Before You Seal the Windows, Do This (Or Pay for It by January), by Gene Halvorsen on YouTube. 10 min 48 s.
- Video length
- 10 min 48 s
- Time to do it
- 30 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 9
What you need
Steps
Leave the film kit in the bag and do the six checks first. They take about 20 minutes together, and most of them cost nothing.
Check that every bedroom window you would climb out of opens by hand with no tools. On that window, use plastic that peels off by hand or leave the glass bare.
Put a hygrometer in the room and read it morning and evening for three or four days. If it reads over 60 percent, find what is feeding the moisture before you seal.
Hold a tissue to the bath fan grille, then go outside and find where the fan comes out. Make sure the dryer duct goes outside, stays clear and its flap swings.
Wipe the sill dry tonight and look at it tomorrow in daylight. Press a thumbnail into the corners; small mildew spots on hard paint get soap and water, then a full dry.
Wipe the frame with rubbing alcohol and let it dry. Press a scrap of painter's tape onto it; if the tape pulls off easily, wipe the frame again.
On a cold evening with the heat running, tape a strip of tissue to a pencil and run it around the frame. Mark each leak with painter's tape. Tissue only, no candle or match.
Seal with rope caulk or a film kit. Keep film and curtains clear of a baseboard heater by the distance printed on its label.
Shrink the film with a hair dryer held a hand's width off, keeping it moving and never touching the film. Do not use a heat gun.
Tips and common mistakes
Never seal over a dryer vent, bath fan or flue; anything that burns fuel needs air coming in and exhaust going out.
Fit a carbon monoxide alarm on every level of the house and outside the bedrooms.
Soft, dark wood in a sill corner is rot, so call a professional instead of covering it with film.
If you rent, put any stuck window or bad venting in writing to your landlord the same week.
Questions
Can I put the plastic on the outside of the glass?
No. The film goes on the inside of the glass only, so it is not exposed to weather and can be peeled off in spring.
My room reads over 60 percent humidity. Can I seal it anyway?
Wait. Find the source first, such as a blocked fan, a dryer venting indoors or a wet sill, then seal once the reading drops.
Will this lower my heating bill?
There is no set figure. These checks stop the common failures that make tape let go and sills stay wet, which is the point of doing them first.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
