I ran into a situation last week that really got me thinking. We know all thermally insulated windows have a shelf life and will begin to have gas leaks at some point in time. If I notice a defective thermal seal within a new window or the common 3-year warranty period than I would definitely consider it defective, however, if a window is far beyond it's warranty and I notice it just starting to lose it's thermal seal, would it really be fair to report it as being "defective"?
Reporting a window as being "defective" will often prompt the buyer to ask for a repair or replacement but it doesn't really seam fair to ask a seller to repair or replace something that's "beginning" to show signs of deterioration but also still functioning as intended. Basically everything in or on the house is "beginning" to become defective when you really stop an think about it.
Over the past few years, I've often reported windows as being defective when noticing thermal patterns indicating an argon gas leak. I believe I've been in slight error in my reporting methods. If something is in the process of going bad due to common aging than it's not really "defective". Wouldn't you agree?
I was scanning a house last week that was 7 years old and noticed a few windows that indicated a thermal seal leak. I decided not to report the windows as being "defective" because they weren't showing signs of condensation, still contained argon gas, were still pressurized and providing an R value, and were beyond the common warranty period.
When you discover windows in the same conditions as these, do you report them as defective or within the Repair or Replace section of the report or just leave it alone?
Sorry for the long post..
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