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  • and then pretty simple you just lift... I locked it. hey guys! what's up it's Kelly

  • again and welcome back to my channel! for today's video I am finally getting

  • around to answering one of the most commonly asked questions I got on my

  • apartment tour video which is what are American windows like and why do we not

  • open them? but first I want to roll some footage to show you what German Windows

  • look like because Americans really are fascinated by this style of window.

  • by turning the handle to the horizontal position you can open up the entire

  • window just like it's a door. by turning the handle completely up you can pull

  • the window back to a tilted position and a lot of Germans will keep their windows

  • open like this just to maintain a constant flow of air throughout the

  • entire day. and then by turning the handle down you lock it closed and

  • that's the magical German window. Americans on the other hand have several

  • different styles of Windows but hands-down the most popular style of

  • window that you'll see all throughout the United States is the kind that I

  • have right behind me and I'll show you guys how to use it. so this particular

  • apartment building have these guards that are on the windows and that's to

  • prevent a child from being able to lift the window above a certain point I think

  • they would only be able to lift it up to here. and I'm sure that it really cuts

  • down on any liability issues. I have never seen something like this before. it

  • was very new to me. I actually had to ask the maintenance guy when I did a

  • walkthrough of this apartment what these were and I wasn't sure if I was supposed

  • to be able to remove them or not and he said that as long as you don't have

  • any kids in the apartment, you're more than welcome to take them

  • down and it's just like for liability. okay so on the halfway point

  • so these are two individual panes of glass here you'll have locks and so you

  • can just flip them to lock the window or to unlock the window and then pretty

  • simple you just lift the window up. it's pretty noisy out there because we live

  • on like a really busy street in DC so you can tell how much noise these

  • windows block. yeah you just lift him up and then there's like a screen back here,

  • if you guys can see that and it prevents any bugs from being able to come into

  • the apartment I never saw any screens in Germany. I think that I've read that they

  • have like fabric screens that you can buy and adhere to the window frame

  • yourself and then maybe there are some you know manufactured screens that will

  • be installed for you but it just didn't really seem as common and I think

  • because a lot of Germans like to be able to actually look out their window so

  • that would involve them being able to you know breach the point...the plane that

  • is blocked here. I am not able to stick my head out the window and look down the

  • street whereas in Germany I was always able to do that. so anyway, the other way

  • you can open the window is to pull down these actually don't do that but you can

  • usually pull the top pane down if you want the top of the window open instead.

  • Germans open their windows every day to stosslueften to mean that they'll

  • open their windows for about 10 minutes in order to create some airflow

  • throughout their home probably because they love the fresh air I mean who

  • doesn't love nice cool fresh air? but more importantly to prevent the growth

  • of mold. we don't really have this cultural norm of opening up our windows

  • for a few different reasons so for one we just don't really have as many issues

  • with mold Germans do as I'm sure many of you know

  • our apartment's and our houses are built with walls primarily made from wood and

  • drywall and moisture just acts kind of differently on those surfaces compared

  • to German walls. German homes are made with concrete and with stone and

  • moisture will just sit on those walls whereas in the US moisture will

  • actually be absorbed by that wood and so you don't really get any mold. it of

  • course all depends on where you live in the US but summertime can get really

  • really hot especially in the south and you would never ever want to open up

  • your window into you're nice like air-conditioned home and let in all of

  • that hot muggy air it would you would never do it. it would... no! I can literally

  • like hear my dad yelling at me right now when I was a kid and I would like leave

  • the front door open and he would be like we're not paying to air-conditioned the

  • neighborhood because you know you would just like be trying to create this nice

  • little climate zone inside your home that's nice and cool and refreshing and

  • outside it's like deathly hot. another thing to know is that it's pretty much

  • impossible for us to clean our windows unless you have a house and of course

  • like the ground-level windows you're gonna be able to clean and if you have a

  • ladder you'll be able to reach your second-floor windows and so on but in a

  • place like this where I live on the fourth floor of an apartment building

  • I'm kind of just stuck with waiting for the apartment building to decide to

  • contract a company to clean our windows because I can't do it myself

  • whereas Germans are able to completely open their windows and can very easily

  • take a rag and clean the inside and the outside of their windows. since moving

  • back to the US from Germany I will say that I definitely missed opening up my

  • windows every day to let in that cool fresh air in and I really missed the

  • German style of windows. I just think they're awesome they're really

  • convenient and I wish we have them here in the States

  • but I will also say that I am pretty content with my air

  • conditioning especially here in DC where it is really hot and humid in the

  • summer right now. alright guys that's all I've got for you today! I hope you

  • enjoyed this video and if you did give it a big thumbs up! special thanks to all

  • of my Kelly's crew patrons. you guys are amazing! I really appreciate the support.

  • if you're interested in my patreon campaign check out the link I'll put it

  • in the description below and if you want to support me otherwise just go ahead

  • and click that subscribe button so I can keep making these videos on my channel.

  • thanks guys! I'll see you next time.. bye!

and then pretty simple you just lift... I locked it. hey guys! what's up it's Kelly

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