A Quick Guide to Winterizing Your Home’s Windows

10 Nov A Quick Guide to Winterizing Your Home’s Windows

Now that winter is coming, it’s time to begin thinking about how to keep your home warm and toasty during that long season. If you’ve ever lived in a home with poor insulation, you’ll know the discomfort that comes with drafty windows and doors, as well as the sticker shock that comes with having to constantly pump your furnace to keep your home warm. Here at Aspen Exterior Company, we’re your local Chicagoland home remodeling experts. Of course, windows are a primary focus on winterization efforts, but there are also other important steps that you should take before the cold, wind, and snow begin to take place.

Preliminary Window Treatment

One of the primary ways that cold air can seep into your home is through drafty windows. Here at your company for home window replacement in Palatine, IL, we can tell you that the best approach for leaky windows is a two-pronged approach: caulking the outside of the window and weatherstripping the inside.

Caulking: The first thing to do is use a stiff-blade putty knife to scrape off any old caulk or peeling paint from around the exterior perimeter of the window. Next, clear off the rest of the window edge and then apply a fresh bead of caulk around the outside perimeter. This creates a continuous wind-blocking seal between the window frame and siding.

Expert Weatherstripping

After caulking, move inside and use weatherstripping to seal around the sash, the movable part of the window that opens and closes. There are a variety of different types of weatherstripping available, but here are a few of the most popular and effective.

Adhesive-backed foam: When your window closes against adhesive-backed foam, the foam compresses to seal gaps and block gaps. It features peel-and-stick application and cuts easily with scissors.

Spring V-Seal: This is a resilient polypropylene plastic or metal strip that comes folded into a V shape. It’s known as tension-seal weatherstripping because the V-shape easily opens, creating tension between the window frame and sash. This method is effective to block the passage of air through the window. Spring V-seal can also be installed vertically along the sides of double-hung windows.

Window insulation kits: If you’re looking for something simple and DIY, window insulation kits consist of shrink-wrap plastic that seals the entire window. The plastic sticks to the interior window casing with double sided tape and it sealed in place with a hair dryer.

Hire a Trusted Illinois Winterization Expert

When you live in a place as cold, snowy, and windy as Chicagoland, adequate winterization is a must. Instead of struggling to winterize your home, it might be time to consult the experts here at Aspen Exterior Company about installing new windows. We’ve been servicing the Chicagoland area for decades and are one of the most trusted names in the industry.  Whether you’re looking for window, door, siding or roof insulation, we take pride in making sure every one of our customers is 100 percent satisfied with our work.