As autumn nears closer and winter not far behind, making sure you fix draughty doors around your home will help keep you warm and save tens if not hundreds of pounds on your heating bills throughout the year. Similar to how irritating sticking door locks can be, poorly fitting front doors can be very annoying, especially when the winds are howling and the draught comes through the house and into your sitting room where you’re trying to enjoy your favourite TV program, relaxing after a long day.

Some of us choose a sausage dog draught excluder placed behind the door and others prefer a cat, fox or snake but when you forget to reposition the temporary draught excluder or when you’re out the room for a few minutes all of the heat you’ve kept in soon dissipates in to nowhere when the cold draughts whisk it away.

For those of us that don’t want to hang better fitting doors or those that can’t afford the cost this year, then a semi-permanent solution rather than the stuffed Scotty dog, is self-adhesive draught excluder tape. Similar to a roll of tape and only a few pound more, self-adhesive draught excluder is easy to fit and does a great job.

Available from most local DIY stores or online, the upside to draught excluder tape is that it provides an instant solution at a reasonable price. Other plus points are that it can be fitted around letterbox flaps and even windows, it doesn’t show and that it is quick and easy to fit. The downside is that it is only a semi-permanent fix to the problem, and while it will last a year or so it wears over time and will need replacing. Another problem with self-adhesive draught excluder strips is that unless you’re able to remove the door, then fitting it to the bottom is almost impossible.

For gaps underneath the door you could use brush strip or rubber seal draught excluders that attach to the edge and hang over the gap, much like a sausage dog draught excluder these do a good job but provide even better exclusion as they are permanently in place, so when the door is opened and shut the draught excluder stays with it, keeping the draughts out.

A couple of things to keep in mind is that while draught excluders will certainly help, there’s no better solution than correctly fitting doors and while eliminating draughts will certainly lead to improved comfort and reduced energy bills, air should continue to circulate, so never keep rooms air-tight as this can create safety concerns especially when gas appliances or log burners are in use.