Winterizing houses in the Sunbelt
Down here in the Sunbelt, houses aren't built for the cold. Screens against the sun, sure. But the windows don't seal tightly, not even when freshly caulked. The breeze just blows in, and when the nights drop down to forty degrees, it's intolerable.
So, 'long about November, out comes the tape. Special flexible, removable tape from Storm King goes around all the west-facing windows. Tape the entire inside of the window: perimeter, slide channels, center seam.
Next comes the double-sided tape all around the perimeter. That holds on the single-sheet plastic "storm window" on the inside. You wouldn't think that a single sheet of plastic would have much effect but it does. When the wind blows from the west or northwest -- those are the cold winds in the winter -- that plastic sheet balloons out, you can see it holding the draft that leaks through the window. Remember all that sealing tape on the window? Enough of a draft gets through all of the taping that it stretches the inside plastic taut, bulging out to the inside.
2004
