Hi! The big window in the shower is part of my 1985 tract house and appears to be a problem for most homeowners in my neighborhood. The original installation was prone to leaks, with water penetrating the inside of the wall. Many neighbors use a shower curtain along that wall, but I wanted to have an unadorned window. We gutted the room, and hired a local "vinyl" window company to install the picture window. It's dual pane with patterned (Industrex) glass. The interior of the window was not rated to be used in a wet environment. The installer caulked areas he thought would be vulnerable. There is no way to know if water is going inside the window, but to my eye I think it's doing great. My tile installer used "old school" techniques, putting wire lath up with layers of mortar which he leveled perfectly. The tile is perfectly square and sits flush against the window. Along the bottom edge, he used sheets of vichithane (sp?) which is a sticky rubber product. He over-did that area to make sure water never entered the wall. The marble sill sits on top of the waterproofing system. A window in the shower is great and I love the design, however, I can't shower at night with the light on. I have no problems with a "peep show" as long as I shower in the morning with the light coming in from the outside. Hope that helps! P.S. The local window company convinced us they manufacture windows, but I suspect they are the same as big-box store retrofit vinyl windows. The rest of the house we used Renewal by Andersen and they're much better.

I can share a few things about Milgard and Marvin Integrity. We are in the hot south Santa Clara County of SF Bay Area. We have Milgard and plain Marvin. The Integrity uses Marvin's Ultrex which is fibeglass. This material is very strong and is used for sailboat hull and even experimental aircraft. When well constructed, it lasts almost forever. Between vinyl (Milgard) and fiberglass (Integrity), I would pick figerglass. If you want to do "refit", do take a look at Marvin Infinity. It uses fiberglass outside and wood inside. Real nice. This was our first choice 4 years ago but its exterior color limitation forced us to use Marvin. We have two old Milgard vinyls left in our house. They are 11+ years old, I think, and they still work fine. One is a casement that faces east and is exposed to the hot summer sun from morning until noon. Some of its surround is warpng and becoming soft, likely due to the heat and sun, but still usable and may last another 5 years but no more. The other is a slider shaded by a large oak so it is like new and works fine. Unfortunately, it has no low-E coating so when temperature here gets up to 110, the glass gets really warm and the frame gets really really warm. Whatever you choose, do include low-E II (or 3) and argon gas between panes. I think Milgard is not bad at all for vinyl windows as ours still work fine. After 11+ years, Milgard may have developed some new ways to further stabilize the vinyl. Milgards are very popular in newly built monster mansion homes in our area. For "higher end" quality, Marvin Integrity and Marvin Infinity are good alternatives. Good luck!

Thanks for reply. They are old aluminum sliders with stucco exterior no ext. trim. Haven't purchased replacements yet. The video shows the method I assume all installers will quote unless I ask for premium service: retrofit windows and only remove existing sash, leaving the frame in place.?

I think the challenge with those upper windows was two-fold -- the extreme height of them rendered the drip cap good for the top but not the bottom part of the window. Also, because they are fixed windows in a 2x6 wall, the glass was not flush with the exterior -- there is about a 1.5" vinyl sill exposed, and where that meets the exterior jamb, the factory caulk wore out. I have only seen the problem on my fixed windows. My double hung have all been fine.