Fix Drafty Windows: a cheap, effective solution

A typical house window eventually will lose it's ability to seal properly and begin to leak outside air into the home. Dust, allergens, pollutants and cold/hot air from outside forces it's way past the seals and replaces the nice, comfortable conditioned air inside. We have to continuously re-condition this un-comfortable air with energy hungry machinery. Every time a furnace or air conditioning system cycles, it consumes more fuel, and increases the homes energy bill.

Many years of relatively cheap energy appear to be a thing of the past and high utility bills are here to stay. The first line of defense against energy loss is a good layer of insulation.  However, insulation is not the whole story. If you have outside air entering your home through leaky,  drafty windows, all the insulation in the world will not keep the energy loss under control.One window that leaks air can easily cancel the benefits of all the insulation in a house and can  allow volumes of unconditioned outside air to enter the living area. If there are several leaking windows, the leakage is compounded and the intrusive air volume puts a great load on the HVAC system while driving up the home's energy costs.

Leaky windows can let all sorts of pollution, allergins, dust and potentially dangerous toxins inter your home. The recent outbreak of bird flu virus is also cause for concern. This system provides an additonal barrier to air borne home contamination through leaking windows

What is the solution? Well, you could call and get an estimate on new replacement windows and this probably the best option to choose. The only problem with new windows is...they cost a small fortune. New windows installed can easily run $500 or more--maybe a lot more--per window...and forget all the baloney about double pane or triple pane glazing, it just doesn't add up.  Double or triple pane so called “insulated windows” offer no great advantage over a simple single pane window.  It is often said in new window sales brochures, “you will experience a 100% increase in efficiency with double pane insulated windows.” This is true, but a normal single pane of glass has an insulating factor of R ½ …so, a 100% increase would be ½ plus ½  = 1 or R 1. The average insulated home wall has an R factor of about R-19. The difference in the insulating factor between an R-19 wall and an R -1 window leaves a lot to be desired. The double glazed window is still letting a great deal of thermal energy escape

As you can see, new replacement windows are not always a good deal and very expensive. Sometimes you might want...for whatever reason...just to get by with what you have for a while. The real advantage from a good tight sealed up window comes from stopping undesirable outside air from entering the living area. The outside air may be cold, hot or laden with dust, smog and allergens. New windows are a nice upgrade for any older home but don’t expect to recoup your investment in the near future. Sure, you will save some on utility bills and the convenience of smoothly functioning windows is a pleasure, but the fact remains… the initial cost may be prohibitive.

This how to tutorial offers a cheap, good looking method to repair house windows with out spending a small fortune. You don't have to spend a ton of money to have windows that don't leak cold/hot polluted outside air into your home.

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