Window Replacement in Los Osos, CA

December 8, 2013

My wife and I decided to upgrade our patio doors. I have installed windows before and I am proficient in that process. I figured doors would be essentially the same, but didn't want to deal with the larger size and didn't really have the time. After getting three estimates, I decided to go with Home Depot for two reasons. One, the salesperson recommended Simonton and talked about them being #1 in JD Power's latest survey (which was true). And two, the lifetime warranty on the doors and installation (we will see how that works out). All three estimates were approximately the same although I was going to go with another brand that I am not supposed to mention and a local window company had I not used home depot. I will start with the doors. There is a little play in the doors and screens. They slide smoothly if you put a minimum effort in to moving them, anything more and they slop around in their tracks. The handles are cheap and even when fully tightened they have a lot of slop. I am afraid to use anything more than little force to operate the doors because the handles move and really stress the screws that hold them together. The locks are not precise and take an excess amount of jiggling to operate. The track on the inside is also rather cheap and as I found out last night, doesn't drain water when the installation is poor and the doors leak. The installation was horrendous. Upon removal of the old doors, the oak floor and interior trim were damaged. I did some work to patch and seal the floor and also on the trim to fix the spots that were damaged. It was minor work for me and I expected a little bit of that, so I didn't complain. The interior trim pieces that were added to fill in space were not installed flush with the existing trim and I also had to do some sanding. The outside trim was left completely in place and the new doors were cut to size, screwed in to the door frame, and then caulked. The caulking dried with gaps. I spent a few hours caulking and trying to adequately seal all of the doors. I expected the to leak, I don't know why I am surprised. I even told the contractor that I thought they would leak. He said there was no way. Today, I woke up at 4 a.m. to the sound of water rushing down the inside of the door, into the track and onto my oak flooring. After the rain, I pulled the outside trim back to look at the leak. The entire top of the door inside my house was filled with standing water. I dried it out and realized that the contractors cut the door 3/8" short. A door that is supposed to go under siding and trim might have sealed if there was no gap and plenty of caulking, but it was 3/8"! The gap was filled with caulking, but that didn't hold during the first rain of the year (about 0.25 inches). I repaired it, but I don't think it will hold during any substantial rain. It was just not done well. I expected the door not to be cut, my trim to be removed, flashing to be installed, the door to be put in under the siding if possible, and the trim to be re-installed with caulking underneath. I will update this review or write a new one depending on how the lifetime warranty works out. I will take pictures and attach them next time it leaks. I highly recommend not using simonton doors and hd installation.

- alfonso

Los Osos, CA, 93402