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Window and Door Warranties Explained: Manufacturer vs. Installer, What Lifetime and Prorated Mean, Sealed Units, Hardware, Colour, Labour, Transfer on Sale, and the Exclusions That Void Most Claims
Windows & Doors
Two Warranties on Every Window, and the One That Covers the Leak Is the One Nobody Reads
The manufacturer warrants the window: the frame, the glass seal, the hardware, the colour, each for its own number of years and most of them prorated. The installer warrants the installation, which is where the leaks are, for as many years as he wrote down, which is often none. “Lifetime warranty” on the brochure is the first of those, means less than it sounds, and does not cover the stain under the window. Here is what each document says, and how to read yours.
The numbers
2warranties on every window, from two companies
10 to 20years on the sealed unit, typical; often prorated
1 to 10years on hardware
2 to 10years on the installation, from a company that writes one
The manufacturer’s warranty, part by part
| Part | Typical term | What it usually covers | What it usually does not |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vinyl frame and sash | “Lifetime” (original owner) or 20 to 25 years | Cracking, peeling, warping from defects | Damage, movement of the house, installation stress, dark-colour heat on some |
| Sealed glass unit | 10 to 20 years, often prorated after 5 or 10 | Seal failure (fog between panes) | Breakage, stress cracks, scratches, labour to swap it |
| Hardware | 1 to 10 years | Operators, locks, hinges that fail from defects | Wear, corrosion near salt or pools, adjustment |
| Exterior colour | 10 to 20 years, often prorated | Peeling, delamination, fade beyond a stated limit | Chalking, south exposure on some, uneven fade |
| Screens, grilles, weatherstrip | 1 to 5 years | Defects | Everything else |
| Labour | Often 1 to 2 years, often none | Sometimes the first year’s service calls | Labour to replace a unit under warranty in year 8, which is yours |
“Prorated” means the maker pays a declining share: 100% for the first few years, then perhaps 50% at year 10, 20% at year 15, of the part only. A $300 sealed unit at year 12 on a prorated 20-year warranty might be $120 from the maker and $180 plus the glazier from you.
The installer’s warranty: the one that matters in year three
The manufacturer’s warranty excludes installation, in writing, every time. A window that leaks at the sill because there was no pan is not a defective window; it is a defective installation, and the maker will say so. So the only warranty on the thing most likely to go wrong is the installer’s, and the installer’s is whatever he wrote on the quote. The good companies write 5 or 10 years on workmanship, in a paragraph that says what it covers: water infiltration at the installation, air leakage at the perimeter, operation of the sash as installed. The others write “lifetime” with no paragraph, or nothing. A warranty with no company behind it in five years is worth the paper; the quote page has the reference call that tells you whether there will be a company.
The words to find in the document
- “Original purchaser” or “original owner”: it ends when you sell, unless there is a transfer clause.
- “Transferable”: usually once, usually with a form and a fee within 30 to 90 days of sale, and often at a shorter term for the new owner. Do the form; buyers ask.
- “Prorated”: the schedule, by year, for each part.
- “Labour” or “service”: whether anyone comes to the house, and for how long.
- “Exclusions”: the long list. Installation, condensation, stress cracks, glass breakage, settling, acts of God, cleaning with the wrong product, exposure to salt or chemicals, “thermal stress” on dark colours, failure to register.
- “Registration”: some warranties are void unless registered within 30 to 90 days. Register.
- “Remedy”: repair, replace, or refund, at the maker’s choice. “Replace” means ship a part, not fit it.
The exclusions that void most claims
- Installation not to the manufacturer’s instructions. Which the installer has, and you can ask for. If the sill was not panned, the frame warranty on a rotted frame is gone too.
- Condensation. Inside the room, never covered; it is the house. Between the panes, covered as seal failure. Which is which.
- Stress cracks in glass. A crack from an edge with no impact point is thermal stress; most makers exclude it on standard glass and cover it on tempered.
- Dark colours on hot exposures. Read the colour section before buying black for the south wall. Black frames.
- Hardware “wear”. A stripped operator in year four is wear to the maker and a defect to you. Hardware terms are short for this reason.
Where homeowners go wrong
- Hearing “lifetime” and stopping there. Read the sealed-unit line and the labour line; those are the warranty.
- No installer warranty in writing. Then no installer warranty.
- Not registering. A 20-year warranty that lapsed at 90 days.
- Not transferring on sale. The next owner’s fogged window is nobody’s.
- Letting the installer “handle the claim”. The claim is yours; keep the paperwork and the serial numbers (on a label in the frame channel).
Questions people ask
What does a lifetime window warranty cover?
Usually the vinyl frame against defects, for the original owner, with the sealed unit, hardware and colour on shorter, often prorated terms, and labour excluded after the first year or two. The installation is never in it.
Who is responsible if a new window leaks?
If it leaks at the joint with the wall, the installer, under the installation warranty if there is one. If the sealed unit fogs, the manufacturer, under the glass term, usually without labour.
Are window warranties transferable?
Often once, with a form and sometimes a fee, within a set time after the sale, and sometimes at a reduced term. Check the document; it matters when you sell.
Get both warranties on the quote
The sixteen-line checklist has the two warranties as separate lines because they are separate things. If a quote has one, ask for the other in writing. If the answers are vague, $99 gets the documents read.
Sources and further reading
- Your rights when starting home renovations or repairs: Ontario government. The 10-day cooling-off period for contracts signed in your home, and what a contract has to say.
- JELD-WEN Canada: windows and exterior doors; the rough opening sheets and warranty documents are on the site.
