there are two usual explanations. Either cold air is leaking in somewhere out of sight and tracking across the room to where you feel it — air rarely enters where you sense it — or there is no incoming air at all and you are feeling cold air sliding down off a cold surface, which feels exactly like a draught but is not air leakage. Telling the two apart is the key to fixing it.
Read the guideCan a house be too airtight?
Strictly speaking, a house cannot be too airtight — but it can very easily be under-ventilated, and the two get confused. Airtightness and ventilation are different things: airtightness stops uncontrolled, accidental leakage that wastes heat and causes draughts, while ventilation deliberately supplies fresh air and removes moisture and pollutants. Problems blamed on a home being 'too airtight' — stuffiness, condensation, poor air quality — are really problems of sealing without providing the controlled ventilation that a tight home needs.
Read the guideWhy do I feel a draught from my electrical sockets and switches?
Feeling cold air whisper out of a plug socket or light switch is a clear sign that air is leaking through the wall behind it — usually from a cold, draughty cavity or void that connects to the outside. The socket back-box is open into that space, and the faceplate is not sealed, so whenever there is a pressure difference, air is pushed through the box and into the room. It is a small but telling leak, and it often points to larger leakage paths within the wall.
Read the guideDo trickle vents cause draughts, and should I close them?
Trickle vents — the small adjustable vents in the top of window frames — can feel draughty in cold or windy weather, and it is tempting to close them. But they are providing deliberate background ventilation, and closing them removes the controlled fresh air that keeps the home healthy and dry, often causing condensation and stuffiness. The honest answer is that the slight draught is the price of ventilation, and the better solution is usually to keep them open and address the home's overall airtightness and ventilation properly.
Read the guideHow do I stop draughts around my front door?
Draughts around a front door come from the gaps the door has to leave to open and close — at the bottom threshold, down the sides and top, around the letterbox and keyhole — and sometimes from a more hidden source: air leaking through the gap between the door frame and the surrounding wall. Stopping them well means finding which gaps are actually leaking, because sealing the obvious ones while leaving a leaky frame-to-wall junction, or a poorly fitting threshold, only half-solves the problem. Front doors are also a common point where cold air enters and spills into the hallway, so getting the seal right makes a noticeable difference to comfort. The reliable approach is to locate every leakage path first, then seal each appropriately without stopping the door working.
Read the guideHow do I stop draughts from my floorboards?
Draughts coming up through floorboards are cold air from the ventilated void beneath a suspended timber floor, leaking into the room through the gaps between the boards and around the floor edges. The void is deliberately ventilated by airbricks to keep the timbers dry, so it is cold and breezy, and as warm air rises and escapes higher in the house, cold void air is drawn up through every shrinkage gap. Stopping the draughts means sealing those gaps and the floor perimeter — or insulating and sealing the floor from below — while keeping the airbricks clear so the timbers stay dry.
Read the guideWhy is my house draughty after new windows?
If your home is still draughty after new windows, it is because the windows were only ever part of the air leakage — and often not the biggest part. Draughts come from many paths: gaps around floors and skirtings, the loft hatch, downlighters, service penetrations, chimneys, letterboxes, and crucially the junction where the new windows meet the wall, which is frequently left poorly sealed even when the windows themselves are airtight. Replacing the glazing addresses the glass but not these other leaks, so the house can feel barely less draughty. Finding where the air actually moves — with a blower door test — is what lets the real leaks be sealed.
Read the guide