plastic

[chrisasst]

do any of you put plastic over your windows? I do but it doesn't seem to help that much. I have very old rugged windows. Do any of you do anything different? Do you put plastic on the inside, outside or both. I tried the outside but it doesn't like wind....

 

[pybyr]

"Seal & Peel" caulking makes a remarkable difference around the edges of loose drafty windows (and, if it is double-hung, where the sash meet each other in the middle) -- and removes relatively easily once the warm weather returns.

 

[Delta-T]

I do plastic around the inside of my bay window in LR and it helps a lot with the draft. Never tried the outside.

 

[LLigetfa]

Temporary caulking only stops drafts and doesn't provide an addition layer of insulating dead air space like plastic does. For best results though, the air space needs to be kept small enough to reduce convection.

Long ago when I was in rentals I would use the heat shrink stuff on the inside and it made a big difference. Plastic on the outside would degrade from UV and wind and a vapour barrier should always be on the warm side.

 

[billb3]

Still have some single pane double hungs.
The window weights were removed years ago, though , replaced with a track system.
Which was drafty until I put closed cell foam behind them.

Plastic on the inside.
One window I remove the trim boards, stretch out the plastic and put the trim boards back on.
The wind was just going under the trim boards by the plastic otherwise.
I may get those two windows replaced this year if I have time .

 

[pybyr]

Temporary caulking only stops drafts and doesn't provide an addition layer of insulating dead air space like plastic does.

Totally agreed that it serves a different function-- but it does help. If there's enough horizontal space for convection to be going on, and you have a lot of air leakage, then you're going to have air mixing in and out in addition to convecting between transparent layers.