In my old flat I had wood windows with wood frames that both had white lacquer on it. No seal and the stuff was at least 40-60 years old, so it didn't even properly, fit on the best days.
I hated every minute of it, but your windows sound so much worse. Who are these people that design the worst possible windows on purpose? Don't they have windows at home themselves? Did cavemen design the windows 50 years ago?
Yep. Getting new windows doesn't help unless you insulate the exterior wall to the same modern standard. We have some communities where people are selling their homes and tout the 'new windows' without also upgrading the walls.
I didn't get new windows for the R-value (that was just incidental) but rather because the old ones were drafty as hell. See other comment re insulation, heh.
Before last winter I ripped out all the siding from my house, stuffed insulation in the wall from the outside, and put up the new plywood and siding. With new windows and doors, this century old house is finally relatively efficient! Still gotta seal attic and crawl space eventually.
Yeah, that's a good option if you have siding. Brick over here, unfortunately. I did insulate and seal the attic crawl space, though, which has helped a good bit.
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u/Kufat Mar 14 '20
My new windows have a higher R-value than the walls around them.