I just wonder if it is worth the cost. The kit costs around $10-15 per kit. Multiply that by the number of windows you have. That is quite a lot of cost adding up.
Depends on what your local cost of electricity/propane/fuel oil/wood is, and how efficient your heating system is. Small baseboard heaters in an area with high electricity costs and a house with lots of windows? I bet you’d save a chunk.
The kit I bought yesterday (influenced completely by this thread) was $4.98 and is a 3-pack. I think the 9-pack was $14. That’s just the standard weight for standard windows (sheets are 42x62). I’ve only done one kitchen window, the one I sit by, and I’ve already noticed a difference. And today the wind is just howling!
For $15, you can get a 9 pack of Frost King window sheeting at Home Depot. Each sheet is big enough to cover any non-picture window. For picture windows $15 gets you a 2 pack.
Unless you live in Versailles, you should be able to cover every window in your house for $50.
Make sure to clean the window very well before sticking the tape down. Try not to place it in a way that pulls upward on the tape, try to have it flush so it pulls sideways.
I’m in the minority, I’ve found the film to be a hassle and not worth it. If you have any blinds or drapes that are close enough to the window, they’ll quickly tear it and ruin your work.
I used the shrink-wrap stuff long ago when I was renting, and it was fantastic, very effective.
The kits do more then one window.
Also, if you’re putting them in a room that doesn’t get much use or on a window that’ll never get opened, you can just leave them on in summer as well. I’ve done that. That makes them cost even less and it’ll keep your AC cost down as well.
We cut 1 inch wide cardboard strips, and using a staple gun nailed the plastic to the wood frame windows. You could buy the plastic in 8 or 12 foot widths. My neighbors enclosed their south facing porch. You could go out on the porch in the middle of winter with just shorts and a tee shirt.
Any good tape recommendations? I’m wary of damaging the woodwork in this rental.
The packs come with double stick tape. Unfortunately, damaging woodwork is a risk for this type of operation. You’re either going to use tape or staples, and either can be a problem.
I don’t know if you can protect the wood with low tack masking tape, but even those can be a problem when you leave them up for a few months.
if you don’t want to do the whole house then don’t. if it’s drafty then the whole house would be worth it. you will have to figure on your heating costs.
it is useful in rooms that you spend a lot of time in where you aren’t moving around (thus keeping warm) or otherwise insulated (in bed under blankets); so a room where you would sit you would gain comfort benefit in.
in the long term insulation and/or tightening (preventing air infiltration) is the best money you will spend for cutting living costs.
I use it every year on my windows. You can tell the difference: you can feel the air getting through the triple tracks (they’re old) when there’s no plastic; when they’re up, you can’t.
They also supply a little R value – not the plastic so much as the air space between the plastic and the glass.
I use the outside version, though they are getting harder to find. They don’t interfere with the shades and the cat isn’t going to puncture them.
Personally I think that’s flawed logic. There IS a cost beyond pure dollars that you have to consider. Why not just turn off your heater completely? You’d get really cold, but look at the money you’re saving! The answer is because there’s value in living in a home that is comfortable.
If you want to see if it’s “worth the cost” you should look at as a comparison to what you’re trying to gain. For example, is it worth the cost when comparing it to replacing the windows, which may cost you several thousand dollars? Are you reasonable comfortable in your home now? Then you’re right, maybe it’s not worth it to you.
Oh, and to actually answer the OP’s question. I personally found them to be of tremendous value in regulating the temperature of my home. I had gigantic sliding glass door in my basement* that had a slight air leak. And by “slight” I mean, that although I couldn’t see any gaps, the plastic wouldn’t stay taped shut because of the volume of air whooshing into my house. I’d get three sides taped down and it was like funneling all of the air into the remaining corner like a jet stream! I finally got it sealed, and it made a huge difference. Also, like papstist said above. When I covered my daughters windows in her corner bedroom with windows on two sides that took care of the frost problem. Before that her bedroom was always ice cold and the windows would ice over.
*I know it sounds weird to have a sliding door in a basement, so if that didn’t make sense, it’s because my house was built into a hill where you walked into the house on the first floor, but had to walk out of the back of the house from the basement.
I do it on my sliding glass door for that reason - its double pane and a newer window - but it still gets really cold even without drafts. The warm humid air inside the house condenses on the window, freezes, and as it warms up, melts - and there is a wood floor underneath. Putting the film over the sliding glass door minimizes this (there is still a little - but is sixteen below today and it the aluminum frame, not the glass, that is the issue now.)
In my old drafty turn of the century house with single pane windows, it was completely necessary on every window.
I have used them and they work well, but you might first spend some time with weather stripping. One thing that is almost always useful in an old house is to reglaze the windows, especially if you can do it yourself. Another thing to try is plugging all the cracks around the window with a clay like weatherstripping that does not harden (you can remove it in the spring).
Our friend helping us in WI put them on select windows; it helped greatly! He began using the 3M product and then purchased another brand on sale. The sale brand tape lost its sticking power through last winter, with the film coming undone. This year we used only the original 3M product.
We left the film up over the summer on a few of the unused bedrooms. We found a large quantity of red asian beetles (ladybugs?) dead in the airspace between window and film.
I think we’re going to have to find the clay-like weatherstripping as mentioned by ethelbert.
Mortite is the major brand of the weather stripping putty.
Thanks very much for the “Mortite” name, Johnpost.
I don’t use the shrinking kind. In the same aisle at my local Menard’s, I buy a big roll of heavy plastic sheeting and a roll of tape designed to work with it. I cut it to fit around the windows, tape it up, and take it down in the spring. I don’t know if it’s more or less expensive, and now I wonder if there is a difference in effectiveness. But it’s quick and simple and makes a huge difference.
And when a big ice storm is coming, I tuck a sheet of the plastic across my windshield and under each door frame. In the morning I can open the car door, give the plastic a shake, and my windshield is clear!