DIY Saturday #78 – How to Warm your Home with Window Insulating Ideas (Video)

Guest Blogger #272, Entry #784, November 26, 2011

Happy DIY Saturday! Now that the season has turned colder, the reality of saving energy and keeping your home warm are important factors to consider. Today, my Guest Blogger will show you tips for keeping your home warm through your windows.

Keep your home warm this season

Image via: Bartone Contracting

Watch this You Tube Video on insulating your windows and adding weather stripping. Two ideas that will save energy, keep your family warmer, and will save money!

Guest Blog – Tips for insulating your home windows

The cold of winter has finally reared its icy head, and just in time for the holidays! It’s high time to cozy up your home before hoards of family members come over for dinners, arguments, and drunken carols. There are several ways you can approach keeping a house well heated, many of which can be expensive, involved, or require more time than you’d want to spend to keep your home warm and save a little money. Rather than spending your savings on a rainy (and cold) day, or giving up on it all together, here’s one clear way to keep the heat in your house: insulate your windows!

Your winter windows will not only keep your home warmer by keeping heat in and cold weather out, but you’ll be saving money on your heating bill by using your home heating system less. There’s more than one way to insulate a window, but luckily they’re all pretty simple.

Insulate your windows to save energy this season

Image via: Home Gallery Design

1. Curtains

Heavy curtains can do more than you think for heat retention. Plus, they look good. Depending on how many windows you’re looking to cover up, though, beefy curtains might end up being more expensive.

2. Window Insulation Film

This method is cost effective and definitely works. Tried and true, shrink-wrapping your windows can cost you a fraction of what you might spend on curtains or new windows, and you can install the film yourself. The downside is the film can be kind of unattractive, unless you’re into that smoky-window kind of look.

3. New windows

Whoa! This choice isn’t necessarily going to be cheap, but it can definitely be worth it in the long run. If you own your home, investing in energy efficient windows can garner you a tax rebate, improve the value of your home, and save you money from month to month, on top of keeping your house warm. Spendy, yes, but you can find estimates today and see if it’s worth it for you.

4. Rubber sealing

External insulation will definitely keep the weather out without drastically affecting the look of your windows, but be wary when you remove the rubber strips after winter, as the adhesive may damage your existing exterior paint.

Window treatments, or window film can help save energy

Image via: Toronto Door sandwindows

Give any of these window tricks a shot and you’ll be clearly on your way to a warmer winter at home. Or you can just get a whole lot of Snuggies. Now, without further ado, a completely unrelated music video by Sea Wolf, coincidentally called “Winter Windows.”

Jim Davenport is a seasoned contractor in the world of HVAC and windows. He recommends taking a look at this heating guide for further winter home-warming tips.

For more DIY ideas on Stagetecture, & Stagetecture’s YouTube Channel, click here.