On Apr 29, 11:49*am, adrian wrote:
On Apr 28, 11:51*am, ransley wrote:



You dont mention brands I know. Off brand cheap can be trouble.
Consumer reports had an old article on maybe 20 windows tested that
included construction, use and durability. There are alot of ratings
for tests used *to determine window performance of frame and glass, id
suggest you learn and use them. Glass is not equal and warrantys
count, but instalation can cause a warranty to be worthless from day
one as I personaly found out.www.energystar.gov*might help you
learn and pick whats best.

I have looked at the article consumer reports published a couple years
ago. *They systematically rank vinyl windows as inferior to wood
windows on their ability to resist wind and rain. *(No vinyl window
scores an "excellent" on any of these tests.) *But they don't review
any vinyl window that the local dealers sell. *If premium vinyl is
better then perhaps the problem as the CR only looked at the low end
of the market. * They do also tend to rank vinyl windows as more
durable than wood frame windows (based on a test that lasted one
week).

When you say that installation makes the warranty worthless do you
mean that the windows were incorrectly installed? * What did they do
wrong? *I didn't see much on energystar.gov of note. *Pretty much all
the windows have the same insulation statistics because everybody is
trying to meet the tax credit requirements.

When you say that installation makes the warranty worthless do you
mean that the windows were incorrectly installed?

Sure. Let's say the installer has a 1/8" gap on both sides of the
window and screws the frame tight to the rough opening, bowing the
frame. In addition, the window was mounted at an angle, twisting the
frame out of square.

So a few years later, after being under stress for all that time, the
seams start to let go and the window frame fails. The company sends
out an inspector who calmly denies your claim stating on his report
that "The window was not installed in accordance with the
manufacturer's installation instructions."