Sealing windows and doors against draughts

How to seal windows and doors efficiently against draughts

Kategorien: Renovate Modernise Home

Especially in winter it is often noticeable: if it simply does not get warm in the house despite heating, it can be useful to seal your windows and doors. You can find out here how to renovate best.
Sealing windows and doors against draughts - modern windows© tarasov_vl / Fotolia

Successfully sealing various types of windows
To prevent heating costs in your house from exploding and to prevent you from literally heating your money out to the door, it is important to renovate and seal doors and windows. Sealing the windows is not so easy at first, because you first have to find out where the leak is located. This is where a candle helps: light the candle and hold it against your window frame, or move the candle along the window.

If the candle starts to flicker, there is a leak at this point. Depending on the type of window, the following problems may occur: if you have sash windows, one of the sashes may be defective or no longer close properly. It is also possible that the seal is broken or porous or a crack has formed. If you have windows in old buildings (e.g. made of wood), it is better to have a carpenter do the renovation or sealing.

If you have plastic windows, you can help yourself. It can be helpful to re-oil and adjust the fittings. A common problem with plastic or wooden windows is that the seals are in a bad state. The DIY store can help here and offers seals of different thicknesses. In advance, you can use paper/felt or foam to determine what thickness the new sealing tape must have. Foam gaskets are a particularly inexpensive option for renovating.

Before sealing, remove the old seals and clean the affected areas from dirt (e.g. with methylated spirits), oil fittings thoroughly. Then the gaskets must be glued on exactly, measure the edges of the joints exactly in advance. Some plastic windows in the house have special seals, which you should not simply remove. If your landlord owns the house, you should contact him about the leak, he must take care of the repair.

How to make your doors airtight
Doors also offer various cracks through which draughts can flow wonderfully into your house. You often hear the draught in the form of whistling noises. As a first measure a draught stopper ("draught dachshund") can help. It should completely cover the bottom edge of the door so that no more air can enter.
Fenster und Türen gegen Zugluft abdichten - Zugluftstopper© Ingo Bartussek / Fotolia

As the draught dachshund is rather impractical in everyday life, as it is not attached to the door, you can either attach a brush seal under the door leaf or lower the door by removing a washer from the hinge (sometimes the washer is missing, in which case this variant fails). The door should of course close properly. With these tips you will say goodbye to draughts.

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