Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
OK, I will admit it, I know nothing about storm windows. My last house was the first one I ever bought and it didn't have them. I closed on my current house on 5/3. Movers came on 5/11 so I have been sleeping here since then, although the tenants didn't move into my old house until 6/1 so there was a bit of overlap for moving, etc.
The sellers left all the storm windows up. All of them. I have been so busy with work that I had no time to deal with them, but some days the house has been pretty uncomfortable. I finally went outside and started unscrewing all the screws from a first-floor window (dining room) in preparation for taking off that room's storm window, but I quickly realized my 6' ladder wouldn't allow me to reach the top part. I ordered a new ladder (figured I would get a good tall one, and my local stores didn't have what I wanted). I just got the ladder but haven't set it up yet.
Well, today I figured I would look at the second-story windows to see what's what. The first one I tried, which is a hall window (hall that leads to back bedrooms -- all part of an addition from the late '70s), I realized pretty quickly wasn't like the first-floor dining room window. On the hall window, I could press in a couple of levers, pull up the bottom part of the storm window, put it where I want it (there are lots of little notches in the window frame where it can rest), and pull down the screen. Voila! I feel like the biggest idiot for not doing this a long time ago, but I am SO happy to have that window open. I got a lovely cool breeze (can't believe how such a simple thing could make me so happy!). I checked the back bedrooms and they appear to open the same way, so I have opened three of them. Yay!!!!!!!!
HOWEVER, when I tried to open a window in another bedroom, which is original to the house (built 1960), the storm window is different. There are 2 little knobs at the bottom that I THINK are supposed to release the storm window, but the left one appears to be stuck (the right one will release so I could raise the window IF the left one released the same way, but it won't). Is there some trick to this?
Also, do you not have to remove ANY storm windows from the outside (like I was doing with the dining-room window)? I will feel pretty stupid if that's the case, but OTOH I hope it is. It is nice to get some air in here (and I will finally be able to put up a window a/c as well!!).
I guess my most basic question is, is there some trick to storm windows? Are ALL of them able to be opened from the inside? Are there some tricks that I should know?
I know these probably sound like really silly questions, but I am clueless when it comes to stuff like this.
One thing to consider:
Having grown up without air conditioning, I was taught how to create good ventilation by learning which *few* windows should be opened to create air currents through the house; that takes advantage of prevailing breezes and the heating and cooling effects of the sun/shadow.
Generally, 'intake' occurs from the west by northwest and 'venting' occurs east by southeast (the location of mountains, lakes, landscaping, adjacent buildings, etc. will differentiate this maxim). The 'intake' side of the house should have a few more openings than the 'venting' side.
Opening all windows is almost always a mistake as this will prevent any sort of "wind tunnel" effect you're trying to produce.
Shutter and shade windows on the sunny side of the house & don't open windows that look over any sunny spots of the yard.
Some times the above were only at the bottom of the storm window and the top was hinged so one didn't remove the storm window but pushed it out at the bottom for ventilation (as like an awning window). BTW, these were all wood windows.
The aluminum storm windows on my parents' new house had fasteners that looked like this: Image Detail for - Screen & Storm Door Clips, Aluminum These often required pliers to turn because the wood they screwed into would expand with late Spring heat. The aluminum storm windows were full size single panel and had to be removed completely during the Summer (but we removed only those required to create a breeze...see above).
LIGuy, thanks for the reply! I have only opened windows where I could actually feel a breeze; they are in the front/side of the house (north, west). I cannot believe what a difference they have made in just a couple of hours!!
I looked at the photos in the links you provided but I don't see what I have. I tried to take photos but there wasn't enough light. Some of the clips are like tiny knobs (maybe 1/4" inch long 1/4" wide) by that protrude from the windows. Others aren't protrusions at all, but are "indentations" in the windows themselves at the bottoms. (I am clearly not very good at explaining things ...) Those ones seem to work fine -- it's the ones with the tiny knobs that I am having trouble with.
I think my dining room window is the kind that has to be removed entirely -- at least from the outside it looks like one very large piece of glass that covers the entire window. The upstairs ones don't look like that.
I will keep investigating -- it's a big house with a lot of windows, but at least now I have some breezes and fresh air!! What a huge difference!!
I will try the wd-40. Unfortunately though several of the windows that have the tiny knobs are missing one of them (it's always the left one) -- I guess they fell off a long time ago. I am going to try to fit something in there to press against the spring on the left side so I can get those ones open.
I remember one of my chores as a kid was to help my dad put up storm windows in the fall and take them down in the spring. They were big old heavy pieces of glass with a wooden frame. They hooked to the top of the window frame on the outside of the windows then had a spring loaded L twist things on the inside edges that clipped to the inside of the window frame. The storm doors were big old wooden things that clipped to hinge installed on the doors.
In the mid 60's I thought I was King of the Hill when I had what were called combination storm/screen widnows????? installed. They were aluminium with glass and screen that installed permanently over the outside window frame. Slide down the glass for winter. Glass up and screen down for summer. Plus an aluminium storm doors.........LOL
I guess my most basic question is, is there some trick to storm windows? Are ALL of them able to be opened from the inside? Are there some tricks that I should know?
You've discovered that not all storm windows are created equal!
My previous house had the kind that hung from two hooks on the outside top of the window frame. I also had screens in wooden frames that hung from those same hooks, and changed them twice a year. Hard work, especially on the second floor when the wind would catch the edge of the frame when you were trying to hook it on ...
Then I got rid of those and installed the three-piece combination storms/screens that slide up and down, like those you found on your second floor. I'm guessing a previous owner thought it was a PITA to change the storms/screens on the second floor, but not on the first, so the owner installed the sliding storms/screens on the second story only to save some cash.
So the combination storms/screens you can keep in place all year round -- unless you're like my mom, who hates seeing screens when it's cold out and she removes them all from the windows.
Accufitgolf and Ohiogirl, thanks for the replies! I was thinking of buying storm windows for my old house (the one I'm renting out) and so was doing some research online -- all the storm windows I saw were the three-piece combo type. That IS what I have on the second-floor windows and even some of the first-floor. (Don't know why prevoius owners didn't just replace all of them!) It's funny that the first one I tried removing (the dining room window) ISN'T the three-piece type, so I was thinking, ugh, I'm going to have to do this twice a year?
I now have several windows open with fans in them, and the breezes are wonderful. We've had some days in the high 80s recently and the house has actually been very comfortable with the fans. So far I have not needed to install a window a/c.
But alas, several of the three-piece combos have the missing-knob problem I mentioned, which means I can't open them until I figure something out. And one bathroom window (first floor) is missing the screen. Aaaaagggh. The quirks of my new house!!
Look around in your basement or garage (if you have them) for the missing screens. It's always amazing what previous owners leave behind, and where they leave it.
Last Fall we replaced our old hanging storm windows and screens with replacement sliding storms and screens. We have always put a window unit air conditioner in one of our windows in the summer but we can't figure out how to do that with the new windows. I can slide the storm up but can't figure how to slide the screen up in order to put in the air conditioner. also was trying to figure out how I am suppose to clean the window, Any help would be appreciated,
need coolair
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
