Our house has thirty seven windows.  Yep, 37 old, dilapidated windows in dire need of replacing.  Let’s count ‘em.

That’s 17 on the front of the house, not counting the front door transom windows and the three-pane french doors onto our small porch area.

We have a further 16 windows on the back of the house. Windows #18 and #19 are partially obscured by the tree in this picture – both are in our master bathroom (one is a large picture window above the tub, the other is a smaller window that sits above the toilet). Windows #23-25 on the side of the house are above the garage.  The remaining 4 windows are on the opposite end of the house, making a grand total of 37.  Pheewwwww.

The condition of some  windows is better than others.  We had to replace the window in the dining room pretty quickly once we moved in because the frame was completely rotten. Our goal is to replace all of these windows.  Eventually. Like, when we win the lottery. Or I get me a sugar daddy.  Whichever comes sooner.

So, in the meantime, we needed to come up with a temporary solution to minimize heat loss during the upcoming Winter months.  I found an amazing deal at our local Walmart on a roll-on kit for insulating windows.  This kit usually retails at 10 bucks, but it was on sale for $1.75!  So I grabbed a few (or fifteen) of these kits to insulate our multitude of windows.

There are a few quick-and-easy steps to follow for installing the insulation.  First, you have to wipe down the window frames with the provided alcohol pads (to ensure the insulation will adhere to the frames).

Next, you apply the double-sided sticky tape down the sides of the window, and along the window sill, making sure the corners overlap.

The plastic insulation comes with a sticky top; you just unroll it and press it to the window frame, leaving about 2 inches on either side.

You then stick the plastic cover to the tape on the frame, trying to pull it taught as possible to minimize wrinkles.  The last step is to apply heat to shrink the insulation  – a hair dryer about 2-3 inches away does the trick nicely. You can cut off any extra plastic from around the sides for a totally polished look.

So, in less than 10 minutes (and for less than a buck!), we have insulated windows and a home protected from the ravages of Winter weather.  Well, we have at least one window insulated at the moment. It’s a good job that we’re starting now – it will probably take us until January to get the remaining 36 windows done!

What steps are you guys taking to prepare your home for Winter?

Tags: windows