Hi renovator8, the manufacturer is kolbe kolbe. I sent the pics to the dealer and they said it was normal, caused by wood shifting after sealant was applied. They will come out to look at it in the next few days. i am hoping it is what they claim, but worried it might be a poor quality build. Is it a fairly easy fix though or indicative of future problems with the doors? Pretty much all my french doors look like this!

"but is there no way to clad a window properly? " None besides paint that requires periodic renewal as it weathers and develops breaks in the film. There is no way to make a seal that will exclude water indefinitely (or in many cases even for a reasonable time). "I have see clad windows that are 20+ years old that are fine." Have you taken them out and apart to determine if they really are in good shape? I would bet money that there is rot under the cladding. The cladding may still look good, and the wood surface on the interior may still look good, but there is no way to tell without tearing them apart if rot has started. Solid wood windows can almost always be repaired (unless they have really been allowed to decay extensively). Every piece of the window frame and sash can be replaced. I have worked on wooden double hung windows that are original from the late 1700s (old town Alexandria, VA). No one wants to perform maintenance, and the continued search for 'maintenance free' has led to all sorts of solutions that are never going to last as long as a plain old wooden window. Windows being made now are generally estimated to have a life of only 30-40 years.

I mention Behr, but there are also similar products by Olympic (Lowes) and others that claim to be better than top quality solid color stain deck/floor paint (latex in all cases I refer to). I have a 25 year old deck in Northern NJ that has cedar decking and railing. It has seen perhaps 6 years of protection by the not very good clear finishes, then for the last 19 years with Behr deck and siding solid color stain. I have in the last three years replaced a couple of railing posts with untreated fur and some 5/4 floor decking with modern pressure treated decking. Many of the other boards are weathered and suffer from staples that have rusted and left indents and rotting wood, but smalll enough in size that I have tried a number of fillers and over coated with Behr solid color stain. This has not held up well and I just recently noticed the Behr Deck Over at about $35 a gallon which appears to be a much stronger and thicker coating. Looking for any experience/advice on the value of this type coating to restore and to cover filler. The floor/deck is, of course not painted underneath, so water that gets on and drains down and under the wood makes the decking (cedar in my case) wet which translates to a bubble in the top coat on the top side of the deck. Don't see how Deck Over can prevent this unless it can be used to seal the top, then fill the gaps and then overcoat. That way the filler will be surrounded by Deck Over paint

1) High end vinyl windows (such as the Sunrise, etc) would not be a bad choice at all. Would a white/white "$189 looking" option cheapen the feel of the home and hurt its value? Probably. High end options not so much, particulalry when outfitted with some upgrades like triple pane glass, etc. A quality fiberglass window would also be fine from a resale perspective. 2) Sure. Softlite and polaris are a couple good manufacturers based in OH just off the top of my head. I don't think that Milgard is sold in your location anymore. 3) See #2 4) Not specifically, however generally speaking good quality companies carry good quality product options. You have a nice list to work from so far once you narrow down your priorites, finding established local companies with great reviews that offer them should put you firmly on the right track. 5) Biggest thing is that your top priorities are somewhat opposed to each other. If you want the rich look and feel of real wood interior, that's great, but the performance and maintenance areas will be somewhat lacking in most cases. If you are looking for something supremely airtight with great thermal perfromance as well, you won't find that with a wood interior so that aspect may be lacking. The Starmark composite that you mentioned is probably the closest thing to a "best of both worlds" scenario with world class performance to go with the hidden, butt joined welds, metal handles, etc. If you were going white interior it would be a slam dunk, but since you want wood/wood look, it depends on just how discerning you are on that aspect. Definitely worth checking out.