Blocking Window Heat in a Victorian Inn

The Lang House is an 1881 Queen Anne Victorian inn near the heart of downtown Burlington, Vermont. It has all its original single-pane windows, which are beautiful, but do little to block window heat. In fact, its lovely but old windows had trouble with extreme temperature fluctuations of any kind. In the winter, the cold pierced them. In the summer, the oppressive heat forced its way in. Window heat insulation was a priority even though the house had exterior storms, which protected from the elements but didn’t provide much insulation.

Then the inn installed Indow inserts in 45 windows. The idea was to block the cold drafts. But as it grew hot with transition to summer, the managers realized the inserts were also helping block the window heat that used to bake the common areas. Guests were more comfortable, and the window air conditioning units didn’t have to work as hard.

Testimonials

– Andy Hard, Owner of The Lang House, Burlington, Vermont.

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The sun porch has 11 inserts. In the summer, innkeepers take out just two – one for the air conditioning unit and one to get a fresh breeze. The rest stay in so they can continue providing window heat insulation.

Not only does the house stay cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, but it’s also much quieter. The inn is located within walking distance of the University of Vermont campus and there’s usually a lot of traffic and voices on the street, the inserts have hushed all of it.