Would storm windows help reduce my utility bill?

Question

I have windows that are about 15 years old. They're not bad. Double-pane. I have insect screens on the outside but no storm windows. I feel that taking the window apart and insulating with spray foam would be probably THE best option but I'm not sure how cost-effective that would be. Plus I worry that I may damage my wood trim on the inside. Would installing storm windows help add some insulation? I feel a little bit of a draft coming from the windows but I don't know if it's bad. Anyone ... Anyone? Bueller?

Answer 1

Great question. I'm taking an energy auditor course. Air leaks are said to be 35% of our wasted electricity.



If you can buy a long thin nail punch and drive the trim wood nails all the way into the trim wood- it wil pry off easy. Also, get multiple big cheap putty knives to protect finished walls and wood. Then you can spray chinking foam into the voids. That would be the best - but you are the judge on the trim wood. There are probably videos on YouTube as guides. It would be the cheapest method as you re-use the trim wood -just with slightly bigger trim nails and a bit of wood dough.



Storm windows are likely a good bet, but I don't know how much they will cost so don't know payback period. Any trapped air void will help, especially if they have a good Emissivity value. Also, I bought cloth blinds with accordian trapped air 'pleats' and that helps.



Try googling 'free energy audit' and see what comes up. You utility co. may have rebate or loan incentives, or would know of government incentives- if any.

Answer 2

One way to identify airleaks is to take a lit incense stick and pass it around the inside window trim. That should tell you if and where air is getting in. If it is leaking at thet trim, you can remove the trim and foam the opening then replace the trim. You can also instead apply acrylic caulking to the point on the trim where it meets the drywall...

Answer 3

I have a huge 3 bedroom house and have storm windows, my electric bill runs 180.00 in the winter and 140.00 in the summer. Totally so much better than it use to be. I know Great Stuff foam insulation won't do what storm windows do.

Answer 4

Many folks on this nation paintings for much less cash than they could acquire on advantages. Many many folks wrestle on low earning, now not most effective folks on advantages but additionally pensioners, operating mothers and fathers who have got to pay for baby care, folks who have got to spend cash touring lengthy distances to paintings, folks who can most effective discover facet-time paintings, folks who're having to pay huge quantities of baby maintenence, and many others. The reality of the problem is that folks on advantages already acquire discounted hire or cash in the direction of loan repayments and diminished council tax. The Government units a determine that it believes folks will have to be competent to survive, which entails application expenses, and many others, so it's as much as the character to be certain that they reside inside the cash they have got, identical to each and every different man or woman who has to be certain their cash lasts the complete month. If that implies you are not able to have the funds for nicer matters or have got to cross with out generally, then that's the sacrifice you have got to make for receiving public cash to aid you live on. Just over 50 years in the past, in case you had no task you needed to depend on charity handouts and also you could have got to cross and make your case for cash each and every week. Some weeks you would not get whatever and also you could simply have got to make do. People pawned or offered their possessions to outlive and did some thing they might to earn the tiniest bits of cash. It used to be an terrible strategy to reside, that is why the advantages approach used to be hooked up, however folks fail to remember how rough lifestyles was. If you hate the trouble you're in then do some thing approximately it. Don't assume folks with rough lives doing rough paintings to help you even additional than they do now.