Picks · winter

Put the film up in September, not during the ice storm

• 3M indoor window kit (5 windows) · about $25 CAD on Amazon.ca

If you rent in Ontario, Quebec, the Prairies, or the Maritimes, the landlord is not replacing the windows before the first freeze. You can feel a cold stripe on the floor. Indoor shrink film is reversible. It is not pretty. It is the $25 move people actually do on a dry weekend.

The common kit is 3M indoor insulator 2141W-6: heat-shrink film plus Scotch mounting tape, listed for up to five standard 3' × 5' indoor windows (B00002NCJI). You tape the trim, not the glass. You stick the film with about an inch extra, then shrink wrinkles with a hair dryer a few inches away until it goes tight. The point is a dead-air gap. That gap is what stops the draft on your ankles and the condensation that turns to ice on a single pane.

Skip it if the units are already new sealed glass and you cannot feel air. Skip it if you need that sash open all winter. Skip it if the frame is rotten — film will not save a hole. Test a corner: tape can lift cheap paint. Do the worst room first. You do not need every pane in the unit.

Do not block a fire escape without a plan you can cut. Peel slowly in April. Measure the sash before you click; a picture window is not 3 × 5. Mid-September Amazon.ca prices for this five-window kit were about $24–$29. We have not filmed an install. That is the listing plus how renters actually use it.

Amazon.ca links below are plain product pages. We are not in Associates yet. If that changes, the same links may carry a tag and we may earn a commission. We have not lab-tested these products. Specs are from the manufacturer listing as of 14 Sep 2026. Recheck the live page before you buy. We do not stock or ship anything.