How can I seal off my patio / balcony door for the winter season to save on my heat bill? I rent an apartment?
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at
11:48 pm
It’s a standard, sliding glass patio door on the second floor balcony. Approximately 8 or 9 feet wide total.
I can feel cold air coming through like crazy , and it’s not even officially winter yet!
I have vertical blinds which i must keep up and usable and I can’t do any permanent changes because this is an apartment.
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You have two choices; either insulated drapes or one of the plastic "storm" window kits made for a sliding glass door. The insulated drapes will be the most expensive, however, you can also use them in the summer time to keep it cooler in the house. Lowe’s or Home Depot should have the storm window kit for the door and it shouldn’t be all that expensive.
Check around the door itself, look for gaps in the caulking and if there are any either get the landlord to fix it or fix it yourself with a tube of caulk. Check both inside and outside.
get insulated curtains, you will need to hang a curtain rod though.
depending on your doorway there are some tension rods, but insulated curtains can be heavy, but it is worth a try before making holes.
You have to put plastic over the door. You can put it on the inside or you can put it outside. Frost King make a product that will work or you can buy a roll of visqueen(unsure of the spelling). The frost king comes with two sided sticky tape the roll of plastic does not . You will have to put it up with a staple gun and perferably on the outside to avoid the staple holes.
3M makes plastic that you can put over your windows and doors. It comes with double sided tape. After sticking it up you use a hair dryer to get the wrinkles out. If you use it get an extra roll of the tape and put down double rows as it will keep the wrap in place much better than a single row. Ace hardware sells it or the big box stores.