# It's so cold my bedroom window broke **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 7, 2013, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731 "2013-12-07T05:13:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731/1 "2013-12-07T05:13:44Z")
Background: we live in an old house with double-hung sash windows. This year, due to pressures of work and Grey Cup festivities, I never got around to putting the storm window on, so all that is protecting us from the -30 C weather (worse if you include wind chill) are single panes of glass in the mullions. This evening, PiperCub came out of my bedroom, where he’d been playing with the cat. “Bad news, Daddy,” he said. “There’s a hole in the window.” I thought he was exaggerating or something, so I asked him to show me. One of the panes has been cracked for a while. Now, the crack has spread and there is a small hole at the end of the crack. There is, of course, a distinct chilly breeze whistling in the little hole. All I can think I is the cold made the already cracked pane contract further, resulting in the tiny hole. :eek: Tomorrow, I’ll have to bite the billet and crawl out on the porch roof to install the storm window… ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731/2 "2013-12-07T05:25:45Z")
an arctic blast froze a bird which hit the window and broke a hole in it. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731/3 "2013-12-07T06:28:11Z")
If we stay in this house, changing out all the old single pane windows for new, proper ones is high on our list. That is weird, **Northern Piper** , but nothing really surprises me in this kind of cold. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731/4 "2013-12-07T06:44:59Z")
My toilet is on an outer wall. The pipe running to it froze last night, and I was not able to flush it this morning. I had to put one of those little heaters in the bathroom with the door closed to thaw the pipe. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731/5 "2013-12-07T15:08:47Z")
Got down to about -13F over the past couple of days. Not TOO bad but cold enough. Very cold putting tire chains on plow truck even with gloves on. The steel chains just suck the heat right out of your hands. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731/6 "2013-12-07T17:25:00Z")
My old single pane windows have the storm windows permanently installed, sealed up with many coats of paint. Which is fine now, but air flow in summer isn’t great with only a few windows that open. I’m told however that you can get inserts with proper modern glazing that pop right into these old frames without having to mess around with whole frame window replacement. **Piper** , you have my sympathies. It is a miserable day to have to do anything outside. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731/7 "2013-12-07T17:26:18Z")
Stay safe! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731/8 "2013-12-07T17:40:23Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > My toilet is on an outer wall. The pipe running to it froze last night, and I was not able to flush it this morning. I had to put one of those little heaters in the bathroom with the door closed to thaw the pipe. I hate it when that happens. The outflow hasn’t frozen since I’ve been here, but the intake pipe has a couple of times. At those times, I have to fill the tank with a bucket of water from the tub. The cold water in the tub froze once – and my hot water is scalding hot. I had to stand at the opposite end to take showers. The hot and cold pipes, and the drain, to the utility sink have frozen. These pipes share a wall with the little bedroom. I have one of those oil-filled radiator electric heaters set on low, right next to the wall behind the utility sink. I’ve also had plumbing repairs done. Unbeknownst to me, the drain pipes had broken. Whoever put them there used the wrong kind of cement, and there were long spans that were unsupported. So any time I did dishes or laundry, the water would up under the house where, presumably, it would freeze and cause the pipes to freeze. The drain pipes have been repaired, and the area under the house has been drying for a year. _And_ all of the exposed pipes under the house – intake and outflow – have been insulated. Will the insulation work? That remains to be seen. But I’m slightly less concerned about frozen pipes now, than I have been in the past. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731/9 "2013-12-07T17:42:22Z")
Mrs Piper is out and about, so I’m not going out on the roof until she comes back. In the meantime, I cut a puffy mailing envelope in two and used that to block up the one pane. No breeze whistling, but distinctly chilly near that window. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731/10 "2013-12-07T17:47:10Z")
Poor little Mr. Kite slept in an unheated upstairs room on a farmstead on the windswept prairie. He said that in the winter the moisture from his breath would freeze the curtains to his window. And the trot to the outhouse was fit only for the likes of Roald Amundsen. And how about those mind-blowing house “booms” on cold nights when everything contracts? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731/11 "2013-12-07T18:12:15Z")
You could put one of those sheets of shrink-wrap plastic over the window until you can fix it, **Piper**. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731/12 "2013-12-07T19:01:20Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > You could put one of those sheets of shrink-wrap plastic over the window until you can fix it, **Piper**. I’d suggest this. The same thing happened in our house when I was a child. Dad just put some Saran Wrap over it; and when the weather warmed up a bit, then he put the storm windows on. He wasn’t about to deal with ladders and snow and storm windows and extreme cold. The Saran was a good makeshift solution until the weather warmed up a bit and he could put the storm windows on. ---
**Author:** ![James\_Toothpaste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@James\_Toothpaste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Toothpaste)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731/13 "2013-12-07T20:01:42Z")
Grr I hate the cold. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731/14 "2013-12-07T21:15:31Z")
Can’t you put some clear caulk on the crack? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731/15 "2013-12-07T23:08:03Z")
There’s frost on the inside of the window so I doubt that it would stick. Too wet and cold. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731/16 "2013-12-08T01:24:32Z")
Just wanted to say, many years ago it got so cold one night it cracked the rear view mirror on my car in two. That also happened around -30C. Brrr! ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731/17 "2013-12-08T03:10:22Z")
What solution did you use, finally, **Northern Piper**? BTW, where do you live? My brother lives in Edmonton, and they’ve had brutal cold this week (- 40 with windchill - -40 is the point where both Fahrenheit and Celsius scales meet), but it’s starting to warm up. Here in Montreal, it’s been a mild December thus far. \ ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731/18 "2013-12-08T04:33:16Z")
When I lived in Saskatoon it got down to -53 one day, and that’s without the wind chill. When I got home that evening, all the paint had fallen off of my apartment building. That became my new standard for seriously cold. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731/19 "2013-12-08T05:52:35Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > My old single pane windows have the storm windows permanently installed, sealed up with many coats of paint. Which is fine now, but air flow in summer isn’t great with only a few windows that open. I’m told however that you can get inserts with proper modern glazing that pop right into these old frames without having to mess around with whole frame window replacement. I’ going to be looking replacements. We have some windows permanently sealed by paint as well, which makes it hard to get an air flow in the summer. I want to keep the original frames - we were able to do so in our old house when we replaced some windows, so I assume that should b possible. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731/20 "2013-12-08T06:02:57Z")
Um, hello, duct tape. Scrap off any frost with a razor knife. Wipe clean. tape window. for that matter, gorilla glue. It’s water activated and will foam fill the crack. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-cold-my-bedroom-window-broke/675731.md?page=2)