A while back there was a thread asking about window installation
experiences from Lowes. I was in the middle of researching this myself
and said I'd report back once my install was done. So for the original
poster of that thread and anyone else who cares, here's my experience.

We first visited Lowes in June. Had the guy come out and measure,
which cost $35 - this is refundable if you actually buy the windows.
The installer was nice, but was tough to get to come out in a timely
manner - I think we waited about a week before he called (Lowes policy
is 48 hours) and then it was about another week before he came out.

Went back to Lowes afterwards (July now) and picked our windows out.
We'd started out wanting something like 13 windows done but scaled it
back to 7 for cost reasons. Will do more at a later date. The
measurements the installer takes are good for I think a year, so you
can just order the windows any time without having another measurement
done. Anyway, we ordered 6 Pella wood windows and 1 ThermaStar vinyl
window for the bathroom. All were custom orders. The vinyl window was
only something like $126. The wood windows (with no options) came to
about $470 each - much less than Pella themselves had quoted me. It's
a big difference in price between wood and vinyl (at least within
Pella), but more on that later. Our windows were slated for delivery
on August 7th, only about 10 days or so later. One nice thing is they
can tell you immediately exactly how long it's going to take.

So August 7th came and went and we heard nothing from Lowes or the
installer. I called the store eventually around the 15th and got a
snippy-sounding woman on the phone who said the windows had "just
arrived" and that I had to give the installer 48 hours to call. I said
"the windows were supposed to be there on the 7th, you're saying they
just got there?" And she just repeated the same thing. So I waited.
Another week went by. I called again. Confirmed this time that the
windows *had* been there since the 7th, so now it's been 2 weeks and no
call, despite their 48 hour policy. They said they'd fax the installer
again, tell him I'd been waiting. Finally, I get a call, but he's got
no appointments until after Labor Day. Whatever, by this time I'm just
happy to pin somebody down to a date. So we set it for today.

I actually wasn't here for the install - my wife had the day off, so
she dealt with it. She said it went pretty well, though; no surprises.
They even took out a stuck air conditioner that we couldn't budge,
without complaint. When I came home, I inspected their work - I'm not
an expert, but it looks decent enough to me considering the condition
of our trim (it's pretty out of square in places). They obviously
shimmed in some spots, and sawed some stuff out in others. The
caulking looks pretty tight. On the exterior, I didn't actually walk
out onto my roof but it looks ok from below... though a couple of the
trim pieces are slightly bent, probably just a minor cosmetic thing. I
was happy to see that they did not remove my original red exterior
trim, just installed a piece of white trim above it to fill in the
space. On the side of the house (the bathroom window), they even fixed
a really horrendously inept trim job on the previous window install,
which had left a big gap in my siding and an exposed hole for rain or
whatever to get into the side of my house. Well, they're not siding
guys so it still looks a little empty, but they did plug up that hole
and at least trimmed everything so it looks nice and uniform. They
even bent part of my siding back to the house that had come detached in
the install of the old window.

Two things I'm a little annoyed about, which we'll be talking to Lowes
about tomorrow: they left all my old windows in a big pile outside (the
web site specifically says "haul-away of old windows" is included in
the install), and they did not give me any sort of certificate of
completion, even though my wife supposedly signed one. I don't know if
they just forgot to give her a copy or what. But we have no written
record right now that they were even here. Hopefully Lowes will remedy
both of these issues, but I feel like I've been fighting them every
step of the way on this to get them to do their job properly. The
install itself seems to have gone well; everything else has been like
pulling teeth. Just constant visits and phone calls for no other
reason than to ask them to do things that they're supposed to do
anyway.

Now, as for the windows themselves, all I can say is I am *so* glad we
didn't get vinyl everywhere. The price of wood is well worth it. The
vinyl window in the bathroom is fine for what it is, but it looks like
a cheap piece of plastic. I mean, even from far away. I'm ok with it
because the previous window was vinyl too and it is a bathroom, I'd be
afraid to have wood there... but partly because it's brand new and
totally clean white vinyl, it just looks like something you'd get as a
prize in a Cracker Jack box. I just can't imagine having windows like
this in our bedrooms. The wood windows aren't what I'd call beautiful
yet (they're unfinished), but they will be. They already look and feel
really solid. (Well, except for our crooked trim surrounding them.)
And if I want to, it will be easy to match the look of our old historic
windows in the rest of the house... though I'm actually leaning towards
staining these rather than painting. Not sure yet.

Anyway, would I recommend Lowes for window installation? If you want
Pella wood, then yeah. I don't know of a cheaper dealer (Pella
themselves wanted literally like double the price) and the install
itself seems solid. (Famous last words - the first rain will be the
real test, I guess.) But if you don't care about Pella or wood, it's
probably not worth it. I do think their prices are good on vinyl too,
but you can probably do just as well elsewhere and not have such a
hassle getting Lowes employees to do their jobs. On the other hand,
this is not a "horror story" and I am not dismissing Lowes out of hand,
as some others here seem to whenever the subject comes up. My
experience has been annoying in some ways, but the end result seems
good and in a year, that's all we'll still care about.

wrote in message
oups.com...
A while back there was a thread asking about window installation
experiences from Lowes. I was in the middle of researching this myself
and said I'd report back once my install was done. So for the original
poster of that thread and anyone else who cares, here's my experience.

We first visited Lowes in June. Had the guy come out and measure,
which cost $35 - this is refundable if you actually buy the windows.
The installer was nice, but was tough to get to come out in a timely
manner - I think we waited about a week before he called (Lowes policy
is 48 hours) and then it was about another week before he came out.

Went back to Lowes afterwards (July now) and picked our windows out.
We'd started out wanting something like 13 windows done but scaled it
back to 7 for cost reasons. Will do more at a later date. The
measurements the installer takes are good for I think a year, so you
can just order the windows any time without having another measurement
done. Anyway, we ordered 6 Pella wood windows and 1 ThermaStar vinyl
window for the bathroom. All were custom orders. The vinyl window was
only something like $126. The wood windows (with no options) came to
about $470 each - much less than Pella themselves had quoted me. It's
a big difference in price between wood and vinyl (at least within
Pella), but more on that later. Our windows were slated for delivery
on August 7th, only about 10 days or so later. One nice thing is they
can tell you immediately exactly how long it's going to take.

So August 7th came and went and we heard nothing from Lowes or the
installer. I called the store eventually around the 15th and got a
snippy-sounding woman on the phone who said the windows had "just
arrived" and that I had to give the installer 48 hours to call. I said
"the windows were supposed to be there on the 7th, you're saying they
just got there?" And she just repeated the same thing. So I waited.
Another week went by. I called again. Confirmed this time that the
windows *had* been there since the 7th, so now it's been 2 weeks and no
call, despite their 48 hour policy. They said they'd fax the installer
again, tell him I'd been waiting. Finally, I get a call, but he's got
no appointments until after Labor Day. Whatever, by this time I'm just
happy to pin somebody down to a date. So we set it for today.

I actually wasn't here for the install - my wife had the day off, so
she dealt with it. She said it went pretty well, though; no surprises.
They even took out a stuck air conditioner that we couldn't budge,
without complaint. When I came home, I inspected their work - I'm not
an expert, but it looks decent enough to me considering the condition
of our trim (it's pretty out of square in places). They obviously
shimmed in some spots, and sawed some stuff out in others. The
caulking looks pretty tight. On the exterior, I didn't actually walk
out onto my roof but it looks ok from below... though a couple of the
trim pieces are slightly bent, probably just a minor cosmetic thing. I
was happy to see that they did not remove my original red exterior
trim, just installed a piece of white trim above it to fill in the
space. On the side of the house (the bathroom window), they even fixed
a really horrendously inept trim job on the previous window install,
which had left a big gap in my siding and an exposed hole for rain or
whatever to get into the side of my house. Well, they're not siding
guys so it still looks a little empty, but they did plug up that hole
and at least trimmed everything so it looks nice and uniform. They
even bent part of my siding back to the house that had come detached in
the install of the old window.

Two things I'm a little annoyed about, which we'll be talking to Lowes
about tomorrow: they left all my old windows in a big pile outside (the
web site specifically says "haul-away of old windows" is included in
the install), and they did not give me any sort of certificate of
completion, even though my wife supposedly signed one. I don't know if
they just forgot to give her a copy or what. But we have no written
record right now that they were even here. Hopefully Lowes will remedy
both of these issues, but I feel like I've been fighting them every
step of the way on this to get them to do their job properly. The
install itself seems to have gone well; everything else has been like
pulling teeth. Just constant visits and phone calls for no other
reason than to ask them to do things that they're supposed to do
anyway.

Now, as for the windows themselves, all I can say is I am *so* glad we
didn't get vinyl everywhere. The price of wood is well worth it. The
vinyl window in the bathroom is fine for what it is, but it looks like
a cheap piece of plastic. I mean, even from far away. I'm ok with it
because the previous window was vinyl too and it is a bathroom, I'd be
afraid to have wood there... but partly because it's brand new and
totally clean white vinyl, it just looks like something you'd get as a
prize in a Cracker Jack box. I just can't imagine having windows like
this in our bedrooms. The wood windows aren't what I'd call beautiful
yet (they're unfinished), but they will be. They already look and feel
really solid. (Well, except for our crooked trim surrounding them.)
And if I want to, it will be easy to match the look of our old historic
windows in the rest of the house... though I'm actually leaning towards
staining these rather than painting. Not sure yet.

Anyway, would I recommend Lowes for window installation? If you want
Pella wood, then yeah. I don't know of a cheaper dealer (Pella
themselves wanted literally like double the price) and the install
itself seems solid. (Famous last words - the first rain will be the
real test, I guess.) But if you don't care about Pella or wood, it's
probably not worth it. I do think their prices are good on vinyl too,
but you can probably do just as well elsewhere and not have such a
hassle getting Lowes employees to do their jobs. On the other hand,
this is not a "horror story" and I am not dismissing Lowes out of hand,
as some others here seem to whenever the subject comes up. My
experience has been annoying in some ways, but the end result seems
good and in a year, that's all we'll still care about.




If Lowe's is anything like Home Depot, they contract all their install work
out to established companies, who might then contract the work out to
subcontractors. Their work, then, is statistically as likely to be good as
if you had hired someone out of the phone book. Home Depot requires that
their contractors be very well insured - probably enough to buy your house
ten times over or more. If you do have a problem, it'll get fixed.

There is a chance that the subcontractors are not responsible for hauling
away the old windows. Perhaps Lowe's has someone else who specifically
deals with that sort of thing.

It sounds as though you should look into getting a contractor out to your
house to deal with some other issues as well. Gaps in the siding around
your windows can potentially lead to thousands of dollars worth of water
damage. Make sure you have flood insurance.

Stain the windows if it'll look good. You wanted wood, you might as well be
able to enjoy it. The painters won't protest your lack of interest in
paint.

TakenEvent wrote:
There is a chance that the subcontractors are not responsible for hauling
away the old windows. Perhaps Lowe's has someone else who specifically
deals with that sort of thing.

Possible, but my wife asked him about it and he said to just put
everything out in the garbage and they'll take it away. That might be
true (our garbage guys do seem to basically take anything), but it's
not what it says on the web site. I would think he would at least know
if there was someone else from Lowes that was going to come and take
the stuff away.

It sounds as though you should look into getting a contractor out to your
house to deal with some other issues as well. Gaps in the siding around
your windows can potentially lead to thousands of dollars worth of water
damage.

This was really the only problem area, and we'd known we were going to
have new windows installed since we moved in anyway, so we were hoping
it'd be fixed at that point. I wasn't sure, and thought I might have
to have the siding patched, but the window guys did what I'd hoped
they'd do.

Stain the windows if it'll look good. You wanted wood, you might as well be
able to enjoy it. The painters won't protest your lack of interest in
paint.

I looked again last night, and I think we gotta paint... staining would
just look too odd with our out of square trim (the windows themselves
are square, so it'd make the whole window opening look even more out of
shape), and I obviously can't stain the caulk that's between the new
window and the trim. So I guess I'll just paint. It's fine, though;
they'll totally match the look of our original windows, one of which is
still in each of the two rooms we had done. And I need to paint the
trim anyway; it's pretty ugly and old looking at the moment. So I
might have ended up just painting everything regardless.

wrote:
TakenEvent wrote:
There is a chance that the subcontractors are not responsible for hauling
away the old windows. Perhaps Lowe's has someone else who specifically
deals with that sort of thing.

Possible, but my wife asked him about it and he said to just put
everything out in the garbage ..., but it's not what it says on the web site.
....

What the web site says is nothing but advertising -- what does the
_contract_ say? You did read the contract, didn't you?

....

... look too odd with our out of square trim ...

OK, you just spent several thousand $$ and you're going to leave a
simple trim replacement that is noticeably out of square alone to screw
up what you just spent all this money to get to look good???? Makes no
sense to me, but hey, it's your house...

wrote in message


The
measurements the installer takes are good for I think a year, so you
can just order the windows any time without having another measurement
done.


Good for a year? What happes to your house after a year. Does it shrink or
expand? Almost sounds like a sale pressure gimmick.

One nice thing is they
can tell you immediately exactly how long it's going to take.

So August 7th came and went and we heard nothing from Lowes or the
installer.

In theory anyway. Reality proved different.

Anyway, would I recommend Lowes for window installation? If you want
Pella wood, then yeah. I don't know of a cheaper dealer (Pella
themselves wanted literally like double the price) and the install
itself seems solid. (Famous last words - the first rain will be the
real test, I guess.) But if you don't care about Pella or wood, it's
probably not worth it.

Overall, sounds like you are happy with the job. Delivery is minor
inconvenience. Good installation will pay dividends for the next 20, 50,
100 years.

dpb wrote:
What the web site says is nothing but advertising --

....which is legally binding in the state of New York.

what does the
_contract_ say? You did read the contract, didn't you?

Contract doesn't say anything. Doesn't have to if the web site does in
this state.

OK, you just spent several thousand $$ and you're going to leave a
simple trim replacement that is noticeably out of square alone to screw
up what you just spent all this money to get to look good???? Makes no
sense to me, but hey, it's your house...

I'm not sure you're understanding the definition of "trim" in this
case.

Interior window trim in an old Colonial is wood built into plaster
walls. Replacing it would basically be the same as getting new
construction windows. Easy and cheap enough to do if you're talking
drywall and what passes for new construction window openings these days
(which often includes no trim at all), but when you're talking about
ripping down plaster, ripping out all that wood, re-plastering the
walls and building a new window opening in the same style as the old
using newly-cut and molded wood built to custom sizes, you're talking
thousands *more* dollars.

I just spent $3,700 on new windows and installation. You're talking
about probably a $10,000 job (or more).

Nothing is simple or cheap in an old house.

wrote:
dpb wrote:
What the web site says is nothing but advertising --

...which is legally binding in the state of New York.

what does the
_contract_ say? You did read the contract, didn't you?

Contract doesn't say anything. Doesn't have to if the web site does in
this state.

I thought that an interesting take, so did some looking...

From the NY CPB (Consumer Protection Board) web site

"Under New York law, all contracts with an underlying value of $500 or
more must be in writing, or they are not binding on the parties. ..."

I couldn't find any specific reference to a NY State law making any
internet posting an enforceable contract although I'm sure there are
some requirements under "false advertising" rules.

....
I'm not sure you're understanding the definition of "trim" in this
case.

Interior window trim in an old Colonial is wood built into plaster
walls. Replacing it would basically be the same as getting new
construction windows. Easy and cheap enough to do if you're talking
drywall and what passes for new construction window openings these days
(which often includes no trim at all), but when you're talking about
ripping down plaster, ripping out all that wood, re-plastering the
walls and building a new window opening in the same style as the old
using newly-cut and molded wood built to custom sizes, you're talking
thousands *more* dollars.
....

I've seen a lot of old colonials while living in VA and done
restorations/repair/refurbishment in a number of them. None have
required a complete destruction of existing plaster other than very
localized repair to fix/repair windows and door trims. I'm sure there
are circumstances possible that I've not run into, however, and I did
think you were talking exterior, not interior, however.

How difficult to repair/replace or even the desirability of doing so on
the interior is/would be dependent on what is actually there and the
value of the property and why it is currently so far out-of-square. If
it is actually of historical value, then the act of "repairing" it may
well be desecration, not repair. If, otoh, it is simply and old house
and the problem is one of settling or other symptoms of aging, then it
may well be the proper thing to do. I was also, however, assuming work
would be done in moderation and consideration of existing work, not a
blanket tear-out and rebuild w/ new material--that would be
self-defeating in an old house. In virtually all instances I've been
involved with, it has been a careful removal of existing work and
repair/replace/reconstruction using period materials as much as
possible and certainly rematching profiles, styles, etc. If this all
has to be done by hiring it out, yes, it would be expensive.

Now you need to check whether or not you actualy have a Pella Warranty,
Pella allows only 1/8" of out of square, plumb or level max or you are
excluded from any warranty as instalation error.
Of course they remove the junk windows, theyare to leave your home
clean.

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
wrote in message


The
measurements the installer takes are good for I think a year, so you
can just order the windows any time without having another measurement
done.


Good for a year? What happes to your house after a year. Does it shrink or
expand? Almost sounds like a sale pressure gimmick.

I'm sure that's part of it. Another part is probably just that they
don't want to be liable if your house has settled over that year and
thrown the measurements out of whack. I'm sure there's some margin of
error built in, but just for example, I was concerned that we weren't
even going to be able to get replacement windows (and that we'd need
new construction) because 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.

dpb wrote:
wrote:
dpb wrote:
What the web site says is nothing but advertising --

...which is legally binding in the state of New York.

what does the
_contract_ say? You did read the contract, didn't you?

Contract doesn't say anything. Doesn't have to if the web site does in
this state.

I thought that an interesting take, so did some looking...

From the NY CPB (Consumer Protection Board) web site

"Under New York law, all contracts with an underlying value of $500 or
more must be in writing, or they are not binding on the parties. ..."

You didn't look in the right place.

Look up New York State General Business Law, Article 22-A.

The relevant part:

"S 350. False advertising unlawful. False advertising in the conduct of
any business, trade or commerce or in the furnishing of any service in
this state is hereby declared unlawful."

New York State does enforce this law. Here's one high profile example:
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/200...aug09a_01.html

Individual cases obviously don't normally make the news, but you can
find plenty of other examples if you just do a Google search. The
bottom line is if you advertise a service, you are bound by the terms
of that advertisement. (There's no "fine print" on Lowes' web site
either, but fine print in New York is also regulated even if there
was).

How difficult to repair/replace or even the desirability of doing so on
the interior is/would be dependent on what is actually there and the
value of the property and why it is currently so far out-of-square. If
it is actually of historical value, then the act of "repairing" it may
well be desecration, not repair. If, otoh, it is simply and old house
and the problem is one of settling or other symptoms of aging, then it
may well be the proper thing to do. I was also, however, assuming work
would be done in moderation and consideration of existing work, not a
blanket tear-out and rebuild w/ new material--that would be
self-defeating in an old house. In virtually all instances I've been
involved with, it has been a careful removal of existing work and
repair/replace/reconstruction using period materials as much as
possible and certainly rematching profiles, styles, etc. If this all
has to be done by hiring it out, yes, it would be expensive.

Yes, then, we're in basic agreement. I can't just go around paying
thousands of dollars for cosmetic things because they don't look
*perfect*. The primary reason for us replacing these old windows to
begin with was that the old ones were literally shot to hell; they
wouldn't close properly, the wood was rotten, there were cracks in the
glass, the compound had all chipped off, etc. No point trying to
repair them, so a replacement was in order. As long as I'm doing that,
I may as well try to keep in period as much as possible, and try to get
windows that look good and that I find satisfying to look at and use.

If I want to pay thousands of extra dollars for anything, I've got
plenty of other things in my old house that need to actually be *fixed*
before I worry about straightening out window trim. But the windows
themselves were a fix for something that had just worn out, and they
are a functional item - the cosmetics are a bonus that we did pay extra
for, but we're not rich and there's a limit to what we can do. In an
ideal world, yes, I would have the old trim ripped out and replaced
with all period materials, but in an ideal world, I'd already have a $2
million house in Garden City and wouldn't have to worry about it at
all. There are compromises we all have to make, and I'm happy with how
these windows turned out given the limitations of what we could afford
to do.

btw, I am reasonably sure that the settling of that area of the house
was in part *caused* by the old windows, which had missing storm
windows and holes (from rot) in the outer part of the sill that looked
to me like they went straight down into the wall. This made the window
replacement a high priority for us, and it is part of the solution for
the settling. We know there might be other things we need to do there
but again, we don't have unlimited amounts of money and are
prioritizing, going down our list one item at a time. I doubt
replacing the window trim is ever really going to be on our minds,
though.

(It's not even really noticeable until you get up close, because the
windows angle outward - they're bay windows.)

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.

wrote in message
oups.com...
TakenEvent wrote:
There is a chance that the subcontractors are not responsible for
hauling
away the old windows. Perhaps Lowe's has someone else who specifically
deals with that sort of thing.

Possible, but my wife asked him about it and he said to just put
everything out in the garbage and they'll take it away. That might be
true (our garbage guys do seem to basically take anything), but it's
not what it says on the web site. I would think he would at least know
if there was someone else from Lowes that was going to come and take
the stuff away.

[...]

I looked it up and you're right. It does explicitly state that they'll take
the old stuff with them. They don't pick up the dump fees, though. Next
time slip the guy $100 and pile all the windows around his truck.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...vFiles/no.html

Replacement Window Installation
doors/windows replacement windows

Installation includes:
- Delivery of new replacement windows within 20 miles (one-way) of store
- Review of job with customer prior to start of installation
- Removal and haul-away of existing windows (sashes) to prepare for
installation
- Installation of new windows with sill angle and header (included with
window) in same size, square opening (108 UI or less) in reasonably good
condition (no rotten wood)
- Removal and replacement of existing interior window trim (new trim
supplied by customer)
- Caulking and insulation as required
- Test to ensure proper operation
- Clean up of the job site and haul-away of material and old window(s)
- Does not include dump fees as may be required locally

dpb wrote:
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.

You're seriously just being unnecessarily difficult. You're not
reading what I wrote and I can only surmise that at this point you're
purposely trying to find fault. I don't know how many times I need to
repeat myself, or why I should need to.

I said earlier that I had Pella look at my windows too, including
inspection and measurement. The Lowes installer did the *exact same
thing* Pella was going to do themselves. Pella looked at it and said
it would be fine; if they needed to, they would just shim and/or cut.
They then went through the entire process they would use to install the
windows and it is the exact same process Lowes used with the exception
that Lowes did not fill my counterweight voids (though they said they
would for an additional fee).

You're thinking I'm telling you the *windows* are out of plumb. I
never said that. I said the *trim* is out of plumb. Don't try to look
for fault by reading things that aren't even there. The windows are
100% straight and level. When it was necessary to do so, the installer
cut out the old trim and installed new trim (including a new sill) so
the windows would all be level.


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.

I'm not "assuming" anything. You're acting like yesterday was the
first time I saw this house and hey! Let's get new windows! The house
has been inspected twice in the past year and both times *normal*
settlement was noted. Yes, one side of the house has settled a bit
more than the other. Whether it's because of what I speculated on
earlier, I really don't know - I'm not an engineer, and am more likely
to be wrong than the two engineers who *have* looked at it and
pronounced it normal settlement. They also listed window replacement
as a high priority repair.

This particular area of my house juts out a bit on the second floor,
over the porch roof. These are bay windows (original to the house) and
the bay area overhangs the load-bearing wall beneath it. The bay
window area on both sides has moved about 1 inch in the 83 years,
because it is not directly supported underneath. This is a quirk in
construction, but it's not unique to my house - many other houses in
this area are the same.

And 83-yr old "colonial"?

Colonial Revival if you want to be technical about it. Nobody uses
that term in the real world, though; not where I live, anyway. There's
no distinction made between Colonial and Colonial Revival houses, and
both exist on my block.

Anyway, I'm pretty much done defending my window installation. I mean
sheesh, you'd probably tell somebody to replace their roof because
their ceiling paint was peeling.

wrote:
....
You're seriously just being unnecessarily difficult. You're not
reading what I wrote and I can only surmise that at this point you're
purposely trying to find fault. ...

No, not really (read further if you want to see what I was actually
responding to)...

You're thinking I'm telling you the *windows* are out of plumb. I
never said that. I said the *trim* is out of plumb. Don't try to look
for fault by reading things that aren't even there. The windows are
100% straight and level. When it was necessary to do so, the installer
cut out the old trim and installed new trim (including a new sill) so
the windows would all be level.

I don't have any doubt the new windows were installed square and plumb
in out-of-square openings. What wasn't addressed in any of the
postings prior was the root cause for the openings being so out of
square. From another posting--"...because 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..." and "the settling of that area of the
house was in part *caused* by the old windows, which had missing storm
windows and holes (from rot) in the outer part of the sill that looked
to me like they went straight down into the wall."

If that doesn't sound like a description of some pretty serious or at
least potentially serious structural problems that needed addressing
before (or at least at the same time as) the windows were replaced, I
don't know what would. I've seen a large number of old houses in which
such major defects were not addressed but all the cosmetic work was
done over the existing structure. Once done, the places looked
gorgeous, but unfortunately, the underlying faults came back to haunt
and most of that investment turned out to have been wasted as it was
required to be torn out and redone to fix foundation or sillplates or,
....

You also indicated that the trim was integral to the walls, not simply
a surface mount and I did make the assumption that by "Colonial" you
were really meaning something far older than what you are/were, thus
making the likelihood of such structural problems much higher. Again,
note that I spent quite some time VA working on restorations of many of
ante-bellum and older houses and have seen all of these problems and
more. If the trim was out of square, that implied to me the walls were
out of square, too. And, if they were, there had to be a reason, and
that reason might not be good.

....

...you'd probably tell somebody to replace their roof because their ceiling paint was peeling.

No, but I'd certainly tell them it would behoove them to find out _why_
the ceiling paint is/was peeling just in case there were moisture on
the top side of the plaster from a leaky roof. Saved more than one
ceiling from falling that way...

If there has been adequate inspection or other work undertaken (which
wasn't mentioned in response to any of the other comments until the
last post), that's good and takes care of the concerns, but I still
don't feel at all that voicing the concern was unwarranted given the
information that was available at the time of each comment.