Kevin Alexander

What do you do for drafty windows?

I have cold air seeping through some of my windows and I don't want to replace them until the spring time. I've heard of people putting Cling Wrap to the inside of the window and using a blow dryer to shrink it into a tight fit covering the entire window and window sill. Has anyone ever tried this or any other tips for eliminating or reducing window draft?

"What does God want with a Starship?" - Captain Kirk from Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.

"For the first few minutes of the film, I had accidently listened to the Dolby Digital track." - Ron Epstein (HTF)

Eric_E

Kevin: I helped my girlfriend put up the kind of plastic you mentioned on all of her windows. It actually works reasonably well and can stop the drafts, and is of course much cheaper than getting new storm windows or anything like that.

The only problem is that the double-sided tape holding the plastic to the window frames can become detached, and then you've got more air coming in. It's also a little bit difficult and time-consuming to put up (it really is a two-person job to keep the plastic straight), but as a quick, cheap fix it seems to work pretty well.

Garrett Lundy

Caulk, delicious mouth-watering caulk.

Or you could duct-tape the window seams.

Mark Paquette

Kevin, I don't know if they sell this in your neck of the woods, but up here in Michigan any hardware / home improvement store sells it. Anyway, it looks like long strands of some clay like substance on a roll. Picture spaghetti noodles on steroids all rolled up. This stuff works great for filling in gaps around windows that you don't plan on opening for a while. As a bonus it is easy to remove and won't damage your trim. I used it for a few years before ultimately replacing the windows.

Mark Paquette

Henry Gale

Kevin,

What type of windows do you have? Wood, metal, old bottles...?
There are so many variations.
My old house has 43 windows, most of them are 3060 (3' wide, 6' tall) 6 over 6 (number of panes) double hung wooden sash. Meaning, it's much like living outdoors but a little less windy.
One in my bedroom was keeping me awake, the wind would just push it in and out in its rather roomy track. I put an old leather belt between the two sashes. Problem solved.

Dick Smyrak

3M has a product out just for this purpose. Once on, you can not open the window unless you want to buy more 3M product for this pane.

Kevin Alexander

Wood. Double hung.

"What does God want with a Starship?" - Captain Kirk from Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.

"For the first few minutes of the film, I had accidently listened to the Dolby Digital track." - Ron Epstein (HTF)