Storm windows are wasted money in my experience. They can actually further wood rot by trapping heat and moisture. They also look cheap and detract from your home's overall look and appearance. There is also a lot of maintenance and they can be hard to clean.

Invest in new windows, its a much better way to solve your issues.

you can even do 8 windows this year and 8 the next ect.. in order to save some of your money.

far too many homeowners concentrate on saving money opposed to spending it wisely. So yes, storm windows are cheaper but its not the smartest way to invest your money.

Taking the other side of the discussion, I like storm windows, I think they can definitely be a good idea in the right situation.

However, good ones aren't going to be cheap and cheap ones aren't going to be good. And while they will likely improve the performance of your existing windows, they may not be the inexpensive "fix" that you are looking for.

In your situation you may be better off (as a winter-time) fix using one of the insulating window films. They would be vastly less expensive and would still provide improvement over your current situation.

If you do want to try storm windows and per your questions:

1. Will storm windows help if my issue is a framing problem, or only if the original windows are the issue? ---- if there is a framing issue you need to do what you can to fix that before even thinking about a band-aid fix of any kind. If its the windows, then the storms will help.

2. What are some good brands of storm windows to look at? ---- Larson, ProVia, Mon_Ray are a few well-known storm window manufacturers. I would suggest further research to see how they rate in comparison with each other as well as other manufacturers.

3. How much (ballpark) should I expect to pay per storm window? ---- too many variables to give an estimate and this is outside my experience.

4. Is the installation something I can do myself (I'm assuming it is)? ---- If you are reasonably handy you should be able to do it yourself. If you aren't an experienced handyman-type then you might want to decide if it is worth it to hire someone who has the experience to install them for you.

5. I see there are both interior and exterior storms....which is better? ---- exterior

6. How much do storms actually help? ---- depends on the conditions, but if done right they can make a big difference.

7. What are the major disadvantages? ---- cleaning can be a pain. cheap or inappropriate (for the style of your home) storms can detract from the appearance of your home.

My house has a combination of casements and slider windows. Contrary to most opinion's I happen to prefer the sliders to the casements for a number of reasons; but I also have storm windows covering all of the sliders and that makes a huge difference in the winter and that certainly biases my preference for the sliders.

But I still don't like casements.

Potential damage due to overheating or rot or other problems often stated due to storm windows is way overblown in my opinion. If you are worried about overheating in summer, leave them open a bit to allow for air circulation. A little knowledge combined with common sense will virtually eliminate those concerns.

In your situation you are likely to have a problem with condensation and/or ice build up on the storms on cold days simply because of warm humid air in your home escaping thru the leaking windows.

In your situation this is going to be unavoidable unless you stop the air leak by covering your windows with plastic - which kinda defeats the purpose of the storm windows in the first place.