A DRAUGHTY home could become a costly one if you don’t act fast to plug up gaps – especially as energy bills have soared this month.
Luckily we know 10 ways to improve your home insulation on the cheap – and they’re quick and easy to apply too.
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Hundreds of thousands of people overpay their heating bills and it’s simply down to poor insulation.
The recent energy price cap rise means millions of people are now expected to fork out more for their gas and electricity bills anyway.
So producing waste energy is a no-go for most households – but it happens all the time with heat escaping through every nook and cranny.
The typical heat loss spots in your home come from the windows, doors and even through your loft hatch.
What’s worse is that they could be adding £750 a year to your energy bills.
The recent price cap change means household’s average energy bills could hit almost £2,000 a year even before factoring in any energy inefficiency.
That’s likely to go up even more by Autumn too, which means bill payers are going to continue to feel the pinch on their wallets throughout the year.
The cap is in place to stop providers overcharging customers as wholesale prices are passed down.
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But households haven’t been able to avoid the extra costs altogether – so they’re looking at how to cut down usage to avoid forking out more.
Here’s how you can do that by stopping heat leaving your home – the steps should keep your house toasty, and they take no longer than 15 minutes to install.
1. Lay down a door snake
Keep cold from sneaking in with a draught excluder.
You place it along the crack under your door to prevent heat seeping out and stop winds coming in.
At The Range they cost as little as £1.40, and they can make a fun furnishing in your home as well as a practical energy solution.
If you can’t stretch to a splashing out on a new door snake though a rolled-up blanket makes just as good an excluder on a DIY budget.
Sarah Broomfield, energy expert at Uswitch, said: “For another cheap DIY alternative, you can use a pair of old tights and fill it with socks to turn it into a makeshift excluder.”
2. Wrap up the windows
A third of a home’s total heat-loss comes through the windows.
Double Glazing is usually the answer to keeping the heat in, but it can be a costly procedure – with some experts quoting over £3,000.
To keep things on the cheap you can buy window-film kits for around £10-£15, but really you can use any material for the second layer of glazing, as long as it’s transparent and airtight.
Clingfilm will work fine and you can pick this up for under a pound on your next grocery shop.
And the budget DIY fix means you can save as much as £10 a month on your energy bills if it’s used correctly.
DIY draught-proofing can cost you only a few pounds too, as rolls of self-adhesive draught-excluding tape start from as little as £3.
On Amazon, you can buy 10 metres of the self-adhesive seal for only £2.89.
But it’s a good idea to shop around to get the best price, and work out how much surface area you need to cover.
The Green Age estimates you could save a little more with the slightly more technical method.
The experts worked out households could save £60 a year in heating bills by practicing the small and cheap measure.
3. Weather stripping for the windows
You can add weather stripping in addition to sealing up all the gaps found around your windows and doors.
It’s meant to stop anything unwanted entering your home, like the rain or any creepy crawlies seeking refuge.
But it also keeps the heat in your home and works as another layer of insulation.
You can buy extra thick weather strips from £7 at Screwfix.
4. Hang heavy curtains
Curtains aren’t just an aesthetic feature in your home – use them in the right way and you could save some pennies from your bill.
Simply putting up curtains can reduce your energy usage by as much as 15% – and could save you up to £30 a year on your bills at the same time.
But hang curtains or shades made of thick material and you’ll be able to keep in the most heat.
At budget homeware store B&M you can pick up thermal lined curtains from as little as £15.
Tashema Jackson, energy expert at Energyhelpline.com said: “Keep your curtains closed, especially at night.
“And make sure that the curtains overlap in the middle, or use pegs to ensure they are tightly shut, and if you want to go the extra mile, you can tape your curtains to the wall for that little bit more insulation.”
5. Add a foam board to the patio doors
If you’ve got a glass door that leads to outside, either from your conservatory or just the backdoor from the kitchen, you can also try plugging that up during the colder months.
Particularly if you’re not trying to get out to your garden as much while the weather is still chilly – you can put a foam board over the doors to keep the heat in.
A rigid insulation board will do the job – just cut a panel to fit the door, and slip it into the doorframe. A 22mm board will cost roughly £27 from Victorian Plumbing.
Glass isn’t as insulating as a solid wall so it’s always going to be an area where the cold will try to seep in.
But come the warmer weather, pop it back out, as you could benefit from the sunshine coming through the glass, working as a natural heating source of its own.
6. Wrap up your boiler
A hot water cylinder jacket costs about £15, and you can fit one yourself at home without needing to be a dab hand at DIY.
It’s usually as simple as choosing the correct size from a DIY store and then slipping it on.
Think of it like when you go to put your own coat on before stepping outside – the jacket is designed to keep all the heat in.
In your boiler’s case, it means it won’t waste energy coming to temperature as less heat can escape.
And your water will stay hotter for longer so you won’t need to spend as much time with the heating on.
So wrap it up and you could save £35 a year according to the Energy Saving Trust.
7. Put sleeves on the pipes
Just like wrapping up the boiler, you can put purpose made insulation around your pipes.
You can buy the foam covers from the likes of DIY stores such as B&Q from as little as £1.26 per meter.
They look a bit like a pool noodles but they’re a bit more insulating.
You can tape them in place and keep your pipes from losing heat.
The added bonus is it should prevent your pipes freezing over on the coldest of days – this can often lead to them bursting which is a costly fix and might leave you without any water for a shower in the morning.
8. Plug up the fireplace
Your fireplace and chimney can be a superhighway for drafts as, in most cases, it leads straight to outside.
There’s nifty devices you can use to plug up the gap though, like a chimney balloon designed to fill the space.
It works like a double barrier, insulating the chimney against cold air sinking down, and stopping warm air from rising up.
It inflates and pushes against all four walls of the chimney, holding itself firmly in place.
Sarah from Uswitch said: “If you have a chimney that is not in use, you could consider buying a chimney balloon.
“They can be bought for around £20 and are placed out of sight inside the chimney hole and inflated.
“They stop cold air coming in and keep the warm air inside.”
You can buy one design from Amazon for just £18.99.
And draught-proofing your chimney when you’re not using it could save around £65 a year says the Energy Saving Trust.
The same goes for extractor fans found in the bathroom or kitchen too – it’s not surprising as just like the chimney they are essentially a tunnel through the wall to outside.
9. Caulk around the vents
You can stop the extra air escaping around vents.
Go outside and put silicon caulk on the outside edge of the vents, where it meets the wall.
That way heat can’t escape and nasty wind can’t come filtering through either.
The gluey-like substance only costs 75p to buy from Tool Station as well.
10. Cover the loft hatch
The door in your ceiling that leads to the attic is another source of money-sucking drafts.
Warm air rises up and will disappear out of your home into the roof if there are any gaps around the loft hatch.
You can strap an attic stairway insulator into the doorway to save some funds though.
Look for one that zips open so you can still crawl into the attic without pulling out the insulator.
They’re a bit more pricey than some of the other measures though, and they can set you back around £50.
But it’s a good step on the way to insulating your loft entirely – which is another effective way of keeping your home heating, but can be very expensive to carry out.
Roof insulation could cost as much as £285 for the loft of a mid-terrace house with 270mm insulation.
But according to Norton Finance’s, it could save you as much as £500 on bills over five years.
Thousands of low income households with poor insulation could save £200 on their energy bills thanks to a new government scheme though.
They can have measures like wall and roof insulation put in place for them.
But the funding itself will be delegated to local councils, so you’ll have to get in touch with yours to claim the energy efficient help – it’s also only running until March next year.
But it’s also not the only help you can get – your energy provider might be able to help with a hardship grant too.
British Gas has just announced further funding for its version of the help, offering £2million more to those who are struggling.
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This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk
