Replacing your windows delivers delivers an aesthetic pop. However, the biggest wow factor might be when you open your monthly energy bills. Today's modern windows can reduce heating and cooling costs drastically.

You might be able to get even more energy savings inexpensively with a little chalking and ingenuity.

Get into the Groove

Most windows are fitted into place using casings. Although these casings are cut to fit snuggly into your home's walls, overtime, the casings can swell and shrink, creating gaps that let heat escape in the winter and cool air escape during the summer. Furthermore, the chalking used to seal your window casing can crack and become weak.

Removal: to start the rechecking process, you must begin with a clean slate. The most efficient way to remove old chalk is with a flat-head, slender, screw driver and a ladder (if replacing taller windows). Begin at corners, driving the screwdriver's head into the groove separating the casing and the wall. If possible, wiggle the screwdriver head to dislodge the chalking. You can often displace the chalking and peel it away in one clean strip. Proceed until all four sides of the window casing are completely free of chalking.

Blow in Some Fresh Air and Repair

As your home settles and your window casings age, once solid transitions can become porous and fragmented. In order for your chalking to provide a solid seal, you need to make sure that it provides a flush seal.

Compressed Air: because you want to make sure that water doesn't leak into your walls or jeopardize your window casings, you need to clean the space between your window casings and your walls without using water. An efficient solution to this problem is utilizing compressed air. Run a stream of compressed at angle both forwards and backwards along the window casing edge. The goal is give yourself at least 1/2 inch recess from the surface of the wall toward the base of your window casing.

Repairing: If your walls of crumbled, you may need to use drywall putty to smooth out the surface. However, you should not apply chalking onto the area until it is complete smooth and dry. You may also smooth out the area using a  bite of fine grained sandpaper.

Applying the window chalking is fairly straight forward. The key to giving yourself the best seal, however, is to perform the chalking in layers. Start with a thin layer 1/2 into the space and work out toward the surface of the casing as it fills.

For more information, reach out to a replacement window professional.