Hi,
I have a big draught problem in my house & it’s
beginning to drive me nuts. Whilst there appears to
be no specific problem, the draught going through my
front room door is strong enough to open the door if
it’s not properly shut & on a windy day is audible
over the TV. The net result is that no matter what
the heating is set to, the front room is always cold.
We have a baby due soon & as-is I'm concerned about
having him/her in the front room due to the
temp/draught.
Can you help? Even if it’s to confirm I have an issue
& to recommend a professional inspection, I'd be happy
to get any pointers.
My house is a 12yr old detached, structurally ok, no
damp, cracks/holes in walls. All the windows have
just been replaced (un-maintained cheap/nasty wood
based double glazing for new Everest windows).
There appear to be no single point of entry as when I
check all doors etc there is no main culprit. There
is however a slight draft coming from most doors that
open onto the halls/stairs/landing, which all then
seem to head to the front room door.
I have also noticed that when the carpets have been
lifted for room decoration, there is a draft coming
from the floor/wall join. In a number of rooms I have
pushed filler (newspaper) into the space to cut the
draft out.
Here is what I think may be the cause:
1) Chimney
The chimney in the front room is drawing the air out
of the room, thus pulling the air from anywhere it
can.
....I don’t think this is the problem tho as we'd
probably feel a pressure change given the volume of
air moving.
2) Loft/Roof
The gap between wall and eaves (required due to the
waste vent terminates in the loft space) let in enough
air that on a windy day, the pressure builds up to
such a level that the air pushes down into the
internal wall structures. This airflow then emerges
from the gaps between floor & walls. As this happens
nearly everywhere in the house, the result is the
significant draught that I am seeing. This draught
can only be vented out via the chimney via the front
room.
We have looked at getting a chimney 'cap' fitting to
help minimize the outflow/inflow of air, but I suspect
I'll be stopping the outflow of air as opposed to
stopping it from coming in to begin with...
Any help will be very much appreciated.
