Thanks to True Value, we completed a small project this weekend.  There’s little worse than a cold and drafty bathroom!  Some of the windows in our old farmhouse are original.  Until there’s money in the budget to replace them, we add plastic in the winter time to keep heating costs down and the toilet seat warm!   Not a pretty project, but a necessary one!  

We’ve had the windows look pretty bad with double sided tape – it’d come loose.  There’d be cardboard and staples to get that stuff to stick. Finally, Mr. DIY came up with a solution. Do you ‘shrink wrap’ your windows?  Not exciting but if lowering the heating bill means more money in the budget for other DIY – THAT is exciting!  Here is one of our windows after ‘shrink wrapping’.   

I love that it’s not noticeable!

He alters the package of window shrink wrap by using industrial strength Velcro.  

We use this plastic shrink wrap but the double sided tape isn’t always 100% effective. We chose the outdoor because our window was 72″ long.  The outdoor can be used indoor. 

In the event that someone is looking to do this and could use some tips, here is what Mr. DIY does.

Velcro definitions:

Hook Side The rough side of VELCRO ® brand fastener is made of hundreds of tiny flexible HOOKS. Loop Side The soft, fuzzy side of VELCRO ® brand fastener is made of hundreds of small, soft LOOPS

The industrial strength Velcro is 2 in. wide.  He cuts it in half length wise.  

Measure and cut the rougher Velcro (hook side) piece to fit one side of the window. 

Remove backing and apply sticky side to the window (the un-cut side facing the edge of the molding).

Repeat until all 4 sides have a rougher piece of Velcro, creating a frame.

Next, measure, cut and place soft side of Velcro (loop side) to rough side (hook side).

Measure and cut the shrink wrap plastic a little bigger than the window opening (add an inch or two all around).

Remove backing from soft Velcro (which is already up on the window frame).  Sticky side will be facing out.

Place the plastic shrink wrap onto the sticky side of the soft Velcro frame, smoothing and stretching into place as needed.

Using the hair dryer, ‘shrink wrap’ the plastic into place for a nice tight fit. 

Trim away the excess plastic.

No more cold draft and the window doesn’t look much different!

Easy and now more energy efficient! This has worked best for our old windows.  The double sided tape doesn’t seem to hold the plastic long for us. The industrial strength Velcro holds much better and when spring time comes, we can remove and save the plastic and re-use the next year. I have a feeling the industrial strength Velcro will also be easier to remove completely when windows are replaced and shrink wrapping is no longer needed.  Did you ever try to remove that stuff?!

I love working with him.  He’s full of stories.  This is as retold by me and some of the facts/etc. may not be accurate:

Mr:  “Did you know Velcro was invented for use by NASA?”
Me:  “No.”
Mr:  “The U.S. couldn’t figure out how to get a pen to write in space because of the gravity.”  (Insert about 20 minutes of talk about gravity, etc. and the ink not working because of gravity and how much money was spent to solve this problem.)
Me:  Eyes glazing over, thinking about paint colors and a new coat, my DIY nails.  Dog dancing at my feet.
Mr continues:  “So when we finally talk to Russia about the race to the moon, etc. we ask, how did you solve the issue with getting a pen to work?  Russia replies (in Mr. DIY’s best Russian accent):  We used a pencil.”

hahahahhahahahaha. Duh!

Me:  “What that does that have to do with Velcro?”
Mr:  “Nothing. It was just a more interesting story. And actually the man who invented Velcro got the idea after going for a walk and having burrs (Mr. DIY calls them hitchhikers) stuck to the fabric of  his pant legs.”

Always plenty of talk to keep me interested.  How could you not enjoy working with him?  🙂

Let’s see what you’ve been up to this weekend!