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dpb

wrote:
....

... the wall containing one of our bay windows
had settled to the point where the old window wouldn't completely
close, and wouldn't lock at all, because of the slant in the sill. The
installer said not to worry about it, and he did obviously get the new
window in there. I know that an 83 year old house is probably not
going to settle any further, but Lowes probably doesn't want to take
that chance.

As someone else says, depending on what the installer did to "fix" the
problem, if it is out of level and plumb, you may have no effective
warranty from Pella...sometimes ignoring a problem or patching around
it isn't the right solution. I can't judge a particular case from
afar, obviously, but leads one to wonder/have concern.

I don't think you can assume anything about whether the house will
"settle" further or not simply based on age. The cause of the settling
needs to be investigated and alleviated or shown to be no longer a
potential problem.

The comment elsewhere about thinking the settling caused by leaking
windows leads me to be concerned there's hidden structural damage that
unless fixed may destroy your brand new windows in relatively short
order.

I hate to say it, but sounds like what you may be doing is mostly
fixing cosmetic problems before the underlying structure is stabilized
and/or repaired. Not that failed windows aren't real and shouldn't be
repaired/replaced, but placing a new window in an existing opening w/o
ensuring the condition interior and underneath (and overhead, too) is a
sizable risk and (imo) putting the cart before the horse, so to speak.

And 83-yr old "colonial"? That's not even as old as this house here--I
thought you were talking at least 19th century.