Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Window

Should I and how should I properly caulk exterior windows?

Swede78 — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:31:56 -0800

I'm a fairly new home owner in the midwest. So, we can see some pretty harsh winters. I'm trying to prepare my house for the coming winter, and I noticed that there is no caulking on the outer edges of my windows where they meet with the siding. This may be a dumb question, but should the windows be caulked? More inside. It's an old home with aluminum siding. The windows are relatively new (my best guess is that they were installed within the last 10 years).

Browsing the web, the majority of sites suggest caulking around the windows. However, I did come across an article that suggested that caulking isn't always necessary depending on the windows and siding. Plus the fact that there is absolutely no caulking there now makes me wonder why the window installer chose not to do so. Laziness, inexperience, or maybe it really doesn't need it. Maybe it could pose a problem for moisture to get out (as the article suggested). So, I just don't know if I should do this, and that's why I'm posting this question.

To properly maintain my home, should I caulk between the exterior window edge and the siding? If so, will any exterior caulking do? Would a picture help or is my description adequate?

Help me clean a window.

Frasermoo — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:31:27 -0800

What is the best way to clean my window with a hose? We have a large window at the front of our house. It's too high up for me to get to it with a ladder, and I have tried extension poles and it leaves terrible streaks and really didn't get the job done. I want to use my hose to spray down the windows, maybe with an attached bottle for spraying soap as well.

Anyone done this?

It's so very, very cold...

bolognius maximus — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:26:20 -0800

I have an uninsulated sunroom that gets pretty chilly in the winter, and want to make it so that it is at least room temp. and can be used for plants (without breaking the bank). Any ideas? My house has a sunroom that was built on to it, and I would like to use this room like a greenhouse for my houseplants. It isn't really insulated, and it has 3 very large windows and a sliding glass door. The floor is ceramic tile. I would like to not send my electric bill sky-high. I usually have to keep the door between the living room and sun room closed from late October until about March or April, because I am in Indiana where it is so cold (and it sucks) and cranks up my heating bill.

My idea was to use Gila Heat Control Light window film, to keep heat in. Then I wanted to use free-standing plant lights of some sort (so I don't have to drill holes, if I don't have to).

Does anyone have any ideas about how to best accomplish this? Has anyone tried any of the Gila films on their windows? Can anyone recommend a plant light? Thanks in advance.

How to cover 8ft windows?

cali59 — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:19:28 -0800

What is the best way to cover 8ft high windows? Just moved into a new apartment, we've got two windows, one of which is normal style, the other is just panes of glass in a recessed area. The problem is they're both over 8ft high. What is the best way to cover them? Googling returns results for 95" or 108" curtains which would be sufficient, but would people suggest an alternative? What about spring-rods, will they hold up? I'd like to avoid putting holes in the walls if possible.

Did somebody shoot my car?

escabeche — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:52:59 -0800

Did somebody shoot my car? This morning in Tucson, AZ we came out of the house we were visiting to find the driver's window of our rental car shattered -- that is, the glass was cracked into tiny pieces but almost entirely still in the windowframe, apart from a small hole, about hand-sized, near the mirror. That part of the glass was scattered on the driver's seat. There was also a small hole in the driver's side door, a little above the handle; the door was still locked. There was nothing of value in the car, and the interior was, as far as we could tell, untouched. No marks on the trunk.

So what happened here? Attempted break-in? But then why not sweep all the glass out of the window? And why not try to force the trunk, when the car itself was visibly empty of valuables? The folks at the rental car agency said the hole in the door looked like a bullet hole. But do people randomly shoot at parked cars in the middle of the night? Would a bullet fired at a car penetrate the outside metal of the door but not enter the cabin? (There was no hole on the inside of the door, and no bullet inside.) And would shooting the door of a car shatter the driver's side window?

Display Affinity Software for MacOSX?

tomierna — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:50:04 -0800

Is there a piece of Mac OS X software which will let me divide a very wide screen up into several virtual displays so window/app affinity hacks like spaces will work? I recently purchased two 24" HD displays, and I'm running them both from my Mac Book Pro via a Matrox Triple Head 2 Go, Digital version (Dual-link DVI)

I love having all of this real-estate - it's truly wonderful for programming.

The problem is that the Triple Head 2 Go makes both monitors present as one huge, wide display to the OS.

This means whenever any centered alerts pop up, they are right in the middle of this giant screen, and split by the bezels.

OK, so it's not the worst thing in the world, I just need to move the window to make it legible.

But, I was wondering if there's any third-party or shareware software out there that will allow me to tune the screen location affinity of apps or windows or alerts.

The real solution to this, I know, is to have a desktop machine with multiple display cards, but that's not happening at the moment.

How do I put screens on loft windows?

ljshapiro — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:12:28 -0800

I just moved into an amazing raw industrial loft in Downtown Los Angeles. It has rotating warehouse style windows with no screens, and I'm being eaten alive by bugs. Any ideas about how to put screens on these windows or any not-too-costly alternate solutions? (Here's a picture.) I did a Google search, but can't find the formal name for this type of window, so I'm coming up empty.

Pet-proof privacy, does it exist?

anderjen — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 09:15:29 -0800

Decor-challenged homeowner seeks pet-proof window coverings. Please share your experiences and recommendations. We've got six living room windows that are currently covered in cheapo aluminum blinds. Whenever we leave the house, our dog and cat like to watch us go, which is incredibly cute and all, but they shove their faces through the closed blinds to do so, and consquently the bottom six inches of the blinds are completely bent and mashed to hell.

We're finally getting around to upgrading them, and need something that provides privacy but won't be trashed by their strong heads and muzzles, the dog's in particular.

I'm 100% clueless about window treatments (hence the crappy blinds). What's our best bet? Links to pictures or specific products would be awesome.

Preferences and/or irritating limitations:
- Ideally, I'd like to be able to lower them all the way, as it feels safer when we're not home (we live on a corner with a lot of foot traffic), but if I have to leave them up a few inches to prevent damage, I'm willing to do so.
- Would prefer to avoid curtains unless they're super minimalist and can be laundered easily. (Our house is tiny, and they seem too heavy and overwhelming otherwise).
- String-free or cord-free would be a huge bonus.

Three of them all situated in the same frame, directly face the street, and look like this. The other three are on the sides of the house, are single windows, and a bit longer, like the two you see here.

Any ideas?

Thanks, hive!

XP Pro x64 SP2 non-responsive on the domain

the_binary_blues — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 12:51:35 -0800

Windows XP Pro x64 SP2 on hp dv4-1430us loads and run's slow on the domain but not when I log on locally. I have an HP Pavilion dv4-1430us running windows XP pro x64 SP2 and my problem is that it takes 7 minutes to login onto the computer when I log onto the domain. Then it is extremely no responsive when it is on the domain and it takes 5 min for word and excel to load. The computer is so slow on the domain I can walk away and come back and it will still be loading.

When I log onto the computer locally it takes 30 seconds to load windows (after I login) and programs open without any latency at all.

I have tried fixing asyncronous loading of networking during the boot up process as described in this article to no avail.

any advice on how to fix this latency issue?

I asked the network admins and they were perplexed and told me something to the affect of we are busy and we will get to it later unless you can find a good solution online that we can try.

the domain controllers and dns servers are w2k3sbs

please help

My games need viagra - they won't stay up!

fearnothing — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:03:57 -0800

(Vistafilter) Cannot full screen with dual monitors Please MeFi, help me before I do something violent, or have a breakdown. This is frustrating me to an obscene degree.

I use a computer with dual monitors. It's home built, and is currently running Vista Ultimate 64-bit. The issue is that when I try to run a full screen game, the screen goes dark, the secondary display flashes a few times, then it minimises the application. If I try maximising it from the taskbar, it MIGHT manage to get it to come up, usually taking a half dozen or more tries.

My google-fu has utterly failed me on this one. Currently my only solution (sort of) has been to maximise the game, set the resolution to the native res of my main screen, then close the game, edit the properties of the shortcut so that the "Run" option is "Maximised" instead of "Normal". Only then will it go fullscreen first try. I have to do this for every new game, and there are certain games which do not seem to work with a shortcut and must be run directly from the disk - these games I just have to patiently repeatedly click on the taskbar button. Games that do not have the option to run at native res are fubar, it's pot luck whether I can get them to maximise.

Changing the screens has not made a difference. If it's important, my graphics card is a GeForce 8800GT, latest drivers.

Help me figure out a window covering/curtain/other for a small group of glass blocks!

bienbiensuper — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:27:29 -0800

We're moving into a new place in a few weeks, and we've got a nice glass block "window" in the bedroom. We love it, but the boyfriend needs darky darkness in order to sleep at night and there's a street light right outside the window. Help me figure out a window covering/curtain/shade/other! I don't have a full picture of the glass blocks, but here's a partial one of the bedroom: It's six blocks high by 2 blocks wide. We've since painted the room slate blue and I'm in the process of making some blackout curtains for the main window to replace the gnarly metal blinds (these curtains will be inside mounted on a track).

I'd like to do something that would allow us to see the glass blocks during the day. The wall around the blocks slopes down, but not enough to fit a tension rod. I'm very handy and can make most things, so if you have any ideas, throw 'em my way!

Oh - and our decor is somewhere between vintage modern and granny chic.

Measure twice, buy once? Now you tell me.

Sweetie Darling — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:59:40 -0800

How much vertical clearance is needed to frame a window opening? I'm pretty sure I did something dumb. I bought an awning window for my bathroom, armed with only a rough estimate of the size of the space. I want the window to go above the tile shower surround, on an exterior wall.

The window is 18 inches high, and the space between the tile and the ceiling is 22 1/2 inches. Is there enough clearance to properly frame out the window? (I've got plenty of horizontal space.)

Possible additional complication? The exterior wall is on the side of the house, which has a Dutch hip roof with a gable on the front.

If I need to buy a new window, what size should I be aiming for? What other information would be helpful to know, for both me and the carpenter (besides "don't be impulsive at Lowe's," which I think I've figured out)?

[If I've messed up and can't use the window here, I'll save it for when we renovate another bathroom, in which we'll be retiling the shower and doing more demo.]

Thanks for the help!

ZMove this!

andrewcilento — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 19:51:59 -0800

Is there a program like ZMover for OS X? For most of my computing life, I've been a Windows user, and for a few years now, I've been using the aforementioned ZMover to keep application windows at the size and/or position I want them. My PC is currently out of commission, though, so I'm using our family's iMac until my PC is up and running again, and I am planning on finally making the switch to OS X myself over the summer. What I'm looking for, though, is a program that'll mimic ZMover's functionality in OS X.

(For those who don't know, ZMover lets you grab a window's details and then set it up so that, when ZMover is active, that window will automatically be resized/repositioned based on the criteria you give it. I use it most often to center windows on my monitor, and also to keep my browser windows at the size I like them.)

When I Googled this, I found a few programs that seem to do what I want, but only for Finder windows. I'm looking for something that will work with as many or as few applications as I want it to. If this can be done with AppleScript, that's fine too.

window fan + lightning storm - will sparks fly?

MesoFilter — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:48:31 -0800

Is it okay to use a window fan during a thunderstorm? I leave my window fans running all the time, even during thunderstorms. Frequently I'm not home and not even really aware that a storm will be coming, or it happens while I'm sleeping.

I'm on the 6h floor of a 6 story apartment building. Do I have anything to worry about with window fans & thunder storms?

How do I fix this unsightly tint job?

nel — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:15:19 -0800

I recently got the windows tinted on my '01 Honda Civic LX. I opted to have the upper brake light cut out for safety reasons, but it looks bad due to my light-colored interior. Please help me figure out something to put over the interior around the light, or just let me know what you think, etc. Here is a picture of the rear window with the cutout, and here is a close-up picture. As you can see, I obviously did not consider how the light interior would look next to the dark tint.

I thought about removing the rear deck and putting some black film or something on the deck itself around the light so that part of the deck would be black, but I don't know what material to use for this, or if this would even look much better. I also just thought about taking the car back to see if they could tint the spot they cut out, but then the light will be much less visible during the day. What do you guys think? Do you know of a way to make it look better while keeping the visibility of the brake light?

Can you identify these window parts and suggest a source for them?

odinsdream — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:12:14 -0800

Can you identify these window parts and suggest where I could purchase equivalents? May be specific to the UK. This window is from England and dates to approximately 1930. I'm not sure the arm hardware is that old. The anti-burglary catch thing definitely isn't.

Pictured below is the good hardware. The other side of the window is missing the arm and the latch. I'd like to find equivalent hardware that I could use, but I'm not sure what I'm looking for.

Additionally, I'd like to purchase whatever key originally came with the anti-burglary catch. It appears to simply be a recessed circular pin with one smooth side. You give it a twist to release, a spring returns it to the original position.

Arm: Closed, from the top - Another one, also closed - Open.
Latch: Closed - Open.
Anti-burglary catch: Front - Side.

shutter up already

Night_owl — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:29:53 -0800

How do I cheaply hurricane-proof 15 large windows without paying through the nose? We bought a house this spring. Yay! We're in New Orleans, and hurricane season just started. Ick. Okay, so.... what now? We know we need some storm shutters or something to hurricane-proof our windows, but we're at a loss. Wood framing, asbestos siding so we can't drill into that although the windows have a wood frame on the exterior. I know there are a few options: Plylox, sheets of plywood (how would you attach those anyway?), hurricane shutters, fabric screens.... there are a ton of options. Anyone here have any experience or advice on what to have on hand in case we need to protect our windows?
Requirements:
should work on large (30x60, approx.) windows
preferably less than say $40 per window
relatively easy to store, bonus points if it can be rolled up or folded
sturdy
bonus points if it's reusable (if it hasn't been damaged, of course)

Other hurricane advice is welcome, too, but I mostly want to know about these mythical hurricane shuttery things.

Attics, Televisions and Missouri Summers

luftmensch — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:46:39 -0800

New place has a lovely attic, finished but no AC up there. We're planning on having the windows open with fans in them to keep the air moving and bearable. Would it be a bad idea to have a TV (plasma) up there in the humid southeastern Missouri summer? I know most plasmas have operating humidity of up to 80 or 90%, and it can easily reach that on the worst of summer days here. Would the inside humidity be equal to that of outside with the windows open? Could some dehumidifying solution near the TV (in the middle of the room, far from the windows) prevent an untimely death of a big shiny toy?

I checked out some suggestions from this question, but I somehow doubt a few packs of silica gel would be enough to convince my partner his TV is safe.

Buggy window

pulled_levers — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 05:28:08 -0800

What's the best way to seal a window that doesn't shut? I am renting a small room. In this room there is a window right next to my bed. It does not close all the way.

So, I'm not a very hands-on, DIY fix stuff kind of person so I just turned on my space heater if a cold draft came in. Now that it's spring and summer is approaching, I am worried about the bugs that will come in through the window gap. There has already been a beetle incidence.

I need to get this window closed. I am renting, so I don't want to pay to get a new one. The landlord said he'd replace the window...hasn't done it yet. I don't think he'll get it done anytime soon.

Is there a cheap, efficient way to get this done?

Help me cover or clean a grimy windowsill

CunningLinguist — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 10:54:18 -0800

Urban dwellers: how do you deal with windowsill grime? I'm not much of a housekeeper, but the window thing is getting to me. I live on a lower floor in NYC and the grime that builds up on my kitchen windowsill is really vile. The sill itself is very old, pockmarked painted wood and very hard to clean, but I rent so can't really change it. I wondered if anyone has any tips about covering the sill - maybe with contact paper or some kind of foil? (How would I deal with the pockmarks?) Or maybe top it with a wooden board? (But then how to secure the board?)

I'm surprised Google hasn't been much help here. I would have thought this was a common problem. It wasn't so bad when I lived higher in the sky, but this close to the street means there's a new film of grime every day and wiping with windex seems to just smear the dirt around.

Open second story windows = nasty cat reek. Advice?

GardenGal — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:57:21 -0800

Open second story windows = nasty cat reek. Advice? Ah, the warm days of early Spring. Open up the windows to get a whiff of that sweet .... cat pee stink.

Every time we open the upstairs windows, the upstairs fills with the stench of cat urine. It's very, very strong. (The downstairs windows seem unaffected.) We thought it was caused by our own two cats spraying, but we've kept them out of those rooms and it has STILL stunk of cat pee while the windows are open. Close the windows and the smell is gone in an hour or so. Open them, and in it comes.

I thought maybe the previous owner's cat had peed on the window screens (it had sprayed lots of other places) but really, it shouldn't stink this much five years later, after all those Maryland rain storms. Besides, the screens themselves don't smell, to my nose. Regardless, I've tried dousing the screens with Mrs. Meyers cleaning solutions, to no avail.

I've sniffed on hands and knees all around the floors in those upstairs rooms, and nothing. Not even any suspicious stains. And that wouldn't explain the relationship with the windows in any case.

My next thought is, could it be something in the walls around the windowframe? Are there any insects or termites or something that produce a smell like cat pee?

Anybody else have this problem, or an idea of what might be causing it? I'd like to air our house out before selling it, but I don't think this reek is a strong potential selling point. What is causing this stench?

Vehicular smash-n-grab and Einstein's definition of insanity

SeanCier — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:50:17 -0800

How can I avoid having my car broken into -- again? I've had a GPS and an iPod stolen out of my car twice in the past three months. Assuming I buy replacements for one or both, how do I avoid going through this yet again in another three months? What have others found to be effective or ineffective, and are there any relevant stats or studies on any of this? My current best plan is to simply remove both from my car every time I get out (except in my garage); that'll be a PITA, but manageable. Are thieves going to see the mounts and break in anyway? If I leave them locked in the glove compartment instead, are they significantly less safe than on my person? If I simply mounted the GPS somewhere other than the windshield, as suggested by the office taking the report the second time, is that enough to make a difference? This past weekend marked the second time in three months that I've had a car broken into and electronics stolen. First time was in a hotel parking lot in the middle of the night in Orlando, and they were morons who started by trying to pry the door open with a crowbar before eventually smashing the window and taking the dashboard-mounted iPod and windshield-suction-cup-mounted GPS. It was somewhat distressing, moreso because we discovered it just before checking out of the hotel to take the 9-hour trip home.

Second time was the middle of the day, closer to home: a restaurant parking lot in a Raleigh suburb. The car next to mine was broken into as well, as were apparently another half-dozen or so cars in the area that afternoon. They once again got an iPod and a GPS (different car, same setup). Fortunately they just smashed the window and didn't do any further damage, meaning it'll be much less of an ordeal to have fixed. This time, it was more annoying that distressing -- even my kids seemed used to it*.

Both times the damage was covered under insurance, and the electronics were not (given the deductible on my homeowner's, they weren't worth claiming under that). The second GPS was actually covered under AmEx's automatic 90-day coverage, so that's not out-of-pocket.

I know: fool me twice, shame on me. It was, ah, lacking in wisdom to assume the first incident was a fluke (it was the first car break-in I'd suffered in over three decades of life, so I thought that was a fair assumption at the time) and to leave the items visible the second time. What's even dafter, though, is that I'm going to give them the opportunity to do it again. Maybe it's an ingrained hatred of bullies and a refusal to live like a victim. Perhaps it's the result of national "you can't change your lifestyle out of fear, that's just what the terrorists want!" sentiment. More likely, I just don't want to go back to dealing with a CD changer and carefully preplanned trips with printed-out maps every time I take my kids to do something fun on the weekend. Either way, I'm determined to get at least a new GPS, and probably a new iPod too (though I suppose I could make-do with the GPS's MP3 capabilities).

I have to wonder, is this really that prevalent? If my sample is anywhere close to normal (yeah, I know, big "if"), most of the millions of GPS units sold annually would be stolen after a few months of ownership. Isn't the black market saturated with used GPSs by now? I thought that living in a relatively safe suburb of a relatively safe city, with cars in my garage each night, would keep them relatively safe, but obviously not.

But my real question is the one before the break: given that I'm stupid enough to mount electronics in my car again (and please don't just tell me "don't do that", I'm aware of that option), how do I avoid going through this yet again?

*I talked with my kids enough to make sure they understood what had happened both times and were okay with it. And apparently they absorbed a decent amount, driving home after the second one, my four-year-old asked "Daddy, are the bad people in the hotel now? You
know, the hotel you can't get out of? For their consequence?" I had to
suppress a laugh on recognizing the description of prison I'd provided her after the first incident.

Non-traditional building supply sources?

odinsdream — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 08:20:49 -0800

I'm planning a home addition but would like peruse building material sources beyond what's available in consumer hardware stores. What sources do architects and contractors use for non-standard windows and other items? Is there a McMaster-Carr-equivalent for building materials? I'm in the early design stages of a home addition and am trying to figure out windows, in particular. Pictures 4 and 5 on this page show what I'm looking for.

Would a large array of windows like that be a completely custom thing? I.e., I'd need to contact a glass and metal shop and get it totally made from scratch?

In general, who are the vendors for not-exactly-standard building components like this, and where are they listed? Perhaps sources traditionally for commercial applications that I could rework into a residential environment?

Weird XP taskbar misclick behavior?

Riki tiki — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:00:13 -0800

Clicking on my Windows XP taskbar exhibits funky behavior, raising both the window I clicked on and a second unrelated window. Why? I run Windows XP at work, fully patched, on a dual-monitor desktop with my taskbar stretched to three rows. When I first start it up, everything's fine, but after a few hours of use it starts to develop an odd behavior.

When I click on a task button to switch to it, a second unrelated task button will do the click animation at the same time, and that second button's window will be brought to the "front" in addition to the window I meant to switch to. The second task button changes each time... I can click from Outlook to Firefox and back six times and six different unrelated windows will be falsely activated.

This is obviously annoying, sometimes awkward (such as when I'm switching between eclipse windows with my boss looking over my shoulder and suddenly OH HI METAFILTER), but mostly it's just confusing. I'm a savvy computer guy and I've never seen this behavior on other systems.

Anyone have any thoughts as to what might be causing it?

Buy at the window or come in and chill?

913 — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:35:22 -0800

I want to open a crepe shop. Help me! It's not 100% yet but I've had the idea of opening one for quite some time now. A great location has opened up and I'm seriously considering grabbing it.

The location is on a popular downtown street, close to a movie theatre, and some nearby nightclubs. The plan is to be open from 9am-3am (allowing people to get a quick breakfast, lunch, and pre/post club fare).

The shop would be in an alley (in between two other businesses). It's a wide alley and would allow for outside seating, which would be amazing in the summer.

Now, I have two options and I'm debating them with myself now.

Do I:

a) Have it so that the crepes are made at the window with no access inside the store for seating? I think this would be efficient and different, as no one else in the city does it.

b) Have seating inside (it's a relatively small store ~650sf). If I have seating I have to worry about cleaning and everything that comes with having a 'restaurant'.

I'm leaning toward a window front (option a) but I'd like to know what everyone thinks.

Any other advice would be much appreciated.