How to Save Money with Insulated Storm Windows and Doors
- Find storm windows and doors that are the right size for your windows and doors. Look first at used building materials stores and architectural salvage businesses, which often have many older windows and doors for sale. If you find windows and doors that are only slightly too large, you may be able to buy them and cut or plane down their exterior frames to make them fit. The biggest challenge in finding used windows is finding the right size, so be aware of ways in which you might modify windows to make them fit.
- Make storm windows and doors or have them made out of sheets of glass and wood. Be sure that they are the right size to fit into the openings that exist in the outside trim of your doors and windows. A tight fit is one of the main factors in the effectiveness of storm windows and doors. Build your doors and windows carefully so they are neither too large nor too small. One way to get a tight fit is to build them just slightly too large, then test fitting them into the opening and hand planing them until they fit perfectly.
- Install storm windows by fitting them into your window openings on the outside of your house. Hold the storm windows in place by installing rotating latches on the outside trim of your windows. After you install a storm window, you can turn the rotating latches 90 degrees to hold the window in place. After you have fitted your storm windows, mark each so that you know which window it fits into and its orientation. This is particularly important in older houses, where the shapes and sizes of windows may vary.
- Install storm doors by hinging them so that they fit into the door opening on the outside of your regular door. Arrange the hinges so that the storm door swings outward, in the opposite direction that the main door swings. You can make a door that doubles as a storm door in the winter and a screen door in the summer by fitting it with a removable window for the winter and a removable screen for the summer.
