Remember when I complained so much about the dirt in our apartment that I went out and bought a robot vacuum cleaner to keep the dust bunnies at bay? Well, while we were away, our landlord replaced all of the glass in our windows. We never measured the glass in the original panes, but it was “prosciutto thin”. When I tapped on a window, it rattled like a plexiglass cold frame. I was actually afraid to swat a fly against the glass. This glass was replaced with 10mm thick panes. I kid you not. I didn’t know they made glass that thick (well I guess I did, but not for residential buildings). Honestly, I didn’t know they could make glass windows as thin as the former ones either. We had asked if we could have double-paned windows, but apparently that was too much of an ordeal. So thick glass it is.

10mm glass with a metal holding rim.

Before the new glass, not only was I afraid to swat flies, but we could not leave our bedroom door open to the hallway when it was windy outside. The air seeped through our veranda door frame and whistled down the hallway, sounding like a wind tunnel. You could also feel a distinct draft at the front door of the apartment any time any window or veranda door was open. Granted, we’ve only been home 2 days, but there is no whistling, no draft, and miraculously no dirt on the floor. Our apartment has been closed up since the windows were replaced 2-1/2 months ago, and their was barely any dust on the furniture!

I guess the mystery is now solved. Leaky windows were blowing the dirt in. I’m really happy! And as this will be our first full winter up here in the Appenini Mountains, I imagine I’ll be REALLY happy when the cold weather arrives.