Yes, if they face in the right direction and are properly exposed to the winter sun and shaded from the summer sun. See the section on solar energy in the overview "Insulation & House As A System" that can be found in the Nuts & Bolts section of the web site.
The space between the finished and rough frame of the window (hidden behind the window trim) is a major source of heat loss and hidden moisture damage inside walls. The trim should be sealed or removed and the gap filled and sealed if this was not done at the time of construction. Just stuffing...
Phillip in Halifax, Nova Scotia has painted all his wooden double hung windows shut tight. So how do you open them without damaging them?Start by cutting the paint at the joint between the window and the frame with a knife.Then put a block of wood on the window sash, the frame that holds the gla...
There are over 2000 window manufacturers in Canada, and with all that competition, each one wants to make homeowners, renovators, and builders believe that their windows are easier to install than the other brand. This has led to a lot of very poorly built windows that are often difficult to ins...
When you're thinking about changing the windows in a house, you need to make one fundamental choice: whether to slide the new window into the old window frame (the first photo), or whether to remove the old window right down to the structure of the house (the second photo) and replace the whole t...
A respectable rewinterizing job need not include the addition of insulation into the walls. They are the most difficult (and expensive) parts of the house to re-insulate, and usually have the poorest financial payback of all re-winterizing tasks because:-- Walls are finished on both sides, and i...
You have the choice of working harder before you paint to mask off the glass, or working harder after you paint to clean off the glass.Most of us will use masking tape. Be aware that there are different grades of glue on masking tapes.The Painter's tape has a lower tack, it sticks less, which co...
Often door and window hardware has special brass or antique finishes on it. When you spill some latex paint on it and don't get it wiped up right away, or it has been painted over time and again, stripping off the paint can be touchy because if you are trying to restore it to its original condit...
In Canada, other than on the lower mainland of British Columbia and on Sable Island, it is impossible to maintain a comfortable level of humidity in the house and not have frost on single-pane windows most of the winter.Using two panes of glass allows the inner pane to be warmer than the outer on...
The EcoEnergy program of homeowner grants to help retrofit homes has been brought back to life by the federal government in late September of 2011 -- part of the EcoAction initiative. I love this program and the hard workers at NRCan have done a great job of organizing it, explaining it and ma...
