Winterize

Hey Everyone!  Although I'm more in denial lately than ever before, winter is coming upon us.  It's inevitable, it will come.  While I'm fighting it as much as possible each night it's getting colder and colder here in the South.  So to prep for that oh so cold weather we've begun winterizing the house.  Today I want to show you how I winterize my windows and doors to get ready.  Because like it or not, winter is coming!

I get a Window Kit from Walmart for about $10.  One package has lasted me 3 years, so it's worth the money!  I get the crystal clear shrink film.  My mom has been using it on our places over the years since I was kid.  This stuff really works!

First I start off with putting on the adhesive tape.  I go around clockwise and make sure each piece overlaps the other piece at the corners.

Next step is to peel off the strip so that you can attach your plastic to the adhesive.

I always begin by attaching my plastic at the top.

Then I make sure I attach my plastic to the adhesive so that it's tight enough to get a good shrink.  I'll run my finger on the edge of the adhesive on the plastic to make sure my adhesive is attaching to the plastic.

Next trim off the excess.  I always leave about 3 inches of excess just in case.  You don't want your plastic to shrink too much and pull on your adhesive where you don't have any excess.

Once you're done this it should look something like this.

Next you'll take your hair dryer on the high heat setting and start blow drying the plastic.  Work in sweeping motions.  You'll notice where your plastic is shrinking and where it'll need more heat until you get a smooth finish.  Don't stay in one area too much because you'll "burn" through your plastic and ruin all the work you've done to it.  If one area is being stubborn go away from it and let it cool down and then go back to it if necessary.

It's quite a cool little process.  Once it's done you'll have a good barrier to keep out the cold.  With an old house like ours this is pivotal to the areas that may be original to the house.  We don't winterize our house windows because we've replaced those.  But the doors we do winterize.

We also do our side door (which will be a project for next year, especially now since we have to replace a glass panel) and our side porch storm door.

*One trick for the storm door since it's metal:  Once I've attached my plastic to the adhesive in the beginning, I then heat up the adhesive and run my finger along it to heat up the adhesive to attach the plastic to it.  Be careful the blow dryer is hot, don't put your finger directly in the line of fire!  Then once that's adhered I move onto the inside plastic to shrink it.*

Get ready for winter, it's coming!

Have fun!