Renewal By Andersen - Skywall window question

[DirkAngle]

Hi all - thanks for any guidance you can give. We have a Buccan home that was built in the 80s. The kitchen has a unique "skywall" window - ie, kitchen window that wraps up into a skylight - roughly 68" x 57". I believe the window was made by Weathervane which is no longer in business. There was a design flaw in the window that basically did not have any sort of 'lip' that would cause the water to not impact the frame, which has caused rotting of the window frame. The rot is bad enough that the window needs to be replaced quite soon - we'd like to have it replaced before the winter rains really kick in, which means we are right at the edge timewise - either get something lined up right away or wait till next spring.

Unfortunately a couple of local window companies we have called will not replace the window (primarily due to liability issues apparently, they would need to be able to do some work with the roofing, which is cedar shake). Big box like Home Depot will not do the replacement either.

We got in touch with the local RBA franchise. The sales guy seemed to have a good grasp of the project, and not only was confident in the ability to do the work, but also made it sound like they could do the work with minimal impact to the roof. The quote for the window was around $10K, with a 'discount' of $1200 for signing same day. After I refused to sign same day, the sales guy let me have a few more days to think about it. So we have till sometime end of day Mon to get back to him.

Questions to the forum - any thoughts or guidance on the situation? The RBA francise that we talked to here in the Pacific Northwest area has an A+ rating from BBB, only 1 closed complaint in the last 3 years, and 5 star reviews on Yelp. They seem to be in the high end of the ballpark of what others have said the project would end up costing, but given the situation we might not have much choice for alternative bids. What other options should we research given limited time? What are some of the gotchas with this type of window replacement we should look out for?

Thanks for any input on the topic!

-Dirk

[TheWindowNerd]

First... slow down. As you can see the sales pressure, sign today discount, is still available and will be indefinitely.
Pictures would help.
It sounds like you are describing a sunroom type window where a vrtical window is tied into sloped glazing.
Does the slopeed glazing need to be replaced or just the vertical portion.
I would continue to search for a person who is better able to handle the situation.

[DirkAngle]

Thanks much Anthony.. here are some images. They include images of the dry rot that we had a handyman attempt to repair, however he was not able to, so patched up to hold temporarily until we can have the window replaced. There is no warranty obviously on the patch and we hope it will hold over the winter, but obviously nervous about the state of things.






The entire window will need to be replaced as it is basically one piece. The good (?) news is that the dry rot is only on the lower part of the window, the top section is sound. RBA has said that when they replace it, they would build in a sloping lip on the exterior to prevent water from impacting the window.

[Window4U (IL)]

What windows are they going to use for the roof? Normal replacement windows will not work and will seep water through the glazing when laid down as a roof structure. They need to be tempered roof windows.

[TheWindowNerd]

The major issue with the project is the skylight/sloped glazing. Yes it will have to be tempered and or laminated inbound.
If the skylight portion was OK(not leaking and the glass did not have seal failure{if seal failure present can it be reglazed} and the frame was sound) I would just replace the composite unit in the vertical wall.
I would look to use fiberglass, InLine or some other mfg, not RBA.

[DirkAngle]

Thanks for the recommendation! We have been told all pieces need to be replaced - the RBA proposal is to "Replace skywall". At this point, we will get a few more companies to come out and take a look. Thanks to this forum I'm also now a member of Angie's List and have found a few highly rated local companies that look like they should be able to provide some more options. Hopefully we'll be able to get a better bid than RBA.

[Windows on Washington]

+1 to the other expressed opinions. That whole thing needs to come out and doesn't look as it it was well engineered from the start.