Lifetime Window Warranties Explained: What’s Actually Covered (And What Isn’t)

Hey guys, Sean with American Window Concepts. In today's video, we're talking about lifetime warranties on windows. What to look for, what to ask. Let's talk about that. Most vinyl windows are going to come with some sort of a lifetime warranty. Not the cheap stuff, but the stuff that's of good quality is going to come with some sort of a lifetime warranty. And then you'll have like for instance, you'll have a a limited lifetime warranty. And if so, if your window that they're uh proposing comes with a limited lifetime warranty, what you're probably going to end up finding is that the limitation is going to be to you, the original purchaser most times. So, if you were to sell the home, maybe the warranty doesn't transfer to the next person. And for you, you might not care. You're just like, well, I bought the windows. I'm the one who wants the warranty. Right? The other part of the limitation might be that the parts and labor are only covered for an extended amount of time. let's say 10 years or 15 years, maybe 20 years of lapsed time from the date that they're installed to 20 years, let's say, that the parts and labor will be covered, right? So, that's a limited part of the warranty. Totally understandable for some window companies, right? Because maybe that would put them in the hole if if they have to try to cover parts, labor, anything else because it's a known issue and they don't want to cover it for that long. Now, if you buy a very high-grade window and it has a full lifetime warranty, chances are it's covering all parts and labor, you know, glass packages, anything that might seal for your entire life as long as you own the windows. And it may even transfer to the next person for some amount of time. Then you have the full double lifetime warranties. And there are some window manufacturers that will offer that. Now, that's going to cover everything related to the craftsmanship of the window. That means insulated glass units that might fail, meaning fog between the panes of glass. What what I tell people about the double lifetime warranty is that yes, it'll cover you and your windows and then if you sold that home, that full warranty would cover the next person who bought the house, right? And that's pretty awesome. So, if they're going to offer a full double lifetime warranty or even a full lifetime warranty for the original purchaser, they're basically saying, "Hey, we know that these, you know, glass units are going to last a very, very long time and we shouldn't have any issues to where we get closed down in 15, 20 years because we can't afford to do this anymore." Right? Makes a lot of sense to me. You're not going to find that with a lot of other, you know, styles of windows, whether it be wood, especially wood windows. I mean, I love them. They're beautiful. They're expensive and all that, but their warranties are not that good. They really are not. They're they're expensive windows. And to send somebody out to do anything regarding that window is just going to be pretty expensive on on the uh the back end as well. So, there's that. So, literally best bang for your buck, the best value for your dollar is going to be vinyl windows. It just really is. You can step up and go with fiberglass window, but most customers nowadays are just going with vinyl because it's such a great insulator and the value you get with it. The things that I want to cover with you that would not be covered under a window manufacturer's warranty is going to be any craftsmanship done by the installer. This is why it's so important to have the installer part of the business that's selling you the windows because they have to protect their name. My name is on the line. We have our installers go out, install the windows, and we know exactly how to screw these windows in, what sealants to use, what the approach is whenever we're installing the windows. The craftsmanship of the installation is going to be on the installers themselves. If you hire a fly by night guy, you go to Lowe's, pick up some windows, and say, "Hey, can you please put these windows in?" And they might be like, "Yeah, sure. We'll put them in for you." But what happens if something goes wrong? What happens if all the windows start leaking from the very top and dropping down inside your house because they didn't know how to seal it, right? This is all bad stuff that you want nothing to do with. Get somebody who's reputable, who does everything. Not just goes into your house, sells the windows, but they also have their employees that will do the installation for you. It's kind of a start to finish, open to close scenario. And that's what I would think you would want. Protect your house. You saving that buck might cost you way more bucks in the long run. So, think about that. All right, guys. Long-winded. I hope this helps. Make it a great day. Before you click off this video, if you live in the Ventura, LA or Dallas Fort Worth area and you are interested in a free inhome estimate, go to the website, click on the request. The link is down below in the descriptions. I will reach out to you. Thank you guys so much.