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We have tons of windows in our home, some of which don't have storm windows. We're renting, so can't do major construction work. Anyone have suggestions on ways, other than curtains, for us to lose less winter heat through the windows?
Comments
Nick,
The most important thing in home insulation is to stop the leaks where there is bulk flow of cold air (as opposed to conductive or radiative heat loss).
To plug the leaks, we made "snakes" - cloth tubes filled with rice, to run along the inside of the window on the sill and the gap between the top and bottom window. A lot of people use heat-shrink plastic film, available at Home Depot. There is also clear, removable caulk for sealing windows, also available at HD. Hope this helps!
Nick,
The most important thing in home insulation is to stop the leaks where there is bulk flow of cold air (as opposed to conductive or radiative heat loss).
To plug the leaks, we made "snakes" - cloth tubes filled with rice, to run along the inside of the window on the sill and the gap between the top and bottom window. A lot of people use heat-shrink plastic film, available at Home Depot. There is also clear, removable caulk for sealing windows, also available at HD. Hope this helps!
Tom
Posted by: Tom Wideman | October 30, 2005 at 04:50 PM
Very helpful - thx.
Posted by: nlseaver | October 30, 2005 at 07:15 PM
Dumb question: where'd you get the cloth tubes?
Posted by: nlseaver | November 01, 2005 at 01:23 PM
FROM TOM:
Nick,
"We" (i.e. Kathy - aka Katharine G. Butler) made them. If you have a sewing
machine or a tailor with a good sense of humor, you can make them pretty
easily,http://sewing.about.com/library/weekly/aa011099.htm ,
http://www.rustybobbin.com/inklings/sew-draftsnakes.html or buy online
http://www.q16777216.com/windowsnakes.html. For more links, try Googling
things like "draft snake", "window snake", insulation, etc...be careful with
your search terms, though, or you may get links to a few porn sites.
Posted by: nlseaver | November 21, 2005 at 10:04 AM