Window insulating films

[Super Mech]

I've got a house that was built in 1942. The entire upstairs of the house was removed and reconstructed(all new windows, insulation,roof,electrical,you name it) 15 years ago. On the middle floor I put in new replacement double hung windows 20 years ago. Also on the middle floor are 2 bay windows. My problems is the all the middle floor windows are cold and drafty and new windows are not in the budget for at least a couple of years. After freezing our asses off last winter and having extremely high gas bills I'm thinking of putting up those window films kits I've seen in HD. Anbody have any experience with these? What brands are good Frost King,3M, etc?

 

[mark11]

I've used them in the past and they work surprisingly well. I'm not sure of the brand I used, it was whatever the big box store had, but they were the one's you use a blowdryer with. Crystal clear when finished and cut the drafts.

 

[sourdough]

Here's an aside.

I have a triple-wide mod home built in 2007. It has horizontal vinyl slider windows, and 2 years ago the factory weather-stripping on the slider portion quit sealing water penetration (due to rain/wind induced dirt) and during our incessant winter rains allowed water to leak into the track channels, causing us to continually mop up the indoor sills every few hours or so. I replaced (at considerable difficulty) the weather-strip with a similar product (the window company went out of business in 2009) from a commercial company via a retailer. Not good.

My wife and I came up with a solution for the rainwater ingress. We bought aluminum screen frame kits (4 windows on our storm-inclement south side, 5/16" frames) and assembled them to fit in place of the summer window screens. We used new screening and Duck heat-shrink plastic film OVER the screening and pressed in with the splines. We then used 2" wide clear plastic packing tape over all the edges and into the film by about 1 3/4" to secure this arrangement to prevent the splines and film from separating from the frame.

With the Duck Brand film, the 2-sided tape is 3M brand and is very good on clean, dry surfaces. Be forewarned that the film is sensitive to radiant solar heat even after you use a blow-dryer to install it: it may shrink additionally and pull it away from the tape.

We have been pleased with the product but one must be constantly vigil to see if the product pulls loose due to intermittent solar gain. With our "rain screens" we have also noticed a reduction in cold air in-creep from outside.

Hope this helps.

Jim

 

[gregtwojeeps]

Our house has a couple of drafty windows that my wife puts the clear heat shrinking plastic over every winter. She gets out the hair dryer and when she is done, one has to poke a finger in to the plastic to find it. Works great for what they are.

 

[poorboy87]

We get the stuff from Walmart or lowes. I think it's duck brand. We have some original windows from 1890 in our bedroom. It works well and does help keeping the draft down.

 

[Chitown_hillbilly]

I buy the Film in a bulk roll that is 500ft long and 36in wide. We've got nearly 500 sqft of windows and Dutch doors and none seal real well. Get the tape in a bulk blister pack from Amazon.

 

[sourdough]

I buy the Film in a bulk roll that is 500ft long and 36in wide. We've got nearly 500 sqft of windows and Dutch doors and none seal real well. Get the tape in a bulk blister pack from Amazon.

So I take it you don't use the Dutch doors in winter?

Edit: Rethinking that statement, I guess you don't use them as Dutch doors but rather as full doors.

Must be time to eat dinner to refresh my brain cells.

Sorry.

 

[6768rogues]

It will work for drafty windows. Years ago there were many houses with plastic over the windows in the winter. You know you have bad windows when the wind fills the plastic with air and blows the plastic off.

 

[Chitown_hillbilly]

So I take it you don't use the Dutch doors in winter?

Edit: Rethinking that statement, I guess you don't use them as Dutch doors but rather as full doors.

Must be time to eat dinner to refresh my brain cells.

Sorry.

And I'm a *****, FRENCH doors, not Dutch. Wrong country all together

We've got three of them that open to the wrap around porch. 2 of them rarely get used, one I don't think we've ever opened!

 

[rburke65]

I have used the Frost King brand and it did work well. Made a big difference.

 

[Heavymetalmechanic]

Duck brand has worked well for me, on the windows the cats can not reach...

I really like the idea of building new "screens" with the film, then just run a light bead of silicon, easy to remove and cheap. Going to price that out tomorrow.

 

[James-W]

We don't use them, but I know a couple people who do. They seem to work reasonably well. I am not sure where they buy the stuff from, but I imagine most box stores will have them.

 

[sourdough]

I really like the idea of building new "screens" with the film, then just run a light bead of silicon, easy to remove and cheap. Going to price that out tomorrow.

I should add that I used scrap pieces of frame, inserted between (perpendicular to) the long sides, as braces to prevent those sides from pulling in (warping) when the film is heat-shrunk.

 

[Denwood]

My entire house (and business) use acrylic inner window panels. These are perfectly clear ( invisible) and have a white magnetic frame that matches the window trim. They are held in place magnetically so easy to remove and store in summer for operating windows. We have a fair number of windows (17) in an 1800 square ft house. They cut our gas consumption by about 20%, and that's with newer double thermo pane windows. Inside on a -25C day, there is a 9C difference between temps on a window with the acrylic pane in place vs a standard window. My test windows are about 2'x4' and beside each other. They are sealed units so don't open. The difference would be larger on our double hung sliders. These windows inherently are leaky. A crank out design seals far better.

My wife loves them as sitting close to a window on very cold days is far more comfortable now. They are not cheap, but highly recommended. There is a local business here which does these as each window is a custom cut/fit.

My business renovation involved a 9500 sq ft warehouse to office/manufacturing retrofit. Last winter we had 60 days with temps below 20C, and the largest gas bill was $242..less than the 100 yr old house referenced above. All windows at my shop also use the same system, but they are triple pane, crank outs. We also treated four skylights with these...very effective as the snow on the windows no longer melts off..the snow blows off.

 

[Nickmm]

Can you take some photos of the acrylic magnet system? does it rely on the magnets to seal or is there a seal aside from the magnet strip? I wonder if I could make/have made these, we have a few plastic shops in town who do could probably make something up.

We have always used the duck brand sealant kit, works alright, but this sounds a bit better, interesting.

What was your testing method, a medical thermometer or infared heat gun, etc?

 

[internetdude]

I've used the window shrink film for years, it makes a HUGE difference, I just buy what's cheapest so I wouldn't worry too much about brands.

 

[volleyball]

I've used several brands. I have old insulated glass windows and the seals are old and unavailable. So I use the film. I don't blow dry it though. Just stretch it a bit to get out wrinkles when installing. A couple of spare rooms, its been up there for a few years until the tape drys out.
I had a patio door that would balloon out when the wind blew so I know it was doing its job.
I used the tape along with some 2 mil clear plastic that is more milky than clear on a relatives house that had a window facing a neighbor very close by. Gave a little more privacy.

 

[Denwood]

Nick, sure thing. I used an infrared thermometer at home, and a $6000 (borrowed!!) Eagle brand thermal imager at both sites work (home). We used the imager to check ceiling insulation over about 4500 square feet, captured images and had the insulation guys back to fix cold spots. I also imaged my house exterior with the thermal imager at -25C to get a good idea of the outside window surface temps...very "illuminating" to say the least. Pics coming.

The white powder coated (steel) inner frame is also the seal, so they acrylic caulk the joints. The actual strip magnets are part of the trim system that pushes onto the acrylic sheets, and they also miter and caulk those joints at each corner. There is also a noticeable decrease in noise transmission with these. It's in the area of 7-10db.

 

[Denwood]

The system is similar to this: http://innergwindows.com/

If clean, the acrylic panels are invisible..both are fitted here:

 

[KCarGuy]

The entire Back room of My house was made of Crank out single pane windows from the 70's.
Finally tearing them out and replacing with New Doors and Windows...
But, for years we have used to Shrink Film.
It does make a Big Difference. Especially cutting down leaks and drafts.
Clean and Dry the trim real good, double up (2 layers 1/2" away from each other) on the double sided tape, and take you time installing the film as straight and wrinkle free as possible. Then Blow dry on Hi...Enjoy your draft free winter!

 

[Nickmm]

Good photos Mr. Dennis. That looks like a very nice, professional solution. I may look into it over the long term, it would help in my home for sure. Windows are going on 20+ years old now, and our main level has 5 huge bay windows on the south face, kills us in the winter.

Those are on the outside?

 

[zhome888]

I have to try these

 

[Denwood]

Nope, the acrylic panels are on the inside. Knowing what I know...I'd consider these added to older windows, rather than replacing them..particularly if wood frames in good shape.

New vinyl frames rely on trapped air in the frame extrusion to insulate. On a -25C day, I've measured 0C (32F) at the frame itself. This is one of the reasons that trapping a second layer of air on the inside is so effective, along witht the relatively poor R value in even low E glass. If you are in a noisy area, the sound attenuation using the panels is surprising.

We remove the panels in summer on operating windows, but apparently they are also effective in reducing AC costs.