Window Warranties by Brand: Glass Seal, Labor and Transfer Rules

A window warranty usually covers the sealed glass unit for 20 years or for as long as the original owner lives in the home, and the frame and hardware for 10 years or longer. What it often leaves out is labor after the first year or two, and many policies shrink once the house sells.

Before paying for a fogged unit or a broken crank, check whether the job is still under warranty. The answer sits in a few lines of the warranty document. Every term on this page is taken from the manufacturer’s own warranty and names the edition, so you can match it to the year your windows were bought.

Five details in the warranty text decide most claims: who is covered, when the clock started, what the glass coverage says, whether labor is included, and what happens after a sale. Brand names and “lifetime” slogans matter far less than these lines.

Read your document for these points before you call anyone:

• Who is covered. Many lifetime terms apply only to the original owner who lives in the home, often a single-family home.
• When the clock started. Andersen and Pella count from the date of sale, Renewal by Andersen and Alside from installation, JELD-WEN and Milgard’s 10-year terms from manufacture.
• What the glass line says. Seal failure is usually covered as a material obstruction of vision between the panes.
• Whether labor is included, and for how long.
• What changes when the home is sold, and whether the transfer has a deadline.

The clock matters more than it looks. Windows are made weeks or months before they are installed, so coverage counted from manufacture ends earlier than coverage counted from installation. A claim filed near the end can fall on either side of that line.

Standard sealed glass carries 20 years at Andersen, Renewal by Andersen, Pella and Marvin, and a lifetime term for the first owner in the other five editions in the table, while paid labor is the line that varies most. Terms change between editions, so each row names the edition we checked.

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

Special glass is usually carved out: laminated and impact glass, glass with blinds between the panes, and art glass carry shorter terms or their own documents. Commercial buildings and rentals fall under separate, shorter coverage in several of these documents, Milgard’s 10-year term for rentals being one example.

Andersen covers the glass in 100, 200, 400, A-Series and E-Series windows for 20 years and the non-glass parts for 10 years, and both transfer to the next owner under its Owner2Owner terms. The periods run from the date of purchase from the dealer, according to Andersen’s own warranty comparison.

Labor is the line to read closely. The Andersen limited warranty for 400 and 200 Series (revised May 2019) lets Andersen choose how to settle a covered failure. It can send replacement parts to your dealer with labor not included, arrange a factory-authorized repair at no cost, or refund the original price. Non-glass parts on units with wood exteriors carry 5 years instead of 10 in that document.

Renewal by Andersen is a separate company with separate paperwork. For units installed after May 1, 2016, its warranty covers glass and Fibrex material for 20 years and other components for 10 years, counted from installation. It states that it covers parts, labor and original installation services, with a 2-year warranty on the installation work, and it is fully transferable.

Once those terms run out, a stiff crank or a fogged unit is ordinary repair work. Our Andersen window repair page covers the service side for these windows.

Pella’s vinyl warranty (2023 edition) gives the original buyer lifetime coverage on the frame and other non-glass parts, plus a separate, transferable 20-year term on standard glass. The lifetime part applies only in an owner-occupied single-family home and cannot be transferred. Laminated glass gets 10 years, and units with blinds or shades sealed inside get 5.

Two lines deserve a highlighter. Labor is included only within 2 years of the date of sale, so a seal failure in year 9 gets new glass but not the visit to install it. And when the home changes hands, the lifetime coverage on the frame is replaced by a transferable 10-year warranty.

Marvin’s limited warranty, effective February 26, 2024, covers Signature Ultimate, Signature Modern, Elevate and Essential windows. Standard insulating glass with stainless steel spacers is covered against seal failure for 20 years in units up to 60 square feet, and 10 years in larger ones. Hardware and other non-glass parts get 10 years, and the whole warranty is fully transferable.

The remedy clause is short and strict: Marvin repairs or replaces the product or refunds the price, and removal, installation, finishing, refinishing and disposal are not included. Coverage runs from the original date of purchase, so keep the invoice with the house papers.

Milgard’s Full Lifetime Warranty, the July 1, 2024 edition, pays parts and labor for as long as the original owner lives in the home, but only if the home is inside Milgard’s service territory. Outside that territory the original owner still gets lifetime coverage, limited to parts: inspection, labor and shipping are the owner’s cost.

Subsequent owners, rentals and commercial buildings fall under a 10-year limited warranty counted from the manufacture date. It supplies parts, and skilled labor only for homes inside the service territory. The territory map is published at milgard.com, so check your address there before you assume labor is covered. In the same edition, V450 and Style Line windows got the full lifetime terms only if the upgrade was bought with the order.

Milgard has also published new documents effective January 1, 2026: a 10-year limited warranty for replacement products, one for new construction, and a separate Full Lifetime Warranty Upgrade. We could not open their full text, so we only note that windows sold from 2026 may carry different terms. The order papers name the warranty that applies.

JELD-WEN publishes a separate warranty for each product line and date range, so the first step is finding the one that matches when your windows were made. We could not open the current vinyl warranty, so this section follows the edition in force from July 1, 2010 to January 31, 2014. Windows made in those years are old enough for seals to start failing, and they still fall under that edition.

That edition gives the original owner of an owner-occupied single-family home a lifetime warranty on its vinyl products, and triple-glazed units a 20-year term. After a sale the coverage becomes 10 years from the date of manufacture. Skilled labor is provided for 2 years from manufacture, and an on-site visit that finds no covered defect can carry an inspection fee.

The same document is blunt about condensation: most condensation problems come from high indoor humidity, and the fix lies in heating and ventilation. For units past their coverage, our JELD-WEN window and door repair page lists the service options.

Ply Gem’s terms depend on the product line and region, and deadlines play a bigger role than at other brands. Its East replacement series warranty (Premium, Pro and Contractor series, revised July 2015) gives the original owner-occupant lifetime coverage, including condensation between the panes caused by a failed seal.

If the home is sold within 20 years of installation, the first subsequent owner gets prorated coverage on a published schedule. The same document asks for the registration card within 90 days of installation and a claim within 30 days after a failure. Skilled labor may be provided, at Ply Gem’s discretion, for 2 years from installation.

The West lines work differently. For purchases from October 1, 2022, a separate document covers series such as Pro 200, 1500, 5000, Classic and Select. Sealed glass is covered for up to 15 years from purchase, the warranty does not pass beyond the first consumer user, and a claim must be made within 60 days of the defect appearing.

Alside and ProVia both give the original owner lifetime coverage, but Alside pays labor only in the first year and ProVia leaves labor to the buyer, and each allows a single transfer. Alside belongs to Associated Materials in Cuyahoga Falls and ProVia is based in Sugarcreek, so both are Ohio companies.

Alside’s lifetime limited warranty for products made on or after March 1, 2025 includes labor at no charge only in the first year after installation. The warranty can be transferred once, to the next owner, within the first 20 years after installation, and the new owner gets whatever is left of those 20 years.

ProVia’s warranty for Aeris, Endure and Aspect windows (version 1.0, December 2023) covers the unit and its Super Spacer glass for as long as the original buyer owns and lives in the home. Its transfer clause names the basic window unit, allows one transfer, and requires it to be completed online within 30 days of the sale. Replacement parts ship to the nearest dealer, and the buyer pays for the labor and the trip.

Warranties cover fog, film or moisture between the two panes, because that means the seal of the glass unit has failed. Water or frost on the room side of the glass is condensation from indoor humidity, and every document we read excludes it.

A quick test tells them apart. Wipe the inside surface: if the haze comes off, it is condensation; if it stays, it is between the panes. Our guide to window seal failure walks through the other signs and what causes them.

Stress cracks and broken glass are a separate topic. Some brands exclude them, Milgard and JELD-WEN give one year in the documents we read, and Marvin covers non-tempered glass against stress cracks for 10 years.

Failures caused by installation are excluded, and so are modified units. Aftermarket window film is the modification that catches owners most easily. Pella, Marvin, Milgard, JELD-WEN, Ply Gem and ProVia all list applied films or tints among the exclusions, so read the warranty before tinting a window.

Short deadlines are the easiest way to lose coverage that should apply. These are the limits written into the documents we read:

• Ply Gem East replacement series: register within 90 days of installation, claim within 30 days after a failure.
• Ply Gem West lines: claim within 60 days of the defect appearing.
• ProVia: transfer the warranty online within 30 days after the sale of the home.

Before you file, gather these items so the first call goes somewhere:

1. The purchase invoice or contract with the date, dealer and product line.
2. The brand and date marks from the window: a label on the frame or sash, or a logo in a corner of the glass.
3. Photos of the failure from both sides, with the window closed.
4. The warranty registration or transfer confirmation, if the brand requires one.

Several documents, including Andersen’s and JELD-WEN’s, name the dealer who sold the windows as the first stop. If the dealer is gone, the manufacturer’s warranty page takes the claim directly.

A covered claim often ends with a new glass unit or part delivered to a dealer, and the installation left to you. The same job is waiting when coverage has run out: the frame is fine, one sealed unit has failed, and the window only needs new glass.

Replacing just the sealed unit keeps the frame, the trim and the paint in place. Our foggy window repair team checks the failed seal and the frame first, and when the frame is sound, a new sealed unit goes into the existing sash. The price depends on the size, the glass package and how the sash comes apart, so it is set after measuring.

Hardware follows the same logic. A crank, lock or balance that fails after the hardware term ends is usually a part swap, not a new window, and our window hardware repair handles cranks, locks and balances.

Every term above comes from the manufacturer’s own warranty text, read in September 2026, some of it through archived copies of the manufacturer’s documents. Warranties are revised every few years, so use these pages to find the edition that matches your purchase date:

• Andersen: Compare warranties across series, 2026
• Andersen 400 Series/200 Series Limited Warranty, revised 05/2019
• Renewal by Andersen limited warranty, units installed after May 1, 2016, revised 04/2016
• Pella window and door warranties, vinyl edition 2023
• Marvin Window and Door Limited Warranty, effective 02/26/2024
• Milgard Full Lifetime Warranty, effective 07/01/2024
• JELD-WEN warranty, service and parts, vinyl edition 2010–2014
• Ply Gem warranty information, East 2015, West 2022
• Alside warranties, products made from 03/2025
• ProVia warranty, version 1.0, 12/2023