Best Draught Proofing Products UK 2026

The Short Answer

For under £100 and an afternoon's work, you can draught-proof an entire house. The biggest single win is a Chimney Sheep if you have unused fireplaces (saves £50–£100/year on its own). After that: Stormguard door seal kits for your external doors, an Exitex letterbox excluder, and a can of expanding foam for the gaps you can't see. Total spend: about £55–£95. Total annual saving: £90–£185. Payback: under a year.

No other energy upgrade comes close to that return on investment. Not even loft insulation.

Where Your Heat Is Actually Going

Draughts don't seem like a big deal — a bit of cold air under the front door, a breeze from the letterbox. But they add up fast. The Energy Saving Trust estimates draughts waste £50–£100 per year in a typical home, and in older houses with open chimneys it's often more. The reason draught-proofing is so effective is that it fixes all these small losses at once, for almost nothing.

The main culprits in most UK homes:

• External doors — gaps around the frame and under the door
• Letterboxes — a slot that opens directly to the outside
• Chimneys — even unused fireplaces act as a chimney for your warm air
• Gaps around pipes and cables — where services enter the building
• Loft hatches — covered in our loft insulation guide

What to Buy

Chimney Sheep — The Single Best Buy on This Page

If you have an unused fireplace, this should be your first purchase. An open chimney is basically a hole in your house that sucks warm air upward and out. It's the thermal equivalent of leaving a window open all winter. The Chimney Sheep is a thick felted wool plug that sits inside the chimney just above the fireplace, blocking the updraught completely.

Unlike chimney balloons (which pop, deflate, and generally annoy), the Chimney Sheep is durable, conforms to odd-shaped flues, and has a handle so you can pull it out if you ever want to light a fire. It comes in various sizes — measure your flue before ordering.

Savings: £50–£100 per year per chimney. For a £20–£35 product, that's extraordinary.

Stormguard Door Seal Kit — For Every External Door

This is a complete kit for one door: rubber compression seals (self-adhesive) for the top and sides of the frame, plus a brush strip that screws along the bottom. When the door closes, the seals compress and create an airtight barrier. Installation takes about 15 minutes — clean the frame, peel the backing, press into place. The brush strip needs a drill and a couple of screws.

Two kits (front and back door) costs £20–£36. You'll notice the difference in your hallway immediately — especially if your front door currently has visible daylight around the edges. For a deeper dive on door-specific solutions including under-door brushes and no-drill options for renters, see our dedicated door draught excluder guide.

Exitex Letterbox Excluder — Why Doesn't Everyone Have One?

Your letterbox is a hole in your front door. Even with a flap, cold air pours through continuously. The Exitex is an internal brush cover that fits over the letterbox on the inside. Two rows of nylon bristles block airflow while still letting post come through. Four screws, 10 minutes, done.

At £8–£14, this is the best value item on this page. The difference in hallway temperature is noticeable within hours. Honestly, every home with a letterbox should have one. There's no reason not to.

Expanding Foam — For Everything Else

Walk around your house and look where pipes and cables come through external walls. Behind the washing machine, under the kitchen sink, around the boiler flue, where the broadband cable enters. Almost every one of these has a gap around it. Individually they're nothing — collectively they add up to a surprising amount of heat loss.

A single 750ml can of Everbuild expanding foam seals 15–20 gaps. Squirt it in, it expands to fill the space, sets firm in an hour, and you can trim and paint over it. Also works for gaps around window frames, between skirting boards and floors, and anywhere else you can feel a draught.

The Full Picture

Product	Cost	Time to Fit	Annual Saving
Door seal kit (x2)	£20–£36	30 min	£20–£40
Letterbox excluder	£8–£14	10 min	£10–£20
Chimney Sheep	£20–£35	5 min	£50–£100
Expanding foam	£6–£10	30 min	£10–£25
Total	£54–£95	~75 min	£90–£185

What NOT to Seal

Draught-proofing is about stopping unwanted air leaks, not blocking all ventilation. Some air movement is essential:

• Don't block trickle vents in windows. They're there to prevent condensation and mould. Seal draughts around the frame, but leave the trickle vents alone.
• Don't seal rooms with gas appliances. Gas boilers, fires, and cookers need ventilation air to burn safely. If in doubt, ask a Gas Safe engineer.
• Don't block air bricks. These ventilate suspended timber floors and prevent rot. If they cause draughts in the room above, the fix is floor insulation, not blocking the bricks.

For the full insulation picture, see our home insulation costs guide. If you're preparing for a heat pump, our insulate-first guide explains why draught-proofing should be step one.