*****Weirdest Damage to the House, Seeking Advice****

[Joejoesmith]

Our current house is just over 10 years old, therefore the warranty has elapsed supposedly, but then we got the weirdest damages to the house, namely, windows on the house would *fly* off the walls and crash into the house.

the 1st one happened about a year ago around Christmas time, an entire window in the garage, including its wooden frame, flew off the garage wall and crashed into our new car, we would absolutely amazed, as the house is not *that* old, and we considered the window as part of the house's integral structure, and did not expect it to *fly off* the wall. anyways, the builder came by, and was amazed too, and said he has never seen anything like that before, and nailed the window back. Ok, so that was a freak accident.

then it happened again, to a different window!

it was 2 month ago, a different window in the house *flew off* the wall and crashed onto the floor, including its wooden frame, just like the 1st one, we were absolutely shocked. This time the glass broke on the window and we were quoted for about $600 to replace the glass (double layer glass), and the builder refused to at least pay for the broken glass, b/c the warranty has elapsed. And we were not happy, and we are genuinely worried for our personal safety and our property, what if a window fall off again and we were on vacation? and what are our options now?

(1)can we even go to small claims court on this?
(2)the warranty has elapsed, what are our rights then? if any?
(3)we felt we don't have *any* leverage on the builder, can we at least make complaints to the builder's guild? or let future buyer be aware of the quality of houses this particular builder is selling?

any advice is welcome.

thanks!

[allynirrigation]

I would get the rest of the windows in the house checked to ensure they are properly secured to the structure for your safety.

[HayZee518]

windows

newly installed windows within the past fifteen years are fastened to the sheathing surface with nails or screws. the vinyl makeup of the frame allows them to be fastened in this way. no screw visible within the frame. doors, however are fastened to the studs and jack studs through the frame [casing] look and see if you can spot any screws in the casing.

[pushkins]

Windows or sashes simply do not "fly" off the wall the entire unit is either screwed or nailed to the structure and the individual sashes have more than one set of tabs to hold them in the guides. $600 for glass replacement is absurd for any normal window size. Wood framed windows (you mentioned the wood frames) are seldom used on homes built in the last 20 years and then only with very upmarket manufactures, therefore making failure on multiple levels rare.
Maybe an exorcist is needed

[HayZee518]

flying windows

the new amityville horror!

[Drywall DIY Guy]

Window Flying Out

Just two screws would prevent this from happening. Even one would prevent it. Only if the window was not fastened in at all could the window just pop out like that.

Inspect where the window came out. Can you find any place where a fastener pulled out? If not, then there were no fasteners but perhaps only shims and caulk.