How to Make your House more Eco as Winter Approaches
Heating our homes, generating hot water and powering our appliances means that around 22 per cent of the UK’s carbon emissions come from our homes, according to a news report last week as COP26 rumbled on in the background producing its own quantity of hot air. But it turns out that by making a few changes – some of them small - you can reduce your personal carbon footprint by around 25 per cent..
Now we all have different houses, and different incomes so it’s about looking at what you are in a position to take on personally, says Tom Pike, the builder husband of my podcasting co-host Sophie Robinson. His first tip is draught-proofing.
"I used to go to so many houses where people would have called me in for a quote for solar panels for example and I would say 'do you realise how much your windows are leaking'," he says. That is the first, easiest and most affordable thing you can do to improve your house and your carbon footprint.
"If you have old sash windows you should look into getting them repaired but you can also draughtproof them yourself using a product from Reddiseals.com. This will be a large return for a small amount of money."
Then look at your doors. Period houses often having badly fitting doors and, again, reddiseals, can sell you brushes that you can fit along the bottom of the door to prevent draughts. We have done this but the gap is too big so we have to use a sausage dog as well and need to get a professional in.
"If there is a large gap you can find a company who will router out a groove underneath the door and fit the brushes into it rather than just fixing something to the frame," says Tom.
"So before you start thinking about spending lots of money on the big items deal with the issues you already have – doors and windows are the beginning."
Once the doors and windows are done you should look at the floors - particularly in period houses with exposed floorboards. And I know a gale blows up through mine. In my north-facing office in winter there is a vicious wind that blows up the back of my trousers when I am sitting at my desk so I have layered rugs over the entire floor.
Once again there is a relatively easy solution - DraughtEx - comes with a free fitting tool and you roll it and squash it between the boards. This is definitely on my to do list and I should add that my office is over the kitchen so this draught appears to be coming from outside from a vent between the kitchen ceiling and the office floor.