Wrap your windows to lower South Dakota heating costs

Sometimes, you take all the right steps to get your home toasty – hunting down drafts, locking doors and windows, and having your furnace and duct system inspected – but it still feels like you can’t keep the warmth inside.

Unless you’re sporting thick (read: expensive) windows, you’re probably losing a lot of heat right through the glass. Luckily, it’s easy to insulate your windows to lower heating costs South Dakota residents are all too familiar with.

Why You Should Wrap Your Windows

Basically, an insulating film that covers your window panes and trim edges saves you energy (and money).

Windows can account for up to 30% of your home’s heat loss, according to SF Gate.

Remember, cold is the absence of heat. The warm air will try to escape through your windows and out into the prairie winter, in an energy transfer your budget shouldn’t have to suffer for.

Luckily, wrapping your windows for winter is an easy way to lower heating costs in South Dakota.

How to Wrap Your Windows

Window insulation kits sold by companies like 3M are cost-effective and easy to install. To reduce the cost even more, you might try using bubble wrap – but you’ll be giving yourself a few more variables to deal with, and obstruct your glances at the winter wonderland outside.

Here’s how to wrap your windows for winter and lower South Dakota heating costs:

1. Measure

Measure out the height and width of your windows, plus about an inch of overlap on each side. Quality insulation film kits won’t peel away any paint or damage woodwork if you’ve installed it correctly.

Once you know how wide all the windows you want to wrap are, you’re ready to figure out what size kits you’ll need to get the job done. You’ll more than likely end up cutting larger sheets down to fit.

2. Clean

Run over the molding with soapy water (and make sure you give it time to dry) so that the film will adhere throughout the winter months. And you might as well clean the glass while you’re at it.

3. Cut

Unroll the plastic wrapping and grab your scissors. Refer back to your measurements, and make sure you’re allowing that extra inch.

4. Tape

Your tape should run along the outside edge of the trim or molding, and you’ll want to press it tight to make sure everything sticks. Once it’s in place, remove the lining.

Now you can stretch your plastic film over the window and press it to the tape. Don’t be afraid to pull it back off the tape and give it an extra stretch to smooth out wrinkles.

5. Blow-dry

Pass a hair dryer on low heat over the film to remove any remaining wrinkles, taking care not to touch the blow-dryer to the plastic. Once you’ve sealed the wrapping, you can trim excess plastic from the edges.

When to Insulate Windows

You’ll want to do this before temperatures are too low. A common recommendation is that you want the insulation in place before we hit 0° F, but you can certainly get wrappings installed well ahead of that.

As long as you’ve followed the steps, your coverings should stay in place all the way through winter. Depending on the quality you should even be able to clean the wrappings with a soft cloth – just be careful not to press right through.

Where Else You Can Lower Heating Costs

If you’re serious about lowering heating costs South Dakota homes are subject to every winter, check out this blog post with 7 other tips for combating heat loss.

It also can’t hurt to have Intek out to conduct a free inspection of your duct and furnace system. We’ll run a camera right into your ducts to show you how dirty things are, and talk about options for upping efficiency from there.

LEARN MORE ABOUT INTEK FURNACE AND DUCT CLEANING