What Do You Need to Know about Your Window Warranty?

Windows, like many products sold to the American consumer, are typically covered by a warranty to protect homeowners against defects. If there’s a manufacturing error, a window warranty should be able to protect you against needing to pay for replacing the defective component (or, in extreme cases, the whole window).

However, not all window warranties are created equally. And not all homeowners have an active warranty on their windows. When a window has a critical defect and you need to get a warranty repair or replacement, it can be a huge headache to find out that your warranty doesn’t cover that particular defect or it expired years ago.

To help you avoid this headache, it’s important to know a few critical things about your window warranty before you ever order new windows (or buy a home with existing windows).

Let’s start with some of the top things you need to know about warranties for windows:

1: Do You Have an Active Window Warranty?

The first thing to check is if your windows currently have warranty coverage. If you bought your home with the windows that you have right now, there’s a chance that your windows aren’t actually covered under a warranty.

There are a few reasons this might be the case:

1. The Warranty May Have Been Non-Transferable. Not all window warranties can be transferred between owners. When you buy windows, the warranty generally protects you as the purchaser of your windows, not any future homeowners such as your inheritors or whomever you decide to sell your home to. If you bought your home and haven’t yet replaced the windows, there’s a chance that the manufacturer’s warranty will not be attached.
2. The Warranty May Have Expired. It’s standard practice in the industry to have a limit to how long the warranty can last. For many windows, this can be ten years past the date of purchase. If you have windows older than ten years, there’s a good chance that any window warranty you might have had is already expired. Of course, this varies significantly by manufacturer—some have an even shorter warranty period while others have a much longer warranty period.
3. The Warranty May Not Have Been Transferred. Sometimes, windows may actually have a transferable warranty, but there may have been an oversight in getting the warranty transferred over to you. Fortunately, some window manufacturers are willing to work with new homeowners who bought homes with windows that had valid, transferable warranties. 
4. The Warranty Was Voided. Some warranties may become null and void if you take certain actions (or fail to make certain maintenance steps). What voids a warranty will vary from one manufacturer to another, but common warranty-voiding actions include intentionally damaging the window, heat stresses beyond the window’s designed operating standards, and installation by unlicensed contractors.

Before you do anything else, it’s important to check your windows and verify that they have a current, active warranty. If you bought your home with the windows it currently has, the previous owner should have supplied documentation detailing the condition of the home, including whether your windows and doors were under warranty and if that warranty transfers to you as the new homeowner.

If not, try to identify the window manufacturer and request clarification and documentation from them about your windows’ warranty. If the previous owner could identify the window installation company that performed the install, that can also be helpful as they may have records which can establish if your windows should be under warranty.

2: What Do Lifetime, Prorated, and Extended Mean for My Window Warranty?

When you read your window warranty documents, you might find references to terms like lifetime, prorated, and extended warranty in the documentation. The thing is that these terms might be misleading if you take them at face value without checking their actual meanings as spelled out in your window warranty documentation.

What Does Lifetime Warranty Actually Mean for Windows?

The term “lifetime warranty” does not mean a literal human lifetime. What the term actually means, as noted by This Old House, is: “the expected lifetime of your windows.” When you hear the term, you might assume that it means “for as long as I live and own my windows,” but this would be incorrect.

How long does a ‘lifetime’ warranty really last? The answer depends on the manufacturer. Some window manufacturers define a window’s lifetime as a mere five years, while others may put it at 25 years.

So, when you see the term “lifetime warranty,” be sure to check the warranty documentation to see for yourself how long a lifetime is for that manufacturer!

What Does Prorated Coverage Mean for My Windows?

Prorated warranty coverage indicates that a window product has coverage that starts strong and gradually decreases over time.

For example, say you have a prorated glass warranty with prorated periods ranging from 1-20 years, 21-50 years, and 51+ years. In the first 20 years, the glass would have 100% coverage, so replacement glass would be free of charge. Then, from 21-50 years, the prorated coverage is 75%, meaning that you would have to pay for 25% of the cost of the replacement glass. After 50 years, it would fall to 50% coverage, meaning that the cost of the replacement glass would be evenly split between yourself and the manufacturer. 

Note: This is how Simonton’s prorated warranty for glass units in their impact windows for residential structures works.

Not all prorated warranties follow this exact pattern, but it helps to highlight how one could work. Be sure to read the warranty documentation for your windows what parts of the window are covered by a prorated warranty.

What Is an Extended Warranty for Windows?

Anyone who owns a phone has probably heard at least one voicemail message about “We’ve been trying to reach you about your car’s extended warranty” at this point. It’s like the ‘Nigerian Prince’ email of the early internet era.

But what is an extended warranty? It’s an optional warranty that you can purchase on top of your manufacturer warranty that may provide additional coverage if something happens to your windows.

In many cases, the coverage isn’t provided by the manufacturer, but by a third party company. The terms of an extended warranty may differ significantly from your manufacturer warranty, so it’s important to review the warranty documents carefully before purchasing an extended warranty.

Generally speaking, unless you specifically seek to acquire an extended warranty, it’s not something your windows will have.

3: What Does a Window Warranty Actually Cover?

This is a hard question to provide a general answer for, as what warranties cover will vary from one manufacturer to another (and even from one product line by a manufacturer to the next). 

In most cases, a window warranty covers issues that arise from defects in the manufacture or materials of the window product. For example, if the factory installed glass with a crack in it that lets your argon gas fill leak out, that would (usually) be covered in a warranty. 

However, when a warranty covers manufacturing defects, the issue needs to be caused by a manufacturing imperfection to be covered. If that crack was caused by, say, the window being installed improperly and the building frame applying excessive pressure on it, that might not be covered by the warranty.

This coverage and the exception aren’t necessarily guaranteed. It’s important to read your actual window warranty to see what it actually says about your warranty coverage: what it covers, what it exempts from coverage, and how long the warranty period will last.

Also, different parts of a window might have different levels of coverage under a window warranty.

Window Warranty Example: Simonton

Simonton sets the gold standard when it comes to warranty coverage. Their lifetime warranty is unique in that it lasts for as long as the original owner lives in the home, covering:

• Vinyl. Warranted against peeling, flaking, chipping, blistering, and corrosion for the full warranty period (i.e., a lifetime).
• Hardware. This covers mechanical and locking mechanisms against peeling, flaking, rusting, blistering, corrosion, and breakage during normal operation.
• Screens. Covers both the screen frame and wire mesh. The frame is warranted against peeling, flaking, blistering, and corrosion. The screen mesh is warranted against insect damage, accidental punctures, and tears.

The insulated glass unit (IGU) of a Simonton impact window has a 20-year prorated warranty which covers the full cost of the IGU for the first twenty years, 75% of the cost for the next thirty, and a 50/50 split after fifty years. 

This prorated coverage is for permanent and material obstructions that block vision (usually caused by dust or moisture between the glass panes). It also covers any internal grids against slippage, sagging, or inversion.

Any factory-applied exterior coatings with Simonton have a 10-year warranty against peeling, chipping, flaking, corrosion, and significant fading from exposure to natural UV rays. 

This is one of the most comprehensive and generous window warranties on the market today. Best of all, their warranty process is typically much easier to deal with than the average.

In fact, Simonton’s warranty is so generous that Karoly Windows provides additional coverage for warranty service labor on Simonton windows!

Karoly’s Lifetime Window Warranty

Karoly provides a 25 year labor warranty on any Simonton impact window or door we install. If you need warranty repair or replacement on a Simonton window/door we installed, we’ll provide the labor free of charge so you don’t have to pay for warranty service. 

Normally, when you get warranty repair or replacement for a window, the manufacturer only covers the cost of the replacement parts, not the labor needed to complete the replacement.

That’s one of the ‘hidden’ costs of warranty service for windows. Labor is typically not included. 

However, with Karoly Windows, we’ll cover that cost on our Simonton Windows installations so you can rest easy knowing that you aren’t going to face hidden fees if anything happens with your window.

Get Windows with the Best Warranty and the Best Installation!

Looking for windows that have a strong window warranty that goes above and beyond the industry standard? Reach out to Karoly Windows & Doors today to request a free in-home window consultation and learn more about how you can get windows with a real lifetime warranty that covers both materials and labor!