Draft Dodgers

I learned this from dear old dad. One of my chores as a kid was to help him seal up the windows for winter. This is a great tip for those of you who live in northern climate, and it really REALLY makes a difference in drafty older houses. It is also great to do with the kids.

Go to your local fabric store and buy some of the cording they use in upholstery. It is white, very flexible and looks woven. It may come in various thicknesses, and you may need to experiment to find the right size for your windows.

Now, take a thin flathead screwdriver and start pushing the cord into the gaps around your windows (see left). It is time consuming and a little tedious, make sure you have some fun, loud music on while you do this. It helps time go by faster.


Some of the gaps around our windows are too tight for cording, but still let cold air into the house. In this case, we purchased something called Fingertip Rope Caulk (my dad calls it 'rope putty'). It has the consistency of thick play dough. I get mine at Lowes, one pack lasts me a couple years or so and costs around $4.50.

This is where the kids come in. You want to press this stuff into the cracks that are really thin, and their little fingers can be great for this. They (or you) really need to press, though, to make a good seal (so be sure to check their work).

I also use cotton balls where necessary to fill in the deep tracks where the windows ride up and down.

In the end, though, you have nice, sealed windows for winter. We have seen a noticable difference in our drafty older house.

One tip, though: when the weather starts to warm up don't wait too long to take out the putty. In the heat, it can get really messy. You want to take it out while it is still relatively cool.

We actually leave some of our windows sealed through the summer. There are some windows we just never open, and this method keeps the heat out, too, thereby keeping our cooling bills lower, too!