Please tell me what other aspects that I "side-stepped"? You posted about IGU failures and I posted the warranties relative to that from Andersen and the manufacturer (Okna) that you reference in your link back to another forum. The 20 year or lifetime reference was something that you pointed out. What am I missing? Do you wish to read the entire warranty? Here it is: Vinyl Frame And Sash Members The vinyl extrusions and vinyl components used in the windows and doors are warranted to be free from defects that might result in blistering, peeling, flaking, corroding, and fading of the window or door for as long as you own your home. This war- ranty is fully transferable to the next homeowner.  Factory painted standard or custom colors are warranted for a period of ten years. Insulated Glass OKNA Windows Corp. warrants that the insulated glass units, including internal grids, will be free from obstruction between the glass, including film formation, including moisture on the internal glass surfaces caused by seal failure and including small marks, dust, and scratches. This Warranty is fully transferable to the next homeowner and covers glass imperfections as de- scribed in Federal Government Glass Specification DD-04516.  Condensation may occur on interior and exterior of windows as a natural result of humidity within the house or build- ing area and changes in outside/inside temperature. This does not indicate a manufacturing defect and would not be included in this Warranty. Hardware OKNA Windows Corp. warrants that the hardware shall remain in good operating condition, for as long as you own your home. Warranty on hardware is also fully transferable to the next homeowner.  Specified Metal hardware for coastal applications is limited to a ten year warranty. Exclusions and Limitations The following are excluded from coverage under this Warranty: A. Any damage caused by wind, hail, lightning or other acts of God, intentional acts, accidents, negligence, or exposure to harmful chemicals or pollutants. This warranty excludes damage related to harsh or corrosive cleaning products, application of paints ( non factory applied ), and uniform fading or color change due to weathering. B. Any damage or malfunction caused by improper handling or installation of the windows, or any damage to the windows or components of the windows caused by settlement or structural defects of the building in which they are installed. C. Any defect, malfunction or failure to perform, which has occurred because of unreasonable use, improper application or failure to perform reasonable or necessary mainte- nance - see section " Maintenance & Cleaning." D. Any window, which has been repaired or attempted to have been repaired or modified by any person other than an authorized representative of OKNA Windows Corp. E. OKNA Windows Corp. liability is limited solely and exclusively to repair or replace, at the discretion of OKNA Windows Corp. and under no circumstances will OKNA Windows Corp. be liable for incidental or consequential charges such as, but not limited to, labor cost for any purpose, inconvenience, damage, or injury to persons or to property or any other expense. Procedure And Conditions Of Warranty Remedy The Owner must notify the Dealer/Distributor within thirty days after the defect has first appeared. OKNA reserves the right to inspect any window or door that a warranty claim has been made. Such notification must contain the following: A � Name and Address of the Owner. B � Date of Installation. C � Description of the Defect. If a product meets requirements of this limited warranty, OKNA Windows will at its option, supply replacement parts or product. Labor or reinstallation costs are not covered by this limited warranty. Commercial Application OKNA products installed in a building operated as a multi-family dwelling or used for commercial purposes or rental properties such as schools, churches, apartment complexes, government owned structures, etc. will limit this Warranty to ten years. Product Changes OKNA Windows Corp. reserves the right to discontinue or change any of its products or the parts utilized in any of its products at its sole discretion. If any window product or component originally installed in the building is not available at the time of any claim by you under this Warranty, OKNA Windows Corp. reserves the right to substitute any other model or component as a replacement. During warranty period replacement parts will be supplied at no charge to dealer upon return of defective part. Maintenance & Cleaning A mild solution of household cleaner such as liquid dishwashing detergent may be used to clean windows. Do not use harsh abrasives. This Warranty shall be null and void if harmful solvents are used. You are referencing "pressure equalization" and I reference that in the other post that you made. What additional scientific developments do you think need to happen. Is the fenestration industry going to "UN-INVENT" the law of partial pressures? There is no development needed in "pressure equalization" just better and better sealants and gas impermeable sealants to whatever the inert gas fill is. Andersen learned a valuable lesson with this and did a fine job of warrantying items after the fact when it was discovered that their IGU were gas fill permeable but impermeable to the larger molecules of atmospheric air. There is not much science to develop here. While vacuum IGUs are interesting and exciting developments, they are several years away from reaching mass distribution and acceptance. If you think that gas permeability presents challenges, vacuum presents far more challenges. Temperature shifts do present sealing issues to IGUs but if we can make sure the windows inside pressurized airplanes and vehicles that go outside the earth's atmosphere stay together, something in Desert Valley doesn't seem that tough. In applications where windows go above a certain altitude, breather tubes are inserted for equalization if they are not made near said altitude. The are certain aspects of the window industry that are pretty tried and true and I am not sure you layman's review of their cycle testing is accurate or based in any observable fact. I have been through several factory were they life cycle test these materials and they are comprehensive to say the least. No laboratory can ever truly duplicate a real world environment but they compensate for this most times by making the extremes more extreme to simulate worst case scenarios. The engineers at Pella, Andersen, and Cardinal would probably take umbrage with your less than factually vetted review of their testing and materials developments. Do they have failure rates, surely. This is why you get a warranty. Even in those situations where materials are manufacturer robotically, there is a human hand and potential for error at any number of locations in the process.

I have had to be consoled on many occasions over hail. I can't think of anything that it does besides destroy, destroy, destroy. We got hit hard at work in Commerce City. Quarter sized hail that ended up looking like we got about 3" of snow on the ground. I was certain that when I walked out to my truck it was going to look like a giant black golf ball. Fortunately I ended up with minimal damage. I saw pictures from out in golden the hail was nearly golfball size. A friend lost a window on their house another's car was pretty tore up. As for the plants, well, the roads at work looked like a giant mint julep with all the green tree confetti mixed in with the "crushed ice." We got almost nothing here in Centennial that I could tell, besides rain. My seedlings were outside, but our patio is covered by the upstairs neighbors balcony, so nothing was terribly damaged, even if it is a little bit water logged. Over at my gardens at my moms house, she said it has barely even rained. I sort of expected that because for whatever bizarre topographical and climatic reason, that little pocket right around C-470 and Bowles just has never seemed to get quite the severe thunderstorms that everywhere else does. There have been times when just a couple blocks east of there it has been the "snowstorm" hail but we got only a few pea sized stones. Its truely unbelievable sometimes. But that does nothing for those of you who are looking at gardens turned into chopped salad. When that happens, I always try to remember my little basil plant a few years ago that got pummeled into a little 2" twig but ended up being the largest basil plant of the entire season. Or my peppers that have been completely defoliated but in a weeks time were leafing out again as if they never skipped a beat. Hail is tge bastard of all weather, theres no doubt about it, so my sympathies to all of you, this was was rough one, one of the hardest I have ever seen, I can only imagine what you guys arw having to look at outside your windows. But, hopefully by July, this is just a bad memory.

Since we live in the Denver area we were looking at fiberglass because it is supposedly hail proof (we are tired of disrupting our lives for home/auto hail damage). We have Milgard vinyl in our current home (original builder grade from 2006) and they are junk...parts breaking, windows hard to operate, etc. so we wanted something in our new home that would that give use better longevity. Furthermore, it seems like fiberglass models give you more window and less frame which is appealing because we want as much light as possible. Finally, it seems like wood windows are a maintenance issue...fading We plan on getting bids from Milgard (hopefully their is a big difference from their builder grade product) and maybe Pella. We also have a 2nd Marvin Infinity dealer in town but their reviews are not that great. Other suggestions on a quality fiberglass option would be appreciated but it seems like there are fewer options.

You could go Aluminum again. Sunrise and NT are some vinyl brands there. Maybe Randy Randy from Ultra Wundows will chime in. He knows Texas better than the other Pro’s here.