Last year I noticed that the bead of caulking between the seat board and the bottom of the vinyl picture window frame of the bay window had mold on it. I thought it may have been because of high humidity levels in the house.
Just recently I noticed that the long pillow which was on the seat board was getting soaking wet after a rain and it was then that I noticed that the bay window was leaking between the seat board and the bottom of the vinyl window. There is also a downward slope in the seat board from front to back. That is both the head board and the seat board are not level. The vertical distance between the seat board at the house side is 53 1/8" and at the external side(where the picture window is) it is 53 5/8".
I asked the dealer to come back to fix the leak and the level problem in the seat board plus a number of other problems in the other window they installed. The plywood seat board top also appeared to develop tiny fissures which ran in the direction of the grain of the wood and the fissures only appear to be occurring on the "wet" side of the seat board. I told him that the seat board had to be replaced and the entire bay windowhas to be redone.
He did not agree to this. He did however come back, removed the capping. I noticed that there was another capping beneath the one he had removed. It looked as if he made a error in installing the first capping and covered up the mistake by recapping over the old capping. A number of screws were protruding upward through the old
capping.
He did not replace the seat board. The technician said in other cases like this they would just cut out a portion of the seat board and replace that section not the entire seat board. I found this to be structurally unsound. He then proceeded to recap the wet plywood and caulked the inside and outside sealing in the waterlogged plywood seat board.
He also noticed that there were water droplets inside the panes of glass. He then proceeded to cut the black "weather-stripping" co-extrusion rubber between the glass and the vinyl frame and removed three sides of the weather-stripping replacing it with silicon seal. By doing so he voided the manufacturer's warranty.
After he left I went outside to check the work. I noticed that that miter cuts on the corner of the capping were not caulked, the top of the capping was still parallel to the ground, the paint on the house had been chipped.
The manufacturer had originally agreed to send a technical rep out to investigate the windows only by the request of the dealer, and if the dealer would not request the rep then I could phone the manufacturer and they would send one out. However as the weeks progressed and after a number of phoned calls to the manufacturer the manufacturer refused to send out a tech rep.
The bay window also makes noise when a strong wind is blowing.
I was also told by the installer not to loose any sleep over this. I was told by the installer that they had not ordered any products from Northstar in 4-5 years or more, yet the date stamps on the windows are 9/97.
Now, in order to prove that damage was done to the plywood seat board someone will have to do a destructive evaluation of the window!
This installer says they have "trained" staff!
The manufacturer now refuses to deal with the issue and the dealer refuses to deal with the issue.
Can someone give me a professional opinion about the following and can you tell me what your current profession is:
1. What thickness show the sheet of foam beneath the seat board be, or what R value should it have?
2. What will happen to the wet plywood which was recapped and why?
3. Should the installer have recapped the plywood without letting the wood dry?
4. I've been told by the installer that the problem of level with the seat is really a problem with the wall of the house.
5. Did the installer commit fraud?
6. Should the entire bay window be replaced?
7. Can you give me your general opinion on the technical competency of this installer and the construction methods they've used.
Thank you very much.
Lou
Ontario, Canada
