Sealing Your Windows for Winter: Keeping the Cold Outside
There are several things to consider when sealing your windows. One of those is how severe are your winters? Do you want to seal the windows up for several months or do you have days in the winter that are sunny enough to open the windows? If you live in the colder parts of the country where you have many very cold, wintry days, you might want to consider sealing your windows for those months that are the worst.
To seal your windows there are several methods that are both efficient and cost effective. One is to apply caulking around the window frame. To do this, it is important to clean the window area very good. Eliminate dust and old cracked caulking or paint. Check with your hardware store to get good outdoor and indoor caulking. Indoors you can use latex caulking. It is non toxic as far as smell goes and works well with most paints.
The outdoor caulking is usually silicone. You can get outdoor latex caulking as well.
If you haven’t caulked before, it is not hard. Get a good caulking gun, a small bucket of water and a rag, cut a very small snippet off the end of the tube of caulk, place in the caulk gun, use a stick, skewer or other long skinny poker type tool, stick it down the hole you cut and pull the trigger to engage.
Caulking is just a matter of following your break line, not putting too much, and using your squeezed, wet rag to smooth it. It should look like a smooth, shallow valley upon completion. This is a fairly permanent fix. To remove it means to scrape it out and replace at some point. No reason to do that.
Another type of caulking that also comes in a tube but is called weatherstripping caulking. This goes on pretty much like the regular stuff but will peel easily later. This is great to seal areas that you may want to open back up later. No danger of this stuff messing up the paint or anything else. Perfect to seal across the bottom or middle of windows.
Plastic is also an option for sealing windows. This is another one that you might want to wait on before sealing up the windows completely. This method is done with double sided tape that is attached to the window frame. Best to put on outside edge of frame to provide more secure fit. After framing the window in the tape, you apply the plastic as snug and secure as possible by running your hand around the frame on top of the plastic and tape. You then use a hair dryer, not too close, and shrink the plastic to make it tight and secure. This can be done inside or outside. Inside eliminates weather damage and noise.
The most permanent method of sealing your windows is to install storm windows. In this age of modern technology, storm windows are efficient and eliminate the continued adjustment each year of sealing and unsealing your windows. There are lots of designs and materials that are both cost effective and beautiful.
The vinyl storm window is one of the best. It is excellent in any climate and can be installed quickly. With two sealed layers of glass and the advantage of being easy to open and maneuver, these will last for the life of your house and will save tons of money on heating and cooling. That is the advantage of this type of sealing of your windows. Not only can you access the inside to clean, the outside is easily accessible as well. You can also open these up on those sunny, not so wintry days.
In this day of high energy costs, it can be the smartest decision you can make to seal your windows. Whether you are renting or you own your home, there are ways to seal those windows and save some money.
