Easily Tell Where Drafts In Your Home Are Coming From With This Affordable Hack

Drafts are one of those household annoyances that are all too easy to sense, especially when they make the place feel cold, but can be much harder to locate. You'll know you have one when a room feels colder than it should or when the heating is working overtime, but finding the exact point where cold air is getting in can be so tricky that you end up giving up. This is where one surprisingly low-tech solution comes in: incense sticks.

It turns out, incense is not just a way to make your home smell amazing, it can also act as a simple visual tool for tracing air movement. For this particular quest, thin incense sticks are ideal because they produce a steady stream of smoke. When lit and held close to potential problem areas like window frames, the bottom of doors or floor vents, the smoke will react instantly to air movement. If you watch the smoke blow, twist to the side, or suddenly accelerate, then there you have it — a draft. It's a solution that makes it much easier to detect drafts that your hand alone cannot feel. Move around with the incense slowly and methodically, checking one area at a time, and you'll often spot leaks you didn't realize were there, especially around older windows or poorly sealed doors.

In order get the clearest results from this incense test, turn off fans and AC systems before you start so that artificial airflow doesn't interfere with results. Closing curtains or internal doors also help to isolate airflow within each room, making it easier to see how air is moving through a specific space. Work slowly and repeat the test around each suspected area to confirm what you're seeing. Although many believe that no one should be using incense, in this instance, occasional and well-ventilated use is considered safe by most authorities. For the purposes of draft detection, you only need to keep the incense lit for a few minutes at a time. Feel free to open a window afterward if you're concerned about air quality.

Once you've identified where air is sneaking in, solutions become much more targeted. Temporary fixes like draft excluders or weatherstripping are inexpensive and easy to apply, while more permanent sealing can be planned later. Even small improvements can quickly add up — identifying drafts can bring your heating costs down, reduce cold spots, and make your home feel more comfortable overall, especially in winter.