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 It's getting cold where I live and that means time to think about insulation and how to keep your house warm. One common area of heat loss is through windows. Last year I had an energy audit done on my house to identify ways I could reduce my energy use. Although my windows were identified as something that could be improved, I didn't have a ton of money budgeted. I was told my money would be better spent on other improvements so I put plastic on my windows to help increase their effectiveness. As a cheap way to help insulate, or for people who rent and can't make changes to the building this is a good alternative to replacing the windows.
Every year I spend a few hours putting plastic on my windows and then pulling it off when it gets warm. I find that the plastic helps, but it feels quite cold to the touch. In addition, sometimes when the wind blows the plastic moves; I decided there must be a better way.
 I decided to make a simple wood frame that would fit in my window that I could put the plastic on, so I could reuse it. Once I started making these frames I also realized I could put plastic on both sides so I'd have an air gap between them for better insulation. 
The design is really simple. All you need is 1x2 inch wood strapping that costs about fifty cents for an eight foot length, window plastic, tape, and a few screws. Each window frame ends up costing only a few dollars at most and are reusable each year.
I used these frames last year and did notice that the plastic didn't feel nearly as cold and I didn't feel any drafts from the windows. At the end of the year taking the frames out was a piece of cake. I just recently put them back in and it was much easier than taping the plastic up.
So far a simple project that has saved me a few bucks on heating costs. I will add one caveat to this project, my wood frames insert on the inner side of the window. Old windows can also leak where the frame meets the wall. If you have this problem then you should first seal those leaks as my frames will do nothing there.
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Re: Reusable Plastic Window Frames
