Draughty aluminium windows letting in dust and heat — how do I seal them?
Every window in the flat seems to leak fine dust and hot air around the aluminium frames — the sills are permanently gritty and the AC never keeps up near them. The glass itself is fine, it is the sealing.
Is this a DIY silicone job, or do I need someone in? Trying not to overpay for something that feels simple.
2 answers
You have diagnosed it right — it is the seals, not the glass. Two things fail in our climate: the rubber gaskets that grip the glass and the perimeter, and the silicone where the frame meets the wall. Both get baked brittle by the sun within a few years.
The perimeter silicone is genuinely DIY: rake out the old, clean it, and run a good exterior-grade silicone. The gaskets are trickier because they have to match the exact frame profile, so if those are the problem it is worth getting them resealed properly rather than bodging it. If several windows leak and the frames feel loose or warped, that is a refurbishment job, not a tube of silicone. Same failure that lets rain in through the frames in the wet months.
Did the perimeter silicone on mine — clean it back to bare, use backer rod in the bigger gaps so you are not just filling a void with silicone, then a neat bead. Massive difference on the dust. Just match a proper outdoor silicone, not the cheap bathroom stuff.
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