While we would like to replace them -  the ecoENERGY retrofitting rebate from the government is not very much ($80 per rough opening). And our home auditor told us that new windows don’t really bring much energy savings in terms of lower heating bills.

Since this winter is so ridiculously mild (NO SNOW and it’s almost February!) we just went around and sealed the old windows on the main floor and basement, like we have other winters. (Shown here is one of our basement windows with its 50-year-old single-pane glass.)

We bought a window-sealer kit at our local hardware store: plastic wrap (thin, like Saran-Wrap) and double-sided tape. You put tape on the window frame, attach plastic to the tape, and then use your hair dryer to shrink the plastic so there aren’t ripples in it.

All the main floor windows aren’t done yet (only the huge front bay window in the livingr00m) but we don’t have the same sense of urgency we have in past winters… Because our newly insulated main floor walls are making the rooms toastier. No more wind whistling through the plaster to make our guests shiver, with us running to jack up the thermostat! And our new EnergyStar steel front door had made the front hall warmer, too!

Maybe next year – but in time to meet our specific deadline of Feb. 2011 – we will purchase new EnergyStar qualified windows and have them installed on the main floor. But as mentioned, at only $80 each in combined fed and provincial rebates, that grand total of $640 won’t make much of a dent in the thousands they will cost.