Speaking of windows covered in plastic...
This old house was "improved" in the 60's or 70's, where they replaced the cool old casement and/or swing-out steel windows with horizontal sliding aluminum frame windows.
Needless to say, the aluminum frame windows aren't very good in the cold.
Most of the windows had aluminum awnings over them. When I removed about 1/2 of them over the summer (more light in the winter, and better ventilation in the summer), I left on the brackets over the windows. I figure I could use those brackets to hand "storm windows" on the ouside of the house. Most of the outer walls of the house are stucco, so the fewer holes I need to drill in it the better - and the aluminum window frames don't offer any convenient attachment surfaces, like an older wooden casement window would.
So I'm thinking of fabricating some lightweight frames of redwood, stretching clear vinyl over them, and using those as "storm windows" to help insulate the windows in the cold months. I could use the old awning brackets to hand the "storm windows", needing only to drill a few holes below for some hooks to hold them against the house.
What's been keeping me from doing this is that I haven't seen any of the optically clear heavy vinyl that I got years ago at a local hardware store... but I think TAP plastics might have something similar that would do just fine....
