As heating oil prices rise, and the future of the US economy remains uncertain, many local service organizations are reporting increased demand for financial assistance.
One local organization is offering classes on a simple, do-it-yourself storm window they say dramatically reduces heating oil costs.
Midcoast Green Collaborative – a local organization that promotes alternative energy enterprises in Midcoast Maine – has taught dozens of people how to build Insert Storm Windows over the last four years. The simple design consists of two layers of clear plastic shrink-wrap stretched across a wooden frame, ringed with foam.
Insert Storm Windows are driven by the same principal as the draft dodgers placed under doors. The basic function is to stop air leaks, but it also adds a few insulating layers of air between windows and the indoors.
The windows in most homes are double hung – meaning they have top and bottom panes that slide past one another when the window is opened. Insert Storm Windows sit in the window frame just inside the glass.
“No matter how much you spend on a new double hung window, it’s not going to be air tight,” said Bob Hardina, who teaches the classes on how to build insert storm windows. “By stopping the draft, it makes a big difference in how warm it feels inside.”
Topher Belknap, president of the Midcoast Green Collaborative, invented the Insert Storm Window. The design has now spread internationally, and every year Hardina teaches organizations from around Maine how to bring them back to their local members.
Every Saturday, Hardina teaches about a dozen local residents how to build Insert Storm Windows. The classes cost $1.50 per square foot of window, and all materials are provided. An average window costs about $12 to $15.
The oldest, draftiest homes could save up to 40 percent on heating costs by adding Insert Storm Windows, Hardina said.
Hardina said attendees typically show up one week and build a window, then come back the next week to build three or four more. “I’ve never had an unhappy customer,” he said.
The classes will continue through the end of January, except on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Depending on weather and demand, they may continue into February, Hardina said.
Classes run from 9 a.m. to noon at Midcoast Energy Systems on Rt. 1 in Damariscotta, which Hardina formerly owned. Anyone interested in attending a class may show up between 8:30 and 9 p.m. Attendees must bring measurements of the inside of the frames of windows for which they plan to build Insert storm Windows.
“The worst thing that’s going to happen is we’re going to take it apart, and make a new one,” Hardina said.
For more information, call Bob Hardina at 563-5236, email rhardina@tidewater.net, or go online to www.midcoastgreencollaborative.org.