Thought I would bump this back up and finish the story. Simonton finally sent a guy out to replace the window today, no charge. I called the dealer, who called Simonton. Simonton said they would handle it directly. Weeks passed, no word. I called the dealer again and he said he would call Simonton again. After he did that, their designated contractor called to arrange installation. He came out this morning, popped out the glass unit and replaced it with another. Mine was a Simonton 5500 series. The contractor said that the less expensive series do not include labor in their warranty. I asked how many of these fail. He said that within the 20 years he's been doing it, about 500-600 have needed to be replaced. I guess that's not too bad. So, the test will be the performance of this window. Hope I don't get unlucky twice. Despite having to nudge them twice, I am satisfied with their service.

Our home was built in 2001. We used Marvin Integrity windows throughout, except for three 12' wide patio sliders. Those are the high end Marvin. I would not buy Marvin windows again. We need to replace those sliders and I'm starting to look around. Friends of ours had a factory built home, called a Wick Home, made by a housing manufacturer in the '70's out of Mazomanie, WI. They had to replace windows and were getting all these very expensive bids because none of their windows were standard sizes. The wife is from Monroe, WI area, where there is an Amish community. They redid their windows with the Amish for a very large savings. She had to go and pick them up and take them home for 3 days, while they did the work but it was about 15,000$ cheaper than the other quotes they were getting. I'm also going to look into that. I haven't been happy with our windows. They get mold and peel paint along the inside casement frame, the big patio doors ice up in the winter along the bottom. The weatherstripping is brittle and breaks off in huge runs. The glass is cold in the winter and I don't think it reflects enough heat in the summer. We had 2 seals break. The Marvin rep came and they covered one, we are working on the other now. But we had to pay for the labor to uninstall the old one and put the new one in. It was at that point they learned that our patio fixed door was assembled backwards. Meaning the outside part of the glass was supposed to be inside. I just think all of this is enough to advise avoiding Marvin.

I have decided to go the full frame replacement. I have been looking at various types of sill pan flashing. One product that I like (at least the idea behind it) is the Protectowrap Sill Pan Drainage System. It is installed over flexible membrame flashing and it is layer of sloped foam covered in a water wicking material designed to draw any moisture into the flashing and away from the interior of the structure or so it seems. Most methods I have read about use either a metal sill pan, liquid flashing or flexible membrane. The Sill Pan Drainage System seems like an added bit of security assuming your initial flashing and window sealing is done properly. My question is: Is it worth it? I got a quote for 100' (of which I will likely need about 50') for just shy of $250. Most flexible membrane flashing and liquid flashing is about $40-60 for 50-75' depending on width. Any thoughts or perhaps other practical ideas for making the best possible water tight/ optimal draining sill pan? I'm not trying to be cheap, just practical. This product must be special ordered whereas most of the other protecto wrap products can be bought off the shelf leading me to believe that the Sill Pan Drainage System is not commonly used in my area ( Austin TX) either because it is not needed or due to cost or better alternatives .

A sash kit with Dual pane and low-E would have similar performance to a triple pane unit. The STC rating would be better and much less loss of glass over an insert. Installation can be simple to comlex depending on who is installing and the condition of the existing opening . I rarely see them installed correctly by pros unless they are somewhat specialized in these, the ones they got right were because the openings and window needed no modification.