Sometimes, people that pride themselves into not getting duped, do. That’s me. And, hindsight being 20/20, I should have known better. I am a little angry and I second guess the whole process even if it might be the overall right decision. Let’s get into it.

In 2015, we were going to paint the house. It was at this point that some rot was discovered and ultimately led to us putting Hardie-plank over the existing T-111. It was also at that time that the front window started leaking. It is hard for me to believe but it is true that adding something on the outside caused leaking on the inside.

Over the years I have tried various things. I caulked around the upper window once and that seemed to work for a year. We hired somebody that didn’t know what they were doing and caulked on the inside (that was never going to work and it wasn’t worth pursuing given they clearly didn’t know what they were doing). In 2023, I paid a contractor to completely tear off and re-flash the window. It still leaked.

We batted around the idea of changing that window into a bay window in 2018. It was something I thought about doing during my break from work in 2019-2020 but I ended up getting involved in completely remodeling the apartment instead. Finally, my wife decided that she wanted to replace the front windows.

Have you seen the TV commercials where you buy one and get the second one free? My wife called them. These are triple glazed, argon filled, UV coated and lifetime guaranteed. I knew that it was going to be expensive and any business that advertises on TV was going to be suspect. I knew there was a leak and so I gave an extensive line of questioning. The final answer I got was that they were going to own the leak. I am sold.

Most people, myself included would say that two windows for $10,000 was over priced. I wasn’t just getting new windows, I was solving a problem that I had already spent $7500 on. I was told that any rot repair would be done outside of the window contract but that there would be a per linear foot cost and would be performed as part of the installation process.

I should have known that this was too good to be true. As the installers were tearing out the window, they said that structural damage was beyond the scope of the contract. Any additional rot repair would have to be performed first. They could do the work but were not authorized to start at the point that the window is out of the house and it would be two weeks out.

The installer advised me to get some additional estimates, his was going to be Time and Materials one to three days. Do you have any idea what it would be like to get someone within two weeks time to do the work? The longer this process takes, the longer there will be a hole covered with OSB in my front room. I am not a fool, I knew that there was a risk to more damage, I was already planning on redoing the sheetrock on the south side of the wall anyway due to water damage (after the new window). We could have solved this problem in the ten weeks we were waiting for the window.

I think that it is worth re-iterating, I am not looking for something for nothing. I knew that additional rot damage would be on our dime. I am also not surprised that there was more damage. I guess what is disappointing is that when he said they were going to own the leak, I believe what he really meant was that they were going to make sure that their windows were not the source and take as little responsibility as possible. I don’t honestly believe that they are vested in solving the problem.

All of that linear foot nonsense was about the wood casing itself. Really? In my experience rot is rarely limited to superficial trim. And so I am beat. I got suckered into buying windows that are five times more expensive than the average window all because I believed what I wanted to believe.

End Your Programming Routine: My gut feeling with these outfits is always no and from now on it will be. About two weeks later my wife called in a shower outfit and got a quote for a $20,000 shower. I was smart and said no to that one. The product brands are good and nice and all but they way overcharge and under deliver. I guess you are never too old to learn another lesson. One I should have known before the salesman walked in the door.