While this hasn’t been the coldest winter we’ve ever experienced in the South Shore, it’s been more than cold enough for Irene. “I’m a Georgia girl,” she said with a laugh. “We don’t do this cold breezes in the house thing. We don’t do drafty.” Irene moved to the South Shore last September.”It’s a beautiful part of the country, so I don’t mind that we’re staying. But this house is going to have to get a whole lot warmer, pronto.”
Leaky windows are often the primary cause of cold, drafty rooms. When a window is not perfectly fitted into place, or when it has even minuscule gaps or breaks in the seal, cold air and moisture can penetrate the home. When this happens, the room becomes colder. The ambient temperature can drop, or, as often happens, your home heating system works more and harder than it needs to to keep your living space comfortable. This means you use more fuel, which drives your home heating bill up. “I don’t know if y’all have noticed, but the South Shore is a pretty expensive place to live,” Irene said. “Can replacement windows really help me save money?”
Energy efficiency experts have done a lot of research on this issue. Heat can get out of your house in a number of ways. If your roof is inadequate or you don’t have enough insulation, your house can wind up pretty cold. Another concern is definitely the windows and doors you have. Older, inefficient, leaky windows can be responsible for up to 40% of a home’s energy loss. That’s almost half! If half of the warm air you’re losing is going out through leaky windows, having replacement windows installed will definitely save you money.
The moisture penetration leaky windows allow can also lead to expensive problems. Moisture means water, and window sills are often made of wood, which deteriorates when it’s wet. Once that wood rots, you have no choice but to replace it, which can be very expensive. Think of having replacement windows installed in your South Shore home as a form of preventative maintenance – it saves you money now and in the years to come.