We bought the house cheap because it was an estate sale, and it had only been owned by one family over its entire 75+ years of existence.
Of course, that meant the house needed major updating. One of the first orders of business was replacing the old windows, many of which didn’t even work. We already knew which window installer to use because we had replaced windows at our previous house and were happy with that company (which company had also been recommended by friends who had used it for their homes).
The new windows came with a “lifetime warranty” from the manufacturer, as well as an additional 5-year warranty from the installation company. Sounds good, right?
Recently, the internal balance mechanism failed on one of the windows and while we can still open the window, it won’t stay up. We contacted the installation company to arrange the repair.
And guess what? We’re past the 5-year period covered by the local warranty, and the window manufacturer has gone out of business, thereby invalidating the lifetime warranty.
Once again, I figured we were screwed.
Surprisingly, the local installation company was able to locate the replacement parts, which they will install, but we have to pay a service call fee as well as the cost of the parts – probably a couple of hundred dollars in total.
Still, that’s cheaper than having to replace the entire window, which I guess would be the only other option if the replacement parts were no longer available. I’d hate to think how much a new window might cost at today’s tariff- and inflation-driven prices.
Hopefully I’m not jinxing myself when I say that it seems we have somehow managed to handle this mini-crisis.
And yes, I realize how insensitive it is to worry about a defective, but still operable, window, when so many people elsewhere in the country are dealing with real house-related issues (like losing an entire home, and in many cases losing family members, in a flood or fire). My heart goes out to all those folks, and I will end here on that sad and humbling note.
Hugs, all.
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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Image by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalieStudio
Cordelia's Mom, Still 
I don’t think it’s insensitive. It’s true that a lot of people have problems, but yours are important to you. I’m glad you have a installer who can make the repair and that he can get the parts.
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Ha. I was actually going to add a sentence that bloggers tend to be self-centered, but changed my mind.
The company has the parts and we are scheduled for next week, but the question remains as to whether the technician will succeed in the repair. We’ll see.
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Yes CM . It’s a shame that the company has gone bust and that your warranty has run out… As Dan says your problems are as valid as everyone else’s 💜💜
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Yeah, for some reason it never occurred to me that a lifetime warranty could mean “lifetime of the company.” Now I know.
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these things are very misleading 💜💜
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I sympathise as we are house hunting and some of the properties are potential money pits.
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Good luck. We chose our house because even though it was old and needed cosmetic updating, we were assured through the home inspection that all the major mechnicals were sound. But then the hot water tank had to be disconnected because the pipes were wrong, the 7-year-old furnace failed, the electrical panel failed a few years later, the roof blew off, the sewer line broke, etc. etc. Home ownership is not for the faint-hearted, as you well know.
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But it’s home!!!!
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Absolutely. And still so much cheaper, more secure, and more private, than renting an apartment somewhere.
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I’m glad you found a manageable solution, CM. And your problem is real to you, I get it. We can feel for the real big woes and still want to solve our things too.
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The support I get from my WP friends is awesome. I know life doesn’t stop for us because of crises in other areas of the world, but since I have readers in those parts of the world, I simply wanted to show I was at least aware of what they might be going through.
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