As the sound of hair dryers emanated from the Montague Town Hall Annex, teams of at least two people each worked together to cut material, maneuver wooden frames to secure the pieces together and, using heat from the hair dryers, shrink film until it fit tautly across the frames.
For the second year in a row, state funding is helping neighbors keep each other warm and also build connection through community workshops to make “winserts,” customized window inserts that are designed to mitigate drafty home or apartment windows in a more cost-effective manner.
Volunteers gathered inside the annex at Montague Town Hall in September as part of the town’s Window Insert Community Build Pilot Project, which started in January. Two more upcoming community builds are offering participants an opportunity to make low-cost window inserts for themselves or for their neighbors.
According to the project page on the town’s website, “winserts” are interior window inserts that are reusable and transparent. They can reduce home or apartment temperature loss up to 50% and decrease draftiness from windows. Winserts are customized to fit the existing window frame, and can be installed and removed without damage.
The town describes the pilot program as the “seed project” for boosting climate resilience that was chosen by the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) 2.0 Core Team. Core team members include Montague residents, representatives from community organizations like The Brick House Resource Center and The Heartwing Center, Montague town officials and staff from the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG).
“The winsert project aims to promote energy efficiency and comfort in homes of low-income homeowners and tenants, while simultaneously reducing our carbon footprint,” Montague Planning Director Maureen Pollock said. “It serves as a practical solution that empowers residents to take part in climate adaptation efforts, making Montague a leader in sustainability.”
The project is fueled by a $50,000 grant from the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs’ MVP Program, which supports the initiative over 24 months.
An important element of the project is the affordability of the winserts, which are free for households and renters that make 80% of the area median income. This means one-person households in Montague making less than $73,400 are eligible to receive winserts, with the income cap rising to $83,850 for a two-person household, $94,350 for three people, $104,800 for four people, $113,200 for a five-person household and $121,600 for six people.
For those receiving winserts, there is the expectation they attend a community build to be part of the creation of what they’ll eventually take home with them. However, the workshops are open to volunteers from Montague and other towns who aren’t getting a winsert, but still want to be part of the community-building element of the project.
Brick Corsa is the building coordinator for the pilot program. He oversees the community builds, teaches attendees how to create the winserts and visits the dwellings of the people receiving them to measure the frames that the homeowner or renter will then help build-out during one of these workshops.
A big benefit of having a winsert, Corsa said, is the reduction in heating costs, as heat is lost when drafty windows allow air to escape or let cold air in. Additionally, the temporary nature of the winsert makes it especially good for historic homes with original window frames that homeowners or renters don’t want to alter.
“A lot of it is the actual comfort that you get out of it,” Corsa said about the winserts’ benefits. “You touch an old window, the glass is cold; you touch these on the inside, it’s warm, much warmer, and so your skin feels that. They feel much warmer to sit next to.”
At previous community builds, he said volunteers have made more than 100 winserts, with plans to continue the project until grant funding runs out. Over the summer, the workshops ran into some issues with volunteer attendance, prompting the August workshop to be canceled, but Corsa hopes that as the colder months arrive, there will be renewed interest to help build.
“We really want people to show up, and it’s fun,” Corsa said, adding that there’s coffee and snacks available, along with good opportunities to meet new people.
Lisa Morrison is a recipient of six winserts for her home in Turners Falls. She was working to build some of the winserts that she first learned about from an email sent to residents. She said she’s heard of these community builds happening in Vermont, but not locally, noting that she had already been looking for ways to reduce heating costs when the opportunity came up.
Still, Morrison said, the community builds offer more than just what she’ll take home at the end of the day.
“I also just like learning new things and meeting new people, which is kind of a nice little community-building opportunity,” she said. “You get to be a little social while doing something that’s going to benefit you.”
Montague residents who are interested in receiving winserts can visit the project website at tinyurl.com/mupw7xr7. Applications are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. The next community builds are set for Saturday, Oct. 17, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Montague Town Hall Annex at 1 Avenue A, and again on Saturday, Nov. 7, at the same place and time.
