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I currently live in a rented apartment and the windows in my shower are not sealed, so it gets pretty cold there. The front door of the house also has a sealing problem.

The thing is, I'm not going to stay in this apartment more than a couple of months.

So, what are some good, cheap, fast solutions to seal my windows and front door as much as possible?

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If your leaking problem is from loose fitting window sashes or a poor fitting door, the simplest and cheapest method would be to purchase some self-adhesive foam weather stripping. This rolled product can be easily installed at the bottom of a window or around the outside edge of the door frame. Select the smallest size that will help seal the gaps, then just peel and stick. Too large and you may have difficulty closing the door etc.

Another good window treatment is the clear plastic window film like the 3M Indoor Window Insulator that mounts to the frame of the window. Use a hair dryer to "stretch" the film, thus sealing any air leaking in around the sides or through poorly glazed panes.

All these products are cheap and available at any hardware store or box store like Lowe's or Home Depot. Stay warm!

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  • Did you mean "clear plastic window film"? You could improve this answer by linking to some products, perhaps on Wikipedia or Amazon, or by including some pictures.
    – Jay Bazuzi
    Dec 5, 2010 at 16:52
  • @shirlock - any product links here?
    – samthebrand
    Oct 25, 2012 at 21:47
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Get a window insulator kit. It is made of a clear, plastic material that goes over the window, with double-sided tape around the edges to seal it. It's easy to set up and helps a lot with drafty windows.

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  • Never heard of the window insulator kit before. Looks neat!
    – Engineer2021
    Dec 14, 2010 at 18:48
  • I went looking for the window insulation kit at my local Home Depot. They do not carry it anymore, but the gentleman at the store gave me a tip: Use 1 Mil thick plastic film with either painters tape or double-sided tape. He said that works just as well and it is a quarter of the cost.
    – Engineer2021
    Dec 20, 2010 at 16:53
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There is a removable clear caulk you can buy from most home improvement stores that you can use to seal that window and peel the stuff off. I bought some from Menards at $2.50 each on sale. Caulking guns can be bought for a couple of bucks.

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If you can actually see the gaps in the windows, a can of "Great Stuff" would probably do the trick. It's an expanding foam that you spray into gaps.

Or you could use a squeeze tube of "DAP Silicon II" and run a bead of it around the window. I'm going to assume that if you're in an apartment for the short term you either don't have a caulking gun or don't want to buy one (don't need yet ANOTHER thing to move when you do move), so the link goes to a "squeeze it yourself" tube of Silicon II.

As for the door, if it's just a short term thing you may want to just wad up a bath towel and put it along the bottom of the door as a draft blocker for the short term.

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    The Windows and Doors foam would be a better choice here. It stays more flexible and doesn't expand as aggressively so it won't distort your window or door frames.
    – Niall C. ♦
    Dec 5, 2010 at 16:36
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    Don't use "Great Stuff" behind window casings and door jambs. It and it's triple-expanding cousins can just about blow 1" lumber off the house framing, severely warping window casings so windows won't slide and mucking up door jambs in a similar manner. Low Expansion foam which is specifically labelled for door and window installation should be the only product you use here. I had to help unDIY a door installation. It involved a long bread knife, a long straight edge and cutting long thin wedges out of the foam till the door casing lumber was straight again.
    – Fiasco Labs
    Oct 26, 2012 at 1:33

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