Draft Dodgin'

Now that the temperature has dropped below 10 degrees Fahrenheit,  the character of our little old house becomes a little less charming.  Jets of cold air blow through every available crack, seen and  unseen.

Hold your hand up to an electrical outlet on an exterior wall and feel the breeze blowing through the receptacle holes.  Place the palm of your hand along the base of the wall and you get the feeling of grabbing a cold drink on a hot day.

Mind you this is true even after fully insulating the walls and sills and installing sealer kits in the receptacles. It is a constant battle to cut off all the places where cold air infiltrates the building envelope.  Short of ripping off all the siding and wrapping the house in Typar, drafts are us.

One exercise I indulge in every winter is to tighten-up my old house windows with plastic sheeting.  Some day I'll be able to rebuild each of these windows one at a time and make them tighter, but until then, I'll be sealing them up every November with temporary interior storm windows.

I make these storm windows by nailing strips of wood to the window jambs and then stapling clear vinyl to the face of the strips.  If I think the window is particularly drafty, I'll take packing tape and run it around the perimeter of the window to seal it up good.

I always use clear vinyl that can be purchased at some fabric stores.  It's cheaper than the window film kits you can buy at the hardware store and it's sturdy enough to use more than once.  The kits work well too, though, and are probably more convenient for most people who don't want to go to the trouble of cutting strips of wood.

These storm windows make a real difference in holding the heat in and keeping the cold air out.

handyman