IN THIS EXTREME COLD: what are you going to do about you’re #1 heat loss(windows)

As far as house fire goes the furniture and carpet got to be bad also.
The walls in my house are 8'' thick foam with sheet rock over it. And the 30X30 room add-on is 10'' thick foam with chicken wire and 1'' of stucco.
If and when the power goes out (or state of emergency)I wouldn't worry to much about what things look like I'd be wanting to conserve wood as much as possible and no glass will ever equal the R's of a wall.

So I was wondering when I posted this what people up north like Iowa ( I read was -29 with wind chills 40 something below) were doing besides running the heck out of their wood supply.

jeeper: please send me a check so I can afford something less cheesy looking but equally effective as the foam board insulators. Oh... after I close the drapes you have no idea they're even there.

Don't let 'em bother you.
Like I said, my window sills are 18" deep and I was considering setting a bale of straw in each window.
The only problem there is that the chickens would jump up on them and scratch them apart so I'd have another mess in the house. :lol:

Oh, it's no bother... it's natural for someone who spends top bucks solving a problem to get preachy about it. I've done the same thing.

18" window sills - mine are about the same. Must mean you have massive masonry walls, yes?

Yeah. Great insulating value too. :lol:

We solved our window problem beginning in 1992 when we started replacement with effective quad pane windows: glass on out and in, and two plastic films panes between the glass, gas filled. These windows are warm to the touch inside even when it is -40F outside and howling winds. We have about 27' of glass facing out on the lake side of our house (plus lots of windows on the other three sides), no drafts, no frost, no condensation, no matter what the weather outside. Two windows over the kitchen sink, hot, steamy water in the sink, no condensation on the windows. Also no shades or window coverings -- let their be light and warmth.

Kenny like to see some pics. of you're straw bale house. Did you do the post and beam methood on a slab foundation?

No straw house here brother.

Must have misinterpreted something. hh:

Well since this thread started, I've been beating the "I don't like curtains" wife and yesterday she finally brought home ten yards of insul-bright. It's polyester fibers needlepunched through mylar. Today she'll find some material she likes and this weekend, she sews and I'll hang. She paid $5.99/yard for the insul-bright and knowing we'll need more, I found a store on-line where I can get more at $4.25/yard.
The windows measure 29"x56" but these are set in a stone wall which angles in for more light admittance. If I measure this additional wall thickness which is uninsulated, each window comes out to about 29.5 sq.ft. of surface area. Multiply by the thirteen windows set this way and we're getting close to 400 sq. ft.!
I'm excited about how much this may help.
Thanks for the inspiration everyone.
Ken

Kenny,

How thick is this "insul-bright"? Any idea on R value?



I love the idea of sticking foam in the windows, but I'd never hear the end of it if I did this...

It doesn't mention an R-value and is only about an 1/8" thick.
It came with a free oven mitt pattern if that means anything.
I can't tear it either.
It's when I threatened the foam in the windows that she started admiring various curtains. %-P

My idea is a hybrid of the foam board and clear plastic to keep the light. Cut the foam to fit tight, cut a few holes through the foam, smaller than windows but nice looking, paint the foam to match/complement the walls/curtains, and use shrink wrap or even cheaper 3-6 mil plastic sheeting. The wife told me previously that if she's warm, she won't even care what it looks like, but I still would prefer this to the trashy look of pink/blue foam board.

Jebatty
I do not exactly understand your install. Did you use 2 sets of windows for each opening? Did you place one window on the outside of the house and one window on the inside of the house or isthis some sort of custom set-up?

I had no idea there would be so much hatred about foam inserts in windows....pretty funny. You can dress them up and they will look fine. I wouldn't want to look at pink foamboard either. They will save you serious amounts of money if made right (i.e. fit tight). In the winter, for 14 hours a day, they will take an R-1 or R-2 drafty old window to an R-10 non-draft old window. I could do the math on payback, etc., but I won't bother. I do know that when I finally did have the $7000 to upgrade to new windows, it provided the same comfort level without the work of putting the panels in every evening and taking them out every morning, and finding a place to store them when they were out. But I probably only paid $150 for the panels whereas the windows cost me $7000.

Yes, there are smoke hazards if your house is burning. If I had no smoke alarms in my house, or had kids that slept on the opposite side of a 5000 square foot McMansion, I'd be worried about it. But frankly, if your house is burning so badly that already the window coverings are on fire, it may already be too late for you to make that great escape anyways.

Don't need to worry about smoke from a fire in my house, we have plenty of draft! :lol:

Well we got held up. Seems the stitcher needed to go in for a tune-up.
Maybe this weekend. Maybe not, it's hitting 50 degrees!!

Ponder with Kenny- It's cool to put a wood stove in a yurt but putting a piece of foam board in a window is dangerous. :question:

I've been looking at these window coverings. I think they cost more than my windows.

http://www.windowquilt.com/

Mike

Not too many days here with frost. So, my solution is to just stay under the covers till the sun gets around to heating the place up somewhat. If not, then when I feel like it,, downstairs and light up the insert..

I know, I know=lazy,lazy. But I don`t care. :coolcheese:

That's a rhetorical question, correct?

;-)

Foam on windows is yucky, yucky, yucky, yucky Especially the ones that peeps can see :roll:

You guys just don't get it ...craptastic will always look craptastic.

Oy yi yi ..makes you all clean stalls ...now there's some heat %-P

If that's the best a man can do, is he less of a man?

NO.

And not less of a woman.

I'm just saying that sometimes ya gotta shell out the dough, to get it done right.

Trust me, I have experience in this :-S

They both say "feed me"

And I am not a "fashionista", that's for sure.