You feel it on the back of your neck when you sit still in the evening. A thin, persistent movement of cold air that has no obvious source, in a room where every window and door is shut. Draughts are the most common winter complaint we hear across Staffordshire, and the most commonly misdiagnosed. The cold you feel by the window is not always coming from the window.
This guide is about finding the true source before spending anything, then matching the fix to the fault. Some draughts cost pennies to cure. Some are the first symptom of a window or door at the end of its life. Knowing which is which saves money in both directions, and it is the same diagnostic sequence our surveyors use on windows and doors every week of the autumn.
First, confirm it is actually a draught
Cold air moving into the room is a draught. Cold radiating off a large glass surface is not, and no amount of sealing will fix it. Older glazing with poor insulation chills the air beside it, and that cool air slides downwards and across the floor, which feels exactly like a leak. The test is simple. On a windy day, hold a smoking incense stick, a strip of tissue or the back of a damp hand around the edges of the frame. If the flame, paper or skin registers moving air, you have infiltration. If the room side of the glass is simply cold to the touch and the air is still, you have radiant heat loss, which is a glazing performance issue rather than a sealing one. The Energy Saving Trust guidance on energy efficient windows and doors explains that distinction well.
The five places draughts actually enter
1The sash to frame seal
The most common culprit. The rubber gasket that compresses when a window closes hardens with age and ultraviolet light, shrinks back at the corners and stops springing back. If you can slide a sheet of paper into a closed window anywhere around its edge and pull it out without resistance, the seal is not sealing.
2The frame to wall joint
The perimeter where the window or door frame meets the brickwork is sealed with mastic or silicone on the outside. It weathers, cracks and pulls away, especially on elevations that take the prevailing wind. Air then travels behind the frame and emerges around the internal reveal, which is why the draught seems to come from the plaster rather than the window.
3The hardware
Keyholes, letterplates and the gaps around older handles are small individually and significant together. A letterplate with tired brush seals is effectively a permanently open vent in the middle of your front door.
4The threshold
Door thresholds wear from footfall. Compression strips flatten, drop seals stop dropping, and the gap under the door becomes the biggest single opening in the room. If you can see daylight under a closed door, you are heating the street.
5Trickle vents, doing their job
Before sealing anything, check whether the airflow is coming from a trickle vent that is meant to be there. Background ventilation prevents condensation and stale air, and blocking it trades a draught for damp. Close the vent on a stormy day by all means, but do not seal it shut.
Fixes that work, in rising order of commitment
Once you know the entry point, the fix follows. Perimeter mastic that has cracked can be raked out and resealed in an afternoon. Worn gaskets on reasonably modern uPVC windows can often be replaced like for like, and a stiff or dropped sash can be adjusted so it compresses its seal evenly again. Letterplates take new brush seals, thresholds take new strips, and keyholes take covers. None of this is beyond a competent DIYer or a local joiner, and on a structurally sound window it is money well spent.
The commitment rises when the faults cluster. A 1990s window with hardened gaskets usually also has a tired mechanism, a misted unit or two and single point locking, and replacing seals on a failing frame is reupholstering a chair with a broken leg. The same logic applies to doors. One worn threshold strip is a repair; a door that is draughty at the threshold, the letterplate, the hinges and the frame joint at once is telling you something more fundamental, and a modern composite door with its factory fitted sealing system is the honest comparison to price at that point.
Why modern windows are draught proof by design
A current specification window seals differently from anything fitted twenty years ago. Multi point locking pulls the sash against the frame at several positions simultaneously, so the gasket compresses evenly along its whole length instead of pinching at the handle and gaping at the corners. The gaskets themselves are co extruded into the profile rather than pushed into a groove, so they cannot creep out of position. And flush casement designs add a second line of defence, with the sash closing into a rebate behind an outer seal, which is one reason they perform so well on exposed elevations. Window energy ratings from the British Fenestration Rating Council account for air leakage as well as insulation, so the label reflects sealing quality, not just the glass.
It is also worth saying that draughts and ventilation are different things by design in a modern installation. The window seals tight, and the trickle vent provides a controlled, closable air path. You choose the airflow rather than the weather choosing it for you.
The whole house view
A draught hunt is the natural first chapter of a bigger autumn check. Seals, hinges, drainage slots, condensation and conservatory readiness all belong on the same afternoon walk round, and we have put the full sequence in our complete autumn and winter home preparation guide. Draughts are simply the fault you can feel from the sofa, which is why they get all the attention.
Your questions answered
Can I just use foam draught excluder strips from a DIY shop?
Why is the draught worse on one side of the house?
My house is draughty but my windows are only a few years old. What else could it be?
Do heavier curtains actually help?
Will sealing my house too well cause condensation?
Is a whistling window urgent?
Stop chasing the cold every winter
A methodical hour with a smoke stick beats years of moving the sofa away from the window. Trace each draught to its entry point, fix the cheap ones properly, and be honest about the windows and doors where the faults have clustered. If you reach that point, our surveyors cover the Potteries, Newcastle under Lyme and the surrounding towns, and a no pressure assessment costs nothing but the kettle going on.
