One great thing about our house when we purchased it was that it had brand new double hung, tilt wash windows throughout. Well.... except for 4 of the windows, WTF! (= Why The Face..... if you like Phil from Modern Family). Yes, of all the windows in our entire house there are just 4 that the previous owner decided not to update (which seems just plain weird, how much $ did that save anyway)? The 4 windows are on the South facing side of the house, so maybe that was the logic? Anyway, we assume the 4 old windows are original to the house, check out the below picture with the rope pulley system. Has to be 90 years old right?
Here is an example of one of our new windows in the dining room, brand new, functional, and energry efficient, love them!
Since we have 4 old windows, we have to use the ol' Frost King Window Insulation Kit until we're ready to shell out some dough on new windows (and when we do, we'll get to do something cool with the old antique windows once they come down!). We didn't insulate last year because we were so busy with all the other renovating (or we were too lazy to figure it out), and we regretted it with each and every gas bill we received. The highest gas bill from winter (here in Minnesota remember) was just over $300 for ONE month! Crazy pants for our little old house, right?
Here is a shot of Alex adhering and smoothing out the plastic film after he applied the double sided tape.
Next, he tightened and sealed using a blow dryer (seriously, who drempt up this 'technology'; Really, plastic and a blow dryer?). Oh well, it's weird but we hope it works.
Once he was all done with each window, we pulled our wooden blinds back down. You can't even tell the plastic is there other than a little shine at the window frame.
We plan to take a few other steps to make our home a little more energy efficient this winter. A couple ideas include weather stripping for our older doors as well as setting the timer on our thermostat to be on when we are home after work and set to lower temps while we sleep at night. Here's to hoping we don't get a $300 bill at all this winter!