My dad pointed out one day that there are two sidelights by my front door with single pane glass and thin wood below.
This had to change.
On further analysis, I also discovered that the three basement windows had single pane glass as well.
There are many solutions to this problem from the lowbrow “stuff bubble wrap in there, to buying elegant, manufactured storm windows.
I took the middle road. Make my own
I decided to use plexi glas (actually acrylic) and to make in essence a box as to create two panes of glass in front of my existing windows, plus an entire additional airspace boosting up the insulation value.
I like low (or no) maintenance so settled on Plastic frames. I found some well-sized parts at Lowes and biught them.
Next, I had to determine what type of glass to use. Initially, I had planned on making a box out of the plastic frame and screwing the glazing on the outside (with some type of rubber for a seal.) I did some surfing and determined that Acrylic was much cheaper than plexi.
When I visited the glass shop, the guy indicated that I would have problems drilling/screwing into acrylic, and that the softer plexiglas be used.
Trying to drive my costs down, I re-engineered the frames to put channels into the inside perimeter of the frame and to slide the plexi into those channels and calk the chanels for a good seal.
I built the basement windows first.