My new house has a number of oddly-sized windows (all rectangular, but
often of weird dimensions).

I'm trying to figure out if it's worth making my own storm windows.

Imagine the scene from a bad movie with the devil and an angel speaking
in a different ear. In one ear (not sure if it's the devil or the angel
saying this) I'm "how hard can it be? It's just getting glass cut to
size, building a frame, and attaching it."

In the other ear, I'm hearing "you've never done this before, you're
going to spend hours going back and forth to the store getting parts you
forgot, don't be a cheapskate, just suck up the cost for new multipane
windows."

Who should I listen to?

If I decide to make and install my own storms, can someone point to a
good book with plans? My basic all-purpose home repair guide has a
project for building storms out of acrylic and attaching them with
plastic tracks to the window frame, but that looks kind of tacky.

For reference, the frames are wood, the windows are a mix of casement
and hung.

The more I think about this, the more it seems like the idea of building
storms for the whole house is nuts, but it might be worth doing in a
couple of less-used rooms just for a rainy day project.

New windows will outperform old windows and storms in both air
infiltration and R value. But cost alot more.

(m Ransley) wrote in message ...
New windows will outperform old windows and storms in both air
infiltration and R value. But cost alot more.

Well, I don't know about infiltration.
If the frames are not square and the new windows are not custom fit,
one might end up with as much infiltration as exists now.

Tom Baker

"Gry" wrote in message



The more I think about this, the more it seems like the idea of building
storms for the whole house is nuts, but it might be worth doing in a
couple of less-used rooms just for a rainy day project.

Many years ago I was going to a ballgame with a buddy. He said he wanted to
stop by his mother's house to install a storm window. I knew nothing about
them and figured the day was shot as this was a big project. Turns out,
putting in triple track windows is a ten minute job. Two years later we
were ding it on the side with a little business and we easily knocked out a
house on a Saturday. If you have double hung windows, that is the way to go.

Making a storm that has to be removed every season is a PITA if you can
avoid it. Especially if they are high up. You may be right about doing it
for a couple of rooms that have odd windows, but for the entire house, it is
a career, not a simple home improvement.
Ed

http://pages.cthome.net/edhome