Door seals

Low-cost/no-cost option

Try using a simple door 'snake' or 'sausage'. This old-fashioned version of a draught excluder is a stuffed, upholstered cylinder laid down at the base of the door to completely block the gap between the bottom adge of the door and the floor. A well-weighted door snake can be just as effective as the more sophisticated (and more expensive) hardware options. Make your own-or head to the local school fete!

Sweep seals

For door bottoms are flexible seals mounted to eather the bottom edge or the back face of the door. They are most effective when used along with a metal strip that screw into place on the sill (call the 'threshold plate'). When the flexible material meets the threshold plate, the gap is sealed. For inward- or outword-opening hinged doors, screen doors and security doors, you can use sweep seals that have either vertical rubber blades or synthetic bruches. For sliding doors, choose the kind with synthetic brushes , as the rubber blades can interfere with the door's sliding action.

Rolling seals

Rolling seals are door-lenght cylinders covered in a textured or furry materials that are fixed to the door with brackets or hooks. The motion of the door prompt the rolling action of the cylinder. Rolling seals aren't recommeded for internal doors, but are great for internal doors, especially those surrounded by carpet. Use them on doors that separate heated zones, for example on the hallway door that leads from heated living spaces to the unheated bedrooms.

Automatic door bottom seals

Are simple mechanical devices desingn to lift as the door is opened, and then drop again as the door is closed. Spring-loaded devices can be slotted into the bottom edge of the door or fixed to the back face of the door. Cam-activated devices which flip clear when the door is opened and swing shut again when the door is closed can only be fitted to the back face.

Know Your Options >>> Space Heater

Elektric Heater

There are theree different types of electric heaters: fan heaters, radiators and oil-filled column heaters.

• A fan heater draws air into unit, heats it, then pump it out into the room.
• An electric radiators uses a reflectors to direct radiant heat from a hot element back out into the room being heated.
• Oil-filled column heaters are, as the name suggest, filled with oil heats the body of the unit, then the body of the unit warms the air that passes across it

Gas Heaters

There are three types of gas space heaters: convection heaters, radiant heaters and 'log fire' heaters.

•  A convention heaters draws in cool air, heats it, then pumps it out as warm air. there is a flame at work, but you won't see it - all you'll see is a box with vents or grilles. These heaters produce a lot of vapour. Flued models will expel that moist air outside the house. Unflued models simply dump it into the room.That's not such a problem if the room has good you can end up with condensation on the windows and walls, and perhaps even a mould problem.

• A radiant heater warms a ceramic panel to a very high temperature. In fact, you'll be able to see the panel glowing red-hot. The panel emeits a rediant heat that warms the people and the object in room.

• A gas log heater memics a wood-fired heater with ceramic look-alike logs and real flames, produced by the gas. Gas log units emit a radiant heat, but they also usully have a fan that circulates the warmed air.

Wood-Burning Fireplace

In a traditional fireplace, the flames,embers and hot surfaces produc a radiant heat that warms the objects in the room, including people. If you're sitting in an armchair next to the fire. you'll be very warm, but the temperature drops as you go further away from the souce. Modern fireplace perform a bit better. They tend to be fitted with metal insert that draw air through the fireplace and back into the room, with the result that the air itself gets warmed. Some are freestanding, with a metal chimney that runs the height of the room and radiants heat.

Wood-burning Slow-combustion Stove

The slow-combustion heater is basically a wood-burning fire contained in an airtight box. The amount of air entering the 'firebox' affects its heat output. In other words, you can rise or lower the temperature by adjusting air-inlet controls. A slow-combustion stove can be connect to a hydronic heating system ( the kind with a central boiler and pipes that distribute the heat around the house ).