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| OK, so I'm going around my 120 yo house tightening things up for the winter. I'm starting to notice gaps between my storm window frames and the exterior sill, on most of my windows. It seems to me that airtight storms would be a good thing, and I should caulk these gaps. My only concern is that if the space between the storms and the original windows is too airtight, it can overheat and bake the glazing, or become too damp. I get a lot of condensation on my bedroom windows as it is (I don't use humidifiers; I have and use bathroom vent fans). Is there anything else I should be concerned about? I'm very tempted to just get going with the caulk. I'll try to snap a picture. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Are you saying that you have wood framed storms? If so, get some bronze weather stripping, nail it in place around the windows. This will work to eliminate the gaps. I'd not bother with caulk. I get ours at the local, "old-fashioned" hardware store. |
Here is a link that might be useful: spring bronze weatherstripping
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- Posted by mainegrower (My Page) on Fri, Dec 11, 09 at 5:24
| Exterior storm windows should have small openings at the bottom to allow moisture from condensation to escape. Without such openings, sills and other window parts would first lose their paint, then begin to rot. |
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- Posted by slateberry51 (My Page) on Fri, Dec 11, 09 at 8:45
| No, the storms are just your typical aluminum. Mainegrower, maybe this wasn't such a stupid question. Now I'm going to check the windows that tend to get a lot of condensation and see if these openings are blocked. Thanks for saving me from a terrible mistake! I'll still snap some photos and add them, just to be sure. |
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| Storm windows are to reduce infiltration losses, they have no actual insulation value to speak of (especially metal storms, but wood storms also). There are any number of ways to reduce infiltration while still maintaining the needed escape path for condensation. Bronze strip, or various plastic and silicone seals work well, and some do not even show. Resource Conservation Technology (Baltimore, MD) has all sorts of seals that can be glued to the storms or put in small grooves routed into the storm sash to make a better seal. |
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- Posted by slateberry51 (My Page) on Fri, Dec 11, 09 at 9:00
| Hi Brickeyee! Love your contributions to this forum. With the RTC product, are you talking about their glazing gaskets, or am I looking at the wrong product. They appear to have a lot of good stuff. I'm glad you pointed out their site, because I have to reglaze a broken storm, and their gaskets look much better than what's in my channels now. |
Here is a link that might be useful: glazing gaskets
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