We rent a large house and when we moved in last year they said that the PVC double glazing was new. Unfortunately as the temperature have plummeted the windows are so drafty, we can sit in the lounge and feel the draph coming through and most other rooms are also drafty. In our bedroom we need socks on in bed at the moment, despite the heating being on full. I can complain to the landlord, but has anyone got any other thoughts or may be the best way to address this issue.

Is it a big house ? Even with it fairly well sealed, the heating will vary from room to room, and create a draft.

We close down each room and the shutters on most of the windows in our apartment, and find that the rooms all warm up quite quickly... It seems to work better if you separate each section of the house.

If you have an upstairs area, hot air rises, cool air sinks, and that will create a cycle of cold air.

On the other hand, if your windows/doors/flooring is 'leaking' cold air, I think it's possible to test that and work out exactly where your air flow is coming from...

Have fun!

On the 'up' side - it'll probably have a nice breeze in the summer time...

Forgot to add - I have a thermometer in our apartment - you can get one for about 3chf from a big supermarket - at work our rooms are always between 22-24 degrees. Today in our apartment once the sun came out and I opened the shutters to let the sun in, it got up to 25 and I was rather - fair waste of energy...but our heating does go off / cut right back overnight during 'sleeping' hours...

I can sympathise... the windows in my flat were replaced in summer 2010, yet I have a cold draft in my bedroom, right by my desk!

Having said that, I'm going to hold off complaining to the landlord as we are going through an extremely cold snap at the moment. (I was in hospital most of last winter so have no frame of reference). I think that to complain that I'm cold when the whole of Europe is experiencing cold weather might not get much sympathy... I guess even the best double glazing may let in a few drafts! If I'm still cold when the weather's improved (or if I still notice the draft) I'll ring them up. I just have a feeling if I ring up on Monday and say 'I was cold over the weekend' they might say 'Yeah, well, you and millions of other people!'.

I think Swisspea's ideas are good... and perhaps keep a record of how cold it is, what time of day / weather conditions are worst etc.

And maybe get some draft excluders? And a slanket!

Inform the landlord, it sounds like a shoddy installation and you may be liable to inform him. Thre should be no drafts. Most installations here seem to be quite sound and way above the UK in terms of the quality of materials and belts and braces fitting. Bad workmanship does exist though.