Good post. Just one more reason to stay away from cheap windows.

Some folks just don't think about or care about the long term consequences of their actions. Price completely overwhelms the decision making process of too many. They will buy cheap because they will be long gone before the product fails.

You don't have to settle for single pane glass and higher utility bills. I'd look at a window that uses either a TPS or Super Spacer. While neither one has been around long enough to make any empirical data available, odds are very good they will last longer than whats been used in the past. Add to that a good grade of vinyl, a good balance system and there's no reason not to have a window that will last for many years to come.

Thanks.

I found a local company. Lindsay windows who use superspacer. But take a look at a small part of the warrenty.

"Condensation or frost on the inside surface of the glass or window does not indicate a defect in the window and is not covered by this warranty.
Condensation occurs when warm moist air comes in contact with the colder surface on a window. It is a response to temperature and humidity in the home and is not the fault of the window. Since we use the warmest edge glass spacer (Super Spacer), you will have much less (if any) moisture on the inside surface of your glass. "

Is this typical for a glass warranty?

The stained glass condensation problem is why I feel the warrenty is important.

There is only a very slight possibility of this ever happening The only situation I can imagine is if it got very, very cold outside. If you live in a part of the country where the winters are bitterly cold, I'd go with triple pane w/ krypton gas. So, I really wouldn't be too concerned. Remember, warranties are written by lawyers and...well you know how they think. ":^0

I don't remember the last time I saw a good IG window seal fail. Many window companies have 10-20 year warranties on glass failure. Even the good quality vinyl window companies have long term warranties on the glass.
The quoted warranty giantscale13 posted has to do with condensation on the interior house glass, not condensation between the glass panes. Generally an indication of high humidity in the house.
Roofing issues in the time frame indicated are the result of a manufacturing defect. A number of companies had a problem back in the late '80's with shingles tearing on a roof. Had to do with a new manufacturing process as I understood it. But I have never heard of shingles curling up that weren't 25+ years old.
Homeowners, especially the DIY types, have a tendency to sometimes be cheap/stupid in their choices of materials and methodology.
Ron

This was one of the things we went over and over about when we bought our windows recently.. We initially looked at the cheap stuff (Marvin, Milgard, etc) and they all had issues of one flavor or another. For us, some of these windows have voided warranties right from the get go since we live near the ocean (~1 mile) and many window mfgr's have exceptions that don't cover or have changes in such areas.. Anyway, we ended up going with more Great Lakes windows which are considerably more $$ than any others.. We had quotes for typical Milgard windows for our remodel we're doing and it would have cost us ~$1,500 for 5 Milgard windows but the Great Lakes windows cost somewhere between 3 and 4x that price range.. However, they've got a lifetime warranty that exceeds everything else -- they cover glass breakage, and everything in between -- all free of charge. So, we're paying for a top-of-the-line warranty and top-notch windows (IMHO) at that. Needless to say, these windows will not be sitting in any dump anytime soon (probably not in my lifetime!)...