It tends to not get too cold here in Albuquerque during the winter months, but on
cooler days, drafts coming in through cracks in your windows can be a real
bummer. Fortunately, there are lots of ways that you can make your apartment
warmer by giving some TLC to your windows - and you don’t need to be a handyman
or millionaire to get it done.
On
ApartmentTherapy.com, their “Reader Intelligence Report”
feature gathered a number of suggestions for their readers for insulating and
modifying their home windows to create a warm, energy efficient environment
during the winter months. And since we’re not exactly dealing with sub-zero
conditions, chances are these tricks will do a great job:
“I took some cheap burlap fabric, stained
it with tea, and made rice-filled thin, sealed bags to go on all of my
apartment window ledges and at the bottom of my front door. This doesn't keep
the cold from the glass but in my 1920s drafty apartment it works well.”
“I’ve also used foam drawer liners, rolled
up and stuffed into crevices. The self-sticking kind might be nice to line
small crevices in windows and doors.”
“You'd be amazing what you can do with
cotton balls and some tweezers. I went around and shoved as much cotton as I
couldn't into all of the cracks where I could feel air coming in, and it's
worked amazingly (not to mention super cheap)!”
“Put bubble wrap and plastic over all of
your windows. No, it's not pretty but it's the best thing I've found (aside
from getting new windows) to control heat loss via your windows. Dampen your
windows with water from a spray bottle, and then cover the glass with cut to
size pieces of bubble wrap. Then, cover the entire window (frame and all) with
some clear plastic and seal it with removable weather stripping.”
“What I did was go to a Walmart and buy
space blankets at the sporting goods dept. Then I got a couple of packages of
thin quilt batting ( W doesn't sell them anymore, damn, they were cheap there)
and finally cheap but pretty curtain material. Layered all three,
material/batting/space blanket, after measuring my windows and sewed them
together, hung them and damn all they worked like a charm BUT it made things a
bit gloomy as they kept out all the light as well as keeping out the cold.”