While you’re preparing your home for sale, you will doubtless be doing everything you can to make your home more energy efficient. According to those who are experts in the world of property styling services, a green home means more cash when it sells. So you might add attic insulation, caulk around doors, and make sure your windows are working as they should.

Unless your home was built before about 1980, your house may already be equipped with windows that are specially manufactured to keep the weather outside. Older homes may have single paned windows, but those built in the last 40 years may have double or triple glazed windows that act as insulators against thermal transfer. That means that your window unit is composed of multiple panes of glass with a special gas filling the gaps between. All of this technology is helpful with heating and cooling bills until and unless the seals between the panes fail. When that happens, you find yourself with a foggy mist between you and the outdoors.

When dealing with failed windows – more technically referred to as “insulated glass units” or IGUs – you have several options, each with its own corresponding budget hit from which to choose. You could do any of the following;

1. Replace the entire unit. This is the most expensive option, of course, and more so if you are only replacing a few units since manufacturers like to sell in whole-house lots. You will also probably need the help of a builder to remove and replace the window.

2. Replace just the sashes. The sash of the window is made up of the several structural parts that hold the window glass in place and act to move the window up and down. Sash replacement kits are available but not widely advertised since using them is a more inexpensive fix for a poorly performing IGU.

3. De-Fog. Glass specialists tell us that by drilling tiny, nearly imperceptible holes in the glass and then installing vents in those holes is a very good solution to the problem and will only set you back from one-third to one-half the cost of window replacements. Of course the heavy gas (Argon or Krypton gas is used between the panes of glass to act as an insulation agent) is gone and some of the efficiency of the window is lost. It’s notable that some window manufacturers admit that sealed windows can lose as much as one per cent of their insulation gas each year anyway.

4. Ignore it. Of course, ignoring the problem is always an option and, as it works out, is the least expensive option of all. This is our least-favorite option because when potential buyers see a foggy window, they know that the window is NOT doing its job. Thermal exchange – the swapping of cool inside air for hot outside air or vice-versa – means that the house isn’t as energy efficient as today’s buyers demand. This problem signals to potential buyers that necessary maintenance of the house has been neglected. It also raises questions about other upkeep problems that could arise and cause expensive surprises later.

Bringing a home to its best possible condition prior to listing is a big job with lots of details to be handled. Knowing what to do in any situation with regard to maintenance or necessary repairs is the bailiwick of those who provide property styling services. Home stagers have the capacity to know how to handle nearly every possible problem from windows to plumbing. By hiring a reputable home staging professional, you can relieve yourself from the burdens associated with having all the answers.

Home staging companies do far more than selecting a colour scheme and bringing in furnishings and rugs. These professionals can advise you on what repairs are necessary, give you a list of tradesmen who can do the job, and also provide you with a ballpark figure as to what such a repair might cost. Window fog to leaky roofs, property styling services specialists have seen it all and can help you deal with whatever problem comes your way. They are a seller’s best friend.