windows?

Rhino

So my windows are really crappy and lose a lot of heat and/or cool (depending on the season). What I was planning on doing is just stuffing a bunch of layers of cardboard and plastic wrap to help keep the cool/hot air inside. This would just be on a few rooms, but it would be the ones facing the street.

The upside: Cost me nothing and save a ton of air/heat
Downside: would make my house look fairly crappy.

I don't have a problem with my house looking like crap, but is the city or neighbors going to bitch? Is there any law against having a crappy looking house?

joshuadewaal

laws like that are usually local laws.

My friend couldn't keep a unregistered car in his driveway. The neighbors complained and he had to move it eventhough it was on his property. The problem is that when someone has some dumpy car on blocks in their driveway or cardboard in their windows, property rates in the neighborhood can drop. Obviously homeowners want their properties to go up in value.

I say do it. If the neighbors bitch, who cares. If some local official tells you to remove the cardboard... well then do it. But you aren't gonna get a fine for it if you comply once someone tells you to remove it.


or try hanging bedsheets over the cardboard, might not look so cheap...

Fibretip

buy some cheap net/lace/whatever curtains and fix them right inside the window, then put the cardboard behind it... nobody will know the difference.

failing that just buy a cheap lace table cloth or something that looks like net curtains and tape it up first, that way it just looks like a normal window from outside.

failing all of the above... http://doitbest.com/Building+Materials-66860-Window+insulation+kits.dib you can buy window insulation film that isn't that expensive. We used it in my old house, it means you can't open the windows, but it sure cut the cold air coming in.