A few of the windows in our house turn frosty on extremely cold days. The ice is on the storm window some on the interior window, too.
Look familiar? That’s quite typical for my house, now. I remember some icy windows in my parents’ house, too. To combat the ice, every winter my parents would blow dry the plastic over the large metal frame picture window in our 1957 ranch house. While we would lose our windowsills for the winter and the cats would sometimes scratch holes in the plastic, my parents assumed it beat the alternative of having icy window panes. It made sense to me. About 10 years ago, they replaced some of the windows, including that old picture window (with larger double hung windows). After that, I didn’t see frosted windows or plastic over windows until this winter in our bungalow.
The 1-over-1 wood frame windows in this house are all original, glass included. They are in good condition (some TLC needed such as the sash cords) and I love them. Unfortunately, 16 of the 19 original 2-over-2 wood storms have been replaced with metal triple track storm windows. Perhaps they were cheaper or considered more efficient at the time, but those metal storms are a pain. The windows get stuck in the tracks and some of them hurt my fingers when I try to slide the windows up or down.
However, these metal storms are better than nothing. I say this based on accidental winter experiments and casual observations about my house so far.
(1) The windows that have metal storms with the glass down (screen up) are icy on the exterior rather than the interior (mostly) (see picture above).
(2) The windows that have the metals storms with the screen down (meaning I haven’t slid the glass down yet) are icy on the interior wood frame window (seen in the picture below).
(3) The windows with the metal storms that aren’t set in the tracks properly allow for a bit of ice on the interior window.
(4) With the metal storms set properly, these windows do not feel drafty.
(5) As for the wood storms? Two of those windows do not open, and if they did, would open to the enclosed front porch, so they are completely ice free. As for the functional wood storm? It is the one window in the house that does not allow any moisture or ice on the interior wood window and barely collects ice on the exterior storm.
Not as bad in this window. Notice that the screen is down. Ice has not formed on the inside yet, but at night it will.
What’s the point of sharing all this? We are attempting to study the energy/moisture/air flow in our house this winter in order to assess heating bills and weatherization measures that we may need to take for later in the winter or next year. Vinny and I are in favor of the original windows, always, but we understand that some might need to be covered that hair-dryer-blown plastic sheet. That’s okay – it certainly is cheap enough. For now, we’re making observations like those listed above and we’ll see how it changes throughout the winter — and how it changes once our furnace is replaced (no central heat in Vermont in January – ah, another story for another day!) What are your best weatherization tips?
On a different note, I like the look of the wintry, frosted, icy windows – it certainly is winter in Vermont!
Preservation in Pink 
I hope you’re able to stick with the wood windows in the end! Are your metal storms the bolt-on exterior type? Where do you go to get those repaired or replaced in this day and age?
Hi Jim,
Of course we’ll keep the wood windows; replacement windows are a preservation pet peeve of mine. That is one reason why I love this house. Our metal storms bolt on the exterior. They are not horrible looking, but still aren’t wood. I have no idea where to get those repaired. Perhaps it is a DIY project. Maybe someday we’ll get them replaced with wood storms. That would be great.