Heat rises, and in many UK homes the loft is the easiest escape route. Even where insulation exists, gaps around hatches, pipework, and lighting allow warm air to leak steadily upwards.
This doesn’t always feel like a draught, but it shows up as rooms cooling quickly and heating needing to run longer. In homes where the loft space is cold, the temperature difference increases this effect.
Sealing the loft hatch and topping up insulation often delivers noticeable improvements. This didn’t make much difference in isolation, but combined with door and floor sealing it helped stabilise temperatures across the house.
This ties directly into the approach explained in the complete warmth guide, where stopping heat escape beats turning the heating up.
If heat loss feels worse at night or upstairs, this article and this one provide useful context.
