Window Installation
June 21, 2010 – 8:01 amWe had a person come by and offer to us, what we thought was a great deal on replacement windows. Little did we know that this was going to be one mess up after another.
Advice to those seeking window replacements, DON’T DO IT. Go with a reputable company who will do good work to start with.
Schedule of events
8:00 am Expected Arrival of crew
8:20 am Phone call ” Hi, I’m running a little late. Traffic is bad coming from Maryland. I should be there in an hour.”
10:30 am Arrival (which is not one hour later, but instead 2-1/2 hours later than expected)
10:40 am Floor tarps put down
10:50 am Started getting things unloaded
11:05 am Carrying windows through house
11:30 am Installation begins
photographs and monitoring
5:00 pm Panic mode. Everybody wants to go home to their families so everybody is rushing to get the job done.
6:00pm Insisted they replace the rotten wood under the sliding door after the door was removed. Otherwise how would I be able to access the wood under the door? The proper course of action is to repair/replace the entire section under the door. Instead I only got about 8 inches of the really rotten wood replaced. Now I have to come back later and fix it again the correct way.
7:30 pm Finally everybody is out
Late Arrival
Almost 11:00 am and the team is starting to unload the windows.
Front door issues
The front door is a total mess. First they were going to put untreated wood under the threshold. I insisted they put pressure treated wood.
Well they put pressure treated wood, but the untreated wood filler was put on the outside. The untreated wood should be on the inside, so that it can be painted. You can see by the change of daylight how long this took for them to get this part right.
Notice the shredded door casing on the bottom left.
What is the purpose of the giant shim in the upper right corner of the door? Why not make the door flush with the wall. You won’t believe that, after installation, the trim is actually bowed out, the shims are still in place, and the door was never caulked.
The outside had aluminium threshold, but even during installation, the aluminium is bending.
The large gaps are only covered with caulk. A new piece of aluminium should have been put down to cover the entire width.
The new door frame doesn’t come close to matching what was there and the installation is pathetic at best.
Storm door was installed with the hinges on the left side, per instructions. The installer pointed out that the flow into the house is awkward and that hinges should be on the opposite side. After the installer and I discussed this, I agreed and had the door reversed. Unfortunately, he never wend back and filled the holes he made on the left side.
Window issues
The caulking had a ridiculously large curve to it. All the window installations that I have ever seen have a nice tight corners.
Window salesman kept touting that the windows will be measured to 1/16 of an inch. You can see light pouring in from the gap from across the room. This is a lot more than 1/16 inch.
The kichen windows had a large chunk of framing removed. You can see it on the left top section, right above the cable outlet. I don’t think this was ever addressed, I imagine they covered it up with the new installation. If the wood is missing, how did they adequately secure the window?
One of the basement windows was installed with a broken mullion. They weren’t even going to address this if I hadn’t said something about it. How did they fix it? Cover it with caulk.
The master bedroom windows “screech” when opened. It’s the chattering of the lock mechanism against the bent window frame.
Sliding Door issues
Bad wood found under sliding glass door. If I wasn’t following up, this would have never been addressed. I’m sure they would have not mentioned anything about the rotting floor. I’m sure they would not have offered to repair the floor.
I only stepped away for a few minutes when the sliding door was put in. I don’t know if they installed replacement wood in the floor. I definitely got the impression of “hurry up and put this door in before he gets back”
Overall Carelessness
Broken kitchen window frame. Notice the torn out wood on the left outside edge of the frame.
Scrapes on window frame. This happened when they put the new window in, not when it was taken out.
Often workers were hanging out the window without safety harnesses. If one had fallen from the third floor, they could possibly die.
My wife and I spent many months paining and cleaning the basement. This team managed, in a few hours, to leave scuff marks, dirt, and chipped paint on the new walls.
Overall Impressions
Started out bad when they were two and a half hours late showing up.
Recovered a little bit of faith when they put down the tarps.
Garbage including leftover screws and caulk strips littered everywhere they worked, especially on the roof outside the master bedroom.
Got the evil eye when I insisted they use treated wood on the threshold. Wasn’t very happy about that.
Loaned them a screwdriver, had to hunt it down after it had been packed away in a toolbox on one of their trucks.
My drill charger was stolen. I had to buy a new rechargeable drill.
After complaining
They sent out a review specialist to discuss my case and take photographs. I gave a tour and pointed out all the items that were an issue, which was almost every item installed.
Nothing has been done otherwise.
The installation was May 10, 2010. Has anything else been done? No.
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best, I rate this company a 2.
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