Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

I don't think gaffer's tape is recommended for glazing use, but I think it'll hold for a little while, keep the draft through that window down to sane levels, and prevent the top pane from coming completely loose and plummetting to the sidewalk.

This isn't the first window here to suffer this failure mode. The wood of the frames is old and deteriorating, and the joints at the lower corners of the upper sashes of some of the windows on the front of the house are coming loose. I've got a couple held together by sticks the right length wedged between the bottom edge of the upper sash and the sill below.

I'm not the handyman that the previous owner is, so when I fix these for real it'll probably have to be either screwing metal brackets (uh, I mean 'flat corner irons', I think) onto the fronts of the sash-frames or saving up to get the windows replaced. Replacing the windows with modern, better-insulating, possibly heat-reflecting windows that look enough like the old ones to meet the local historical preservation regulations (which only apply to the fronts of houses here) would be the best long-term answer, given how much it could save on heating and cooling, but like so many potential long-term savings, coming up with the initial capital is the obstacle.

I think of it as being like the activation energy of an exothermic reaction. If you can light the thermite you'll get a lot of heat out of it, but if you don't already have an ignition source hot enough to start the thermite going, all you have is a pile of mixed metal-dust.

If I understand the current economics of photovoltaic solar correctly, I could save money over the long haul by putting enough solar panels on my roof, too. But that'd cost even more up front than getting the windows replaced.

(Eighteen windows total, eight subject to historical preservation rules. All of them currently drafty, some through gaps between the sashes or between a sash and its track, some through gaps around the panes, some through gaps around the frames where the opening in the wall has deformed slightly over the last hundred and forty one years.)

Aaaand there goes a really ominous tearing/creaking noise that I do hope wasn't some part of my house (like more of my roof) getting town off. Hey, the Internet connection is still up (if a bit laggy); that's a good sign. It means the antenna hasn't blown away. I'm hearing objects of various sizes and compositions rattling and clattering up the street, as well. Some of the wooden-sounding ones are fairly bouncy. I should go take another look and match sounds to objects.