Tips on draught proofing your hallway

The nature of hallways is that you have a large opening to the outside world. It does not matter how snug the fitting of your front is it will still be letting in a cold wind. When you consider that cold draughts can account for up to 25% of the heat loss in homes it is wise to get do all you can to reduce this? The hallway is a good starting point and with a couple of hours work you can soon have a warmer and much less draughty room.

 

Draught proofing

 

This do it yourself task is relatively simple and really will make a big difference, however before starting you will need to ensure that the you have all the tools requires.

 

Tools needed:

 

A saw, a hacksaw works best

Stanley knife

Panel pins

Small screws

Screwdriver

A brush nylon draught excluder

Electric drill

 

First step

Prepare the surface of the door. Give it a good clean and remove all the dirt, cobwebs etc. Some hot soapy water will do this perfectly. You may want to oil the door to ensure any trapped moisture does not cause any rotting issues.

 

Cut to size

Open up your recently purchased draught excluder and hold it up against your door. The chances are it will come in two long pieces that will require cutting to size. You may be looking to just put the draught excluder on the main problem area, which is often the bottom of the door. Or if the door has lost some of snugness with the frame then you might want it all the way round the door.

 

Trimming

Once you have marked out the length of draught excluder you require then you are going to have to use the hacksaw to trim it. Using the hacksaw cut through the metal or plastic taking care when reaches the bristles. Ideally you want do the main trimming of the bristles with a Stanley knife to keep thing tidy.

 

Fitting

Hold the draught excluder against you door and mark points to drill pilot holes for some screws. Most draught excluders will have pre drilled holes if not just mark out 3-4 regular intervals and make them using an electric drill.

 

To make it easier to get the screws into the door you also want to drill some pilot holes into the door, make sure you don’t drill a hole larger than the screws you have.

 

Once the drilling has been finished then it is simple case of screwing on the draught excluder. If you are installing the other side of the door then you just follow the same process.

 

To give a professional look to the installation cut the corners of the excluder at 45 degrees. This will make it much tidier.

 

Once done you will be able to sit down on your hall bench in winter without getting frostbite!

 

TIP: your letter box flap is not that great at keeping out he cold winds, so add insulation to this too.