Flying High with Seal ‘N’ Peel
I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you that the Old Man has old windows. The old windows have old storm windows on them, and, even with the old storms in, some of the old windows let way too much of the good old outdoors in.
While our furnace and radiators are more than capable of keeping the house warm, after getting our first “wintertime” gas bill, I decided that it’s time to deal with some of our energy efficiency issues.
The sun room on the front of the house seems to be the worst culprit, with 7 huge windows, one of which might as well be wide open for all the air it leaks into the house. The sun room was originally an external porch and closed in at a later date, so the windows aren’t original to the house, and I figured that this was a safe enough place to begin weatherproofing.
I did a little research on various ways of temporarily sealing air leaks and found that there are basically two solutions available. First, you can cover your window with a plastic film (either inside or out) taped to the frame and shrunk to fit with a hair dryer. Second, you can apply some sort of temporary caulk where the window meets the frame (and anywhere else that air is coming in or out). One type of caulk comes in premade strips and is pressed into place, and the second kind comes in a standard caulk tube and is designed to be removable.
Since I’ve now got mad caulking skillz,I decided to try using DAP Seal ‘N’ Peel. I cleaned the window frames in the sun room and started caulking the worst of the windows, figuring that I’d just keep caulking until I emptied the tube. I managed to finish 5 windows and I can already feel the difference in heat loss.
But there’s one small problem: The warning label on the caulk said that it contains “Lactol Spirits, Mineral Oil, and Toluene” and that I should make sure that I’m working in a well-ventilated environment.
Well, that’s all well and good except for the fact that 1. I JUST CAULKED MY WINDOWS SHUT, and 2. it’s 30 DEGREES OUTSIDE. The house currently reeks to high heaven, and my only recourse is pretty much to put on a coat and leave the front door open for a while. So the downside is that my brain is probably being eaten away by this stuff, but hey, at least I’m high as a kite!
January 6th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
We just learned of the DAP Seal ‘N Peel but can’t find it locally (Home Depot/Lowe’s/Ace) and DAP customer service has no record of anyone in the Atlanta area having ordered any in the past year.Do you have any suggestion as to where we can find it, and do you still feel it is a good product?
June 5th, 2006 at 10:48 am
I am trying to find it in Miami and it seems no one in Florida carries it. Does this thing actually exist?
June 5th, 2006 at 11:17 am
Tom, considering the climate in Miami, I’m pretty sure you’ll have to order it online.
June 9th, 2006 at 2:38 pm
I did order it on line. What do you mean “considering the climate?” Do you think it may not work here? Even for a few days at a time when a hurricane threatens?
June 11th, 2006 at 8:05 pm
I have used Dap Seal N Peel for a couple of years now – it works great, especially with the cold Michigan winters we have had. Try amazon.com – I think you can order it through them. None of the hardware stores around here carry it anymore. (?)
October 30th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
I have been trying to find DAP Seal n Peel this year, but it no longer seems to be available. I am not sure why. I have an email into customer service on the DAP site to see why I can no longer get it.
For my old house and old storm windows, it was a great solution. I will be really disapointed if they have stopped making it. I would like to find some kind of replacement product- anyone have any ideas?
lg