How to prepare windows for the colder months in an older home

You won’t create a modern window from a multi-paned old variety with stick-down insulation, but you can reduce the leaks

Don’t change the character of your period home with the inclusion of modern frame materials and ratios. Do everything you can to live with, and eventually renovate these crucial historic elements. Picture: iStock

With the evenings already whittling down to darkness, it’s time to put your house in good order and to improve its energy efficiency as far as possible. 

This starts with the external envelope — and in particular with those windows which can release up to 20% of your heat store to the great outdoors through rattling glazing, convection and gaps, and cold-bridging around the frame.