The super-duper winterproofing thread

[Zarah]

We turned the heat on over this past weekend (central Kentucky) and it's got me thinking about winterproofing and energy-saving techniques. We're living in the upstairs of a kit-house bungalow that was built in the late 20s, which still has original windows and very little insulation, so this is a high priority.

We're closing & sealing the storm windows, weatherstripping windows & doors (including doors to closets, which are unheated), sealing off no-longer-used heating vents, sealing up electrical outlets on the outside walls, covering up our one remaining window A/C unit, and we've already added the electric blanket to the bed. Yay for electric blankets!!!

I'd love to hear what others are doing / have done to save energy and stay cozy warm through the winter.

[Toad_Sticker]

I put in an outdoor wood furnace last spring.
We could not stay ahead of weatherizing our 100+ year old farmhouse here in northern Ohio.
We still put plastic on our windows but now we don't have to close off half the house for the winter and can keep the thermostat at a nice 72 since we are burning wood from our own acreage.
we used 24 tubes of caulk 3 years ago and it helped a lot but still had to close off half the house and last year we were over $1000 in Dec. with our propane..........that is the reason we bought the wood furnace.

[hillbilly_mom]

We put plastic on all of the windows.

Put a big thick blanket over the front door. We move it aside when we bring wood in to burn in the fireplace insert, which is our only heat.

I need to rewrap the water heater and make sure the back porch gets a double covering of plastic. Our water heater is on the back porch (stupid place for it if you ask me ::)).

I hang window quilts on the windows that don't get good sun, to help keep cold air out.

In the winter I make sure I open the dishwasher during the drying cycle, to air dry the dishes. It puts much needed humidity into the air.

I also use the big oven, instead of the toaster or roaster oven, more. I leave the oven door open to let the heat go into the room, instead of staying in the oven.

[mangyhyena]

Folks, I'm not sure if I've come up with something new or not. But due to what I've read about heat-loss through windows, which apparently is quite a bit, I've decided to make something I hope will cut that loss a bit, especially at night.

I'll explain it as best I can and see what you all think. Please excuse any confusion I cause as I'm not sure how to explain it in a way that allows you all to picture what I have in mind.

I want to take a panel of wood that is larger than the window, attach hardware that will allow the piece of wood to stay on the wall over the window. (Panel goes over the window on the inside of the house) With me so far? Hope so.

On the side of the wood panel that faces the window I'd like to attach a sort of square "pillow" which would be stuffed with insulation. The "pillow" would be the same size as the window itself and only as deep as the window well, or the ledge from the inside wall to the window itself.

I guess what I'm thinking is to make a temporary "wall" over the window to be used on cold days and especially on cold nights. It would detach or attach quickly.

I read an article about making drapes or curtains that are as thick as a quilt to help hold in the heat. But readers' comments in the next issue said it would not work because the heat simply goes around the curtain because the curtain is not attached to the wall or sealed around the window. That's where I got the idea to actually seal off the whole window with something that attaches and detaches easily.

So, have you all heard of anything like this? I've looked in the back of the homestead type magazines I get and have yet to see anything like it. And maybe for a good reason. Who knows?

[hillbilly_mom]

I think your idea would work great for keeping heat in, but I wouldn't be able to do it because I have to have light. I don't use my lights during the day, to save on the electric bill. If they were used, only at night, that would be great. But I would lose a lot of heat during the day time. We put our plastic up on the inside of the windows. There is no way for us to put the plastic on the outside, because the siding was put all the way to the window frames. I can't nail or staple to the siding. The taped stuff only works inside.

[ShadowWolf]

Something I once saw was indoor storm windows made of plexiglass and magnets...wouldnt work well if you had wood framing around your windows though.

[Zarah]

Mangyhyena, I think there was a time when all houses had a crude version of what you're describing -- they called 'em shutters. ;D

I've read that the majority of heat-loss through windows occurs at night, when there's zero solar gain, and when the outside temperatures tend to be lower. So even if you made these things to open during the daytime and let some light in, I bet they would still help out a lot with keeping the house cozy and cutting down on your heating bills. Besides, the days get so short around the coldest time of the year, they'd be closed the majority of the time, anyway.

If I were responsible enough to close them reliably at night, I'd consider doing something like that. But I can't even be bothered to close my blinds at night, and I'd go crazy without the sunlight. I'm an artist, and part of why I love this apartment is that it has big, sunny windows on all four sides -- and during the summer, when our days are long, we actually get direct sunlight in every room of the house at different times of the day. It's beautiful, and I'd be heartbroken to lose that.

Those beautiful windows are, unfortunately, old and drafty, but they have good-quality storms and we're sealing them up as best we can and letting it be. Someday when we buy/build, we'll be more invested in the place long-term, and we'll probably do something more permanent and efficient.

[mangyhyena]

Yep, night time was the main time I was thinking of when using these. Would definitely make a peeping Tom's life more difficult. ;)

[SolarGary]

I think your idea would work great for keeping heat in, but I wouldn't be able to do it because I have to have light. I don't use my lights during the day, to save on the electric bill. If they were used, only at night, that would be great. But I would lose a lot of heat during the day time. We put our plastic up on the inside of the windows. There is no way for us to put the plastic on the outside, because the siding was put all the way to the window frames. I can't nail or staple to the siding. The taped stuff only works inside.


Hi,
We use inside storm windows made from the multi-wall polycarbonate material. The advantage is that you can get a higher R value than a single layer gives, but the cost per sqft is also higher (about $1.5 per sqft).

It lets light in quite well, and you still get some view out the window, but its distorted a bit.

Some pictures of the windows we did at our place:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Conservation/PCWindowCvr/PCStormWindow.htm

Gary

[JakeLeg]

..... insulation in windows discussion....

you're right about the windows being the area of highest heat loss in a wall.

we actually do something similar to what you explained, but much easier, cheaper and quicker.

we purchased some rigid foam insulation - the foam board you'd see insulating the foundation of a house. it can be found in varying thicknesses, but we use 2" thick. we cut the board into rectangles the exact size of the window openings that we want to insulate - typically these will be north-facing windows, since they get no solar heat gain. we painted the foam inserts black so that you can't see the pink foam from the outside of the house, or through the venetian blinds. finally we labeled the inserts so that we don't damage them trying to insert into the wrong window opening. a simple tab of duct tape glued to one edge of each insert helps in pulling the insert out of the window.

[MountainRonda]

I've made the same type of thing, though not as efficient, I'm sure. I made a frame of 2x2s that fits snuggly inside the window frame. Over it I stapled a few layers of bubble-wrap plastic. Then I got some lace by the yard from the fabric store a put that over the top to make it look nice. Well.. it looks OK and was cheap. ;)

[hillbilly_mom]

Hmmmm, MountainRhonda. That gets me thinking. I could do something like that, but do two thick layers of the plastic and then make a type of curtain to cover it at night. Sort of like a tie back deal during the day, to let in light and let them loose at night. We have scrap wood around the place and it would be real easy to do that. I would still be able to see out of the windows, if I used the two plastic, instead of the bubble wrap. I like to be able to see out of the windows to check on DD who plays outside. I will have to do more thinking on this. ;D I have tons of scrap material from my quilting, that I could use for my "curtains". Thanks for getting my brain cells working.

[annabella1]

I remember a friend had something like that the board was hinged on the top and had a latch on the bottom, during the day it swung up to a hook on the ceiling and at night she latched it down over the window. it just took a minute to open and shut.

[JAK]

Hi,
We use inside storm windows made from the multi-wall polycarbonate material. *The advantage is that you can get a higher R value than a single layer gives, but the cost per sqft is also higher (about $1.5 per sqft).

It lets light in quite well, and you still get some view out the window, but its distorted a bit.

Some pictures of the windows we did at our place:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Conservation/PCWindowCvr/PCStormWindow.htm

GaryI am thinking of making my own stormies as you have done. Where you able to get a good enough seal to avoid any condensation problems? If you did it again would you put them on the inside or the outside, or both?

Also, I am thinking of making some French Doors out onto the patio, for passive solar. I will have some sort of thermal shutters also, perhaps as storm shutters on the outside. Would you recommend for or against making my own French Doors using this material, to save money over glass? French Doors start at around $1000 here.

[SolarGary]

Hi JAK,

I am thinking of making my own stormies as you have done. Where you able to get a good enough seal to avoid any condensation problems? If you did it again would you put them on the inside or the outside, or both?

Also, I am thinking of making some French Doors out onto the patio, for passive solar. I will have some sort of thermal shutters also, perhaps as storm shutters on the outside. Would you recommend for or against making my own French Doors using this material, to save money over glass? French Doors start at around $1000 here.


I have not had any condensation problems, but we live in a very dry climate. I used a kind of felt material that I glued to the multiwall with slicone. This seems to do pretty well. The Velcro that I got did not do as well -- the velcro itselft holds fine, but the adhesive that holds it to the window frame and multiwall was not good enough. It may just be the brand I got.

I think the French doors of multiwall would work well. They would be a lot lighter than glass. The should be almost indestructable as far as running into them, but they would be subject scratching. The multiwall is nice to work with -- cuts easily -- easy to handle.

Gary