Yes, well the price IS the most important thing after all, isn't it?

Well, not exactly. I don't like the cheapest stuff. My believe is: people who get the cheapest stuff will pay twice.

and you get what you pay for, which is why I would not buy windows and or doors from HD, Lowes or any of the box stores without knowing before I walked in everything I wanted and knew 100% what I was getting. And in my opinion you will never get all that in one of those places.

I had double hung windows put in my first home 7 years ago - they did an excellent job and we love the windows. Just bought 5 windows for a sunroom that slide open - unfortunately you can't clean from the inside. Saleman lied about a couple of things such as they don't use sub-contractors. Windows look good but I'm not sure I'd ever use them again.

Hasn't all this been said at least 2-dozen times? Maybe a search on "home depot windows" would disclose everything anyone has to say on the subject without everyone having to say it again. The comments do not seem to change very much over time.

I had home depot install my windows after talking with 3 of my neighbors who highly reccommended them. It was a smooth proccess, great product and very professionally installed. I did do a little shopping around before signing the contract. They were not the least expensive or the most expensive quote. I was so happy with the process that I have also had them do my gutters and new soffitts. I would recommend them. as a side not I know that 1 of the other companies I had quote the windows has already gone out of business. I am quite satified and I am sure you will be too.

I think HD subcontracts all installation work to local contractors. The potential disadvantages of these arrangements to the consumer have been pointed out. On the other hand, you at least have a stable, responsible party to aim at in the event the job is not done properly. It will be a rare contractor who has a policy of insurance that is not loaded with "work product" exclusions. That means that, in case of defective workmanship, you will be trying to wring blood from a turnip.

I had HD install a ceiling fan the other day. They had a local electrical contractor to do the job. When the guy showed up, I noticed he had an Angie's List patch on his sleeve. I could have checked him out beforehand, had I been so minded. This is precisely what I would do were I to have HD install windows for me.

Amazing the info that goes on here! So there is no mistakes what I am saying
"IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEM WITH A HOME DEPOT WINDOW INSTALL , YOU CAN GO TO WWW.MYHOMEDEPOTPROJECT.COM . ALL YOUR INFO WILL BE THERE AND IF YOU E-MAIL HOME DEPOT; THEY HAVE TO RESPOND WITHIN 24 HOURS! AND YES EVERYTHING IS COVERED UNDER THE WARRANTY WITH THE 6500 SERIES (ALL PARTS, ALL LABOR , INCLUDING ACCIDENTAL GLASS BREAKAGE AND SCREEN TEARS) !"
I work at home depot and they are not perfect but they dont leave customers hanging or screwed over! Compare that with the number one customer compliant idustry in amereica .....HOME IMPROVEMENT CONTRACTING !
I can put most of you in touch with at least 20 of my customers who got screwed over and yes they got everything in writing .... yes they did thier research , most checked license and insurance !
The problem is the laws are easy on people who take advantage of consumers!
By the way your $21 qoute should include everything since it is standard for us to include replacing rotted wood, capping with pvc trim coil(not the chalky stuff that runs when it rains) , also they fill in any air gaps with insulation , clean up all job related debris .

Dam, they must have been feeding you the HD Koolaid for quite some time!!!

Had HD install 18 windows in my house 3 years ago. Not the cheapest quote but definitely not the highest. Got the Simonton 6500s. Love the windows. Really loved the service. Professional, courteous and clean. Did my homework beforehand. Installers were local, but all were background checked, drug tested, etc. All liability insurances, etc. Had a problem with one window 2 years after windows were installed and the project manager (a HD employee) came out and made it right quickly. Every person I was in contact with was professional and knowledgable. I would ASBSOLUTELY do my windows with HD. Very good experience. TOTAL PIECE OF MIND.

"also they fill in any air gaps with insulation"

Except "insulation," except foam-in-a-can type, is not designed to stop air movement and seal anything

You are totally at the mercy of the contractors who pay HD cut to get business.

First of all it's Peace of Mind not piece of mind. Secondly, nobody ever said every HD install was done poorly. What they have said is that you have a greater chance of getting a poor install from HD than if you carefully screen a local window contractor. At least with the local company, you can get specific references on the installer. With HD, it's the luck of the draw.

WOw. It sounds like to me that there are a few "haters" on here. I can only say that The RSW home services program stands behind the products they install and not only the product but the opening or the area it is installed in or on. HD warranties are lifetime. Not a limited lifetime and also include the craftsmanship along with the product. Some warranties, depending on the product, are different than others however they are clearly stated and easy to find. HD does use other contracting companies to do the installs. Show me another company that does not do the same. They are few and far between. The contractors are background checked extensively and periodicly. The contractors are trained by the manfufacture for proper installation so that the windows are installed properly. HD does repair any rotted wood and insulates between the window and frame and then the window is sealed by a wrap and a caulk. The craftsman ship in most cases, depending on the product, is warrantied for the entire time that you own the home. There are no trip or service cost. There will be instances that things do not go as planned but as the largest replacement window installer in the US you can't expect every job to run perfectly. The bottom line all the issues were taken care of. When you by HD you are getting the best product available at a valued price with peace of mind.

Step away from the HD Kool Aid!!!

Pick any windows in the world, and any installer. Some customers' experience with the product and installation will be very good, others very bad.

HD subcontracts all of its installations: windows, doors, roofs, decks, fences, cabinets -- everything. The job you get depends on the installer -- how carefully he/she measures and how fussy he/she is with the installation. In this area, one HD windows installer is very good. two are average, and the fourth should be arrested.

So there is no across-the-board answer to your question. Do what you should do with any remodeling project. Find out who the installer is, ask for reference to prior jobs, check the BBB, and talk to the installer. Your gut may tell you he/she is the right person for the job, or it may tell you the opposite. Go with your gut.

But also get estimates from other companies. HD windows are not made by HD, they are made by Anderson and, i think, Simington. In any even, the store millwork guy will tell you who the manufacturer is, and in any locality the same or nearly the same product is carried by one or more local window companies.

hello, is there any discount for a window installation from home depot. anything out there? i will send money with paypal for the answer. thank you. i am paying $10 for a valid response to a discount.

what?

"Except "insulation," except foam-in-a-can type, is not designed to stop air movement and seal anything "

I understand this, but am leery of any foam in my walls. Foam will degrade, dry out and/or disintegrate over time. I had fiberglass used in the very small space open for the area around my windows. There is no draft whatsoever. I would be curious to see the longevity of spray foam in high heat and extreme cold.

Foam does not disintegrate inside your walls. The foam is very stable and the primary culprit in the break down of foam is UV exposure. Inside the wall = zero issues.

Heat and cold have almost zero effect on the foam and it is designed with those very temperature extremes in mind.

Don't use Home Depot. They came to install my windows in January. They screwed the order up and it is June and the right windows are still not installed. They are not returning my calls. The installers - Russians - crammed two windows in and broke them. They used 2 different kinds of caulk on the exterior which don't match. The salesman said they would replace rotted wood around the windows, which they did not. Three of the 21 windows don't lock because they don't fit. Their customer service sucks. Just don't go there. Wish I had not.

I appreciate everyone for sharing since I am looking to replace my windows and not sure where to start.

I don't know who you might hire, but somehow, be SURE what you are getting. Have a discerning eye for quality, and take a real good look at prior jobs that the contractor did prior to letting them into your home.

This post was edited by gmyatko on Sun, Dec 23, 12 at 12:49

Thank you so much gymyatko for the long post to warn me and others to not hire Home Depot to install windows in my home. I really appreciate all the time you took to give all the details. I got the post in my inbox but when I went to the site to reply, it was edited and gone. You should really put all back that you wrote to warn others that some Home Depot Stores are not to be relied on while others you can rely on but to BEWARE! Thanks again.

On 9-07-15 a Homedepote representative gave us demonstration on Windows, my husband was very clear and specific he wanted WOOD Windows only. 7 days after choosing our Windows,

the rep with the name Allen Newton gave us a visit to apologize that the windows were not exactly wood, but a mixture of vinyl and wood. As unpleasant as it sounded we agreed to proceed with the project, we even chose the color we wanted. Some days later the rep. Came to measure the Windows and. To tell us the color I chose was actually not even available for my Anderson Windows. So making it easy for everyone I had to pick another color. He told me someone else would come measure again to make sure measurements are correct and so they can start making them. It's November 2 by now and not a single update or call from home depote. I call Allen to ask what's going on. And he then sends the installer the next day. After the installer measures my Windows he told me he should be installing my Windows himself, in 2 weeks.

2weeks pass like always nobody calls me. I call and ask Allen, his response was My Anderson Windows are complicated and take longer. They take 6 weeks not 2. So I wait. By now it's December 14. I call Allen . He says he would call me back in 5. An hour later he calls Apologizing . Saying that 2 days ago they sent him an email., turns out one of the Windows they can't make it so they threw the whole project back. Absolutely Nothing Has Been done.

(My thoughts)-(why didn't u call me 2 days ago?!) (these are custom made how is it that they can't do it??!).. So I though calling the manager would make things better. But no, manager said he would call me the next day at 2pm... And no call... I feel as if they wanted me to cancel. So sad I won't have my Windows installed before xmas!! Thanks For NOTHING Home depote. ****then I thought If only I had seen 108 complain reviews on HD. Would have saved me time!!

Initially
we were ok with the replacement of our windows with new vinyl windows.
The installer did a poor job caulking around the trim and we had to
mention it while he was here and fix it. It's been 6 mos and the
caulking has continued to shrink and change color which looks horrible
since the windows are white and the caulk is now yellowish brown. There
is also mold growing in some places. I have called four times, each
time being promised by customer service that someone would call back
right away. To this date, no one called me back and I am super
irritated. There windows cost us over $24,000 and our house now has a
problem that Home Depot created. With the rain we get here in Georgia, I
do not appreciated paying that much to get leaky windows. Apparently
they don't care despite their alleged warranty. DO NOT make the same mistake by going with Home Depot.

The day the installers left I was happy but within a few months I noticed defects in workmanship. Caulk shrunk back to allow water to pass the cheap aluminum trim. Trim hides damage to your wood sashes and frames so this is an important issue. Workmanship is supposedly guaranteed for life and I paid Home Depot over $24,000 to replace some windows so felt this should be taken care of and although the service manager said they would take care of it, it has been months since this was reported and still no repairs have been made. They do not honor their warranty.

I guess my window and vinyl installation was an exception to all the good stories I read here. The window quality itself was good but the install was highly destructive to the window framing, no foam was shot into the cracks and crevasses so there's a bit of a draft. I went round and round with the HD project manager trying to gyp me out of the insulation I chose. I asked for 3/4 inch insulation and because they wanted to use staples instead of lag screws I wound up with 1/4 in instead even after they told me they replaced the 1/4 inch with the 3/4 inch I had requested. I found this out just recently when I installed a wall vent for a Microwave. Removed the 1/4 inch insulation thinking I had the 3/4 installed. Rip off artists. You have to watch them throughout the install because you can trust them at all. Really angry that I paid for something I didn't get. Very disgruntled. Thinking about suing them if its possible.

Sneaking suspicion the window quality is not all that either....................

@millworkman so Andersen windows from HD are not quality? why would they put their name on them?

I did not say the Andersen windows from HD were not the same quality as every where else. I just do not trust their people to specify, order, or install them. The previous poster I was referring to did not get Andersen's as he mentioned vinyl replacement windows.

+1 to MWM's comments. I'd add though that just because the Andersen name is on them that does not guarantee that they are good quality. At various points there have been low end vinyl windows (Silverline/ American Craftsman) that are/were Andersen products, but they are far from quality. Most manufacturers have an entry level window that should not be confused with their higher end lines that are responsible for their good reputation.

@millworkman thank you for the reply/clarifying. @HomeSealed Exteriors, LLC I guess I’m surprised Andersen would risk their reputation with low quality products.

Perhaps that is why they sold Silverline.

@alwayscold, I suspect Todd's comment may be part of that, although like I mentioned earlier, most manufacturers will have an entry level line that leaves much to be desired. From their perspective they are(were) probably able to make a nice chunk of money in that entry level sector selling to builders, house flippers, rental properties, DIY, etc, without a terrible effect on their reputation. Those buyers don't have high expectations in most cases, and the higher end products that they sell still do the heavy lifting for the generally positive sentiment toward the brand. I'd add that their desire to sell more of fibrex products (100 series) in that sector may have played a role as well, but that is pure speculation on my part.

I’m sure it had to more with popularity of the 100. They recently expanded the Bayport plant by 60,000 square feet and a new 500,000 Square foot facility in Arizona all for the 100 series.

We will add our voices to those telling people not to hire Home Depot to install windows. I love Home Depot in general but would NEVER have them replace windows again. We had then replace 3 large windows and the arch in our main living area after our 30 year old window’s seal went bad. We were impressed with the salesman. He had better knowledge of windows without seeming to want to sell extra, took our considerations into account and recommended products based on wants. Install appeared okay. Not perfect as screw holes and patches didn’t completely line up but seemed minor. However within a couple months we started to have two rusty streaks on the outside of the main window. we contacted them and they inspected. Cleaned the windows and told us there was no problem. After a month they were back and we contacted them again. Again they came out and told us it was a problem with our roof and we must have changed something. We hadn’t and the windows had not had problems for 30 years so that did not make sense. As our windows are high up on a 2nd floor and especially the arch was out of the range of our tallest ladder we pulled out our telephoto cameras and took pictures. about 80% of the outside caulking/sealing on the arch and a large portion on the others was pulling away. This was allowing water to seep in and get behind the lentil holding up the brick, rust and deep behind. Long story short we had 2 other window companies and a mason come out and look at the damage. all said the installation was done incorrectly and may be causing more damage. They could tell us right away what was done wrong. They told us Home Depot needed to fix it (though they would also fix it if we wanted to pay them). We contacted Home Depot again with the pictures and info multiple times. They sent the same installer out who said he could not see why it would fail like that. Home Depot wanted him to fix it but we said someone else had to since that guy didn’t even know why it had failed. They offered to send someone from another city to fix it, cancelled and said we would have to find someone Else to fix it, they would pay but no warranty could be given. Finally after 14 months and 40-60 hours of work on my wife’s part, we agreed to have the mason fix the brick, lentil, and sealing/caulking. home depot sends the paperwork to agree to pay for him to fix it. Section 5 of the agreement is a nondisclosure that we cannot review or discuss anything leading up this or after once we sign to get what amounts to <$10/hr of my wife’s work. WOW a nondisclosure to get something repaired from an installation done wrong that caused damage to our house!! STAY AWAY FROM HOME DEPOT WINDOWS. (Great place to shop. Horrible place for installs) oh and the ”elevator” on the window is broken in 18 months as well. Take into account that home depot makes people sign this nondisclosure to resolve their problems and hence there are likely less negative reviews online than there should be. To emphasize this review is posted before any non disclosure is in force.

"we agreed to have the mason fix the brick, lentil, and sealing/caulking. home depot sends the paperwork to agree to pay for him to fix it."

Far be it from me to be a supporter of box store installation but how does the above fall on HD? Box stores are notorious for paying bottom end installation prices to their subs and it typically will show itself rather quickly. They also typically do not have access to the better window lines.

“Far be it from me to be a supporter of box store installation but how does the above fall on HD? Box stores are notorious for paying bottom end installation prices to their subs and it typically will show itself rather quickly. They also typically do not have access to the better window lines.”

Ok. if that was a defense of Home Depot, not sure how that is a defense. Point of the review is to warn people about Home Depot’s quality. If they hire someone to do a job it is on them to do it right. That is the point of the review to warn people about that.

I am not defending HD at all but if you needed a mason to work on the brick and fix a lintel you have shown me where that is the windows issue. I would not have HD or any box store install even a mailbox for me.

Millworkman- thanks for clarifying. After this experience I 100% agree with you (also had a minor bad experience with HD on blinds install before but was easy to fix and not enough to make stay away. Learned my lesson this time)

I agree with MWM, I strongly recommend against box store installs, their pay rates are low so the installer/installation quality often follows suit in my experience.

Few other thoughts:

-Be careful about the NDA, most of them will include provisions to remove negative material that was put up prior to executing the agreement.

- What was the problem determined to be in terms of incorrect installation? Did they wrap aluminum over the steel lintel above the window opening? Or are we talking about water infiltration at the interface of the window and cap stone at the sill? ... or was the only defect caulk failure?

If there is truly a defect in the installation you shouldn't have to sign any sort of NDA or new agreement, you are simply enforcing the original contract. Something like a simple caulk failure though would be tough to hold them responsible for in terms of damage to masonry, etc, so that would be a different story. At the end of the day, it really depends whether you just want to get this fixed and put it behind you (then just sign the NDA and move on), or if you want to proceed based on principle.

Homesealed: The original nondisclosure did not include comment to remove negative material already posted. To continue the story since, though. The day after I posted my review here, I got an updated nondisclosure agreement where they had added a retroactive clause like you describe as well. Looking back at records, we first contacted home depot 3 months after installation about the issue. Home depot has not commented on what they believe was the problem is nor fixed it. The mason and the other window installation company indicate the wrong type of caulking was used against brick and the width of the caulk is too large. If home depot does not resolve things soon/we cannot reach a settlement, since I will not be signing the nondisclosure, I will try to post exactly what it says. It is very restrictive and aggressive. I won't be posting more right now though. I am going to try to contact the HD corporate office AND/OR go try to get the local store manager involved to resolve things first, but based on responses from the install people, it looks like I may have to take legal action for HD to repair this or get someone else to do so. I have not even been able to get them out here to fix the "elevator" or "balancer" or whatever it is called. They have not even looked at it. I am sending them a video today to remind them.

@Business_Name_Placeholder, try to get an impartial third party to come out and inspect, with the understanding that they could be called as an expert witness should this deteriorate. IF that were to come back with a similar conclusion, take that and your project contract to an attorney for review.

Be careful not to overplay your hand here. "Wrong type and width of caulk" sound somewhat interesting to me, as there is a pretty large spectrum of caulk types that can be used even if not ideal. From there, your contract may preclude the contractor from consequential damages which could be a non-starter as well.

If I were a betting man, I'd say that a large organization with many years of experience and deep, deep pockets probably has their bases covered on this and they are offering a payout just to resolve this, but that's just speculation on my part. Its common and easy for a contractor to come out and throw another under the bus, but oftentimes they aren't willing to stand behind that diagnosis when the stuff hits the fan.

I am in converations right now for 14 Andersen 400's installed right at $25k... being told I have to wrap the exterior in aluminum for the warranty... claims it will look like the 80 year old brick moulding that is there now.

Look good....sure. Look as authentic as the 80 year old wood...not so much.

Home Depot will not honor their ”lifetime warranty”. the wrap Home Depot used continues to peel off. Home Depot says that they will no longer honor their ”lifetime” warranty.

My neighbor hired the blue box to convert some windows to a sliding door. No permits, no header. Door got ‘installed’ and roof sagged.

Agree. I had a horrible experience with Home Depot Windows and the PGT manufacturer.
For anyone looking for window replacements in Florida, we have many options, and I agree, prices vary by 4100,000, with Anderson being the most expensive. Home Depot was not the cheapest, but not the highest, and seemed like a great choice with PGT windows. After spending 470,000 in August (HD requires you to pay up front), we are still waiting for the job to be complete in March. PGT and HD continue to blame each other for wrong parts, missing parts, etc. The portion of the job that was completed failed inspection and had to be redone. The contractors hired have not been the issue; it's the missing parts, wrong items ordered, and even some items we paid for but were not even ordered until the day of job they realized were not here. So here I sit, another day having to work from home with hammering and dust all around because all the window work orders are completed during the week, and someone must be present.

470K in windows?