We purchased our cute little home about 7 1/2 years ago. The previous owners lived there for about 5 years and the owners before them had completely remodeled the house. They finished the basement, updated the kitchen, replaced all the old windows and more. The previous owners said they never had any problems with the house, which was great. We were so excited when we moved in.
Shortly after that, we heard another “pop” from another bedroom – this one being our 1 year old son’s room. An inside pane of one of the windows in his room broke now too! We were completely shocked. How the hell does this happen once, but twice?? What is wrong with these Hurd windows? Wasn’t Hurd a really good brand?
We called someone from a window company in our town and they came out. They said there was some sort of a defect in the windows from the time period that these were bought and installed in. Fantastic. We have 7 more of these horizontal windows and 12 vertical ones, are they all going to implode? The window company was great. They brought us windows, we painted & they installed. Hurd backed the windows with a warranty and we only had to pay for installation. All fine and good, but I would rather not have dangerous windows in my house. Thank-you-very-much.
The following winter, another window implodes in the guest bedroom. And again we call the same local window company. Hurd backs the window, we paint a new one & they install it. Everything is as good as it can be with imploding windows throughout our house.
Here are the two latest broken Hurd Windows. Left has inside pane broken and ice on the inside of the outer pane. Right window is the broken outer pane. Nice huh? These are NOT quality windows that is for sure.
For 4 years we do not have another incident. Then last winter, again early one morning, I heard the all too familiar “pop” and I know another window implode. Where was it this time? I run to my daughter’s room and sure enough, there it is. Broken Hurd Window #4. I am really dumbfounded now. Why after all this time did it spontaneously implode? So, now I’m really PO’ed as it has been 4 years since the last incident. I am livid and want to call Hurd Windows and give them a piece of my mind but I come to find out they have gone out of business during that time span. (Shocking, seeing as how they sell imploding windows.) However, they were purchased by an acquisition company and they are making windows again. We talk to several helpful people that distribute Hurd Windows and find that our same local window place has them again. We contact them and they have all our information from the 3 previous broken Hurd Windows.
However, they mention that since Hurd went out of business all warranties are null and void. Nice. So we have all these windows that are dangerous and I am terrified are going to implode and potentially hurt my family and the warranty is no good! A real stand-up company, I can see why they went out of business. The window company was actually were the best part of this whole ridiculous ordeal. Again they got us a new window, we painted it and they installed it. And because they felt bad for our situation and knew our history with our imploding craptastic Hurd Windows, they gave us a very good deal on our replacement, which they did not have to do. But obviously they understand customer service, something that Hurd Windows obviously knows nothing about.
So cut to this winter, about a month and a half ago I was awoken from my bed with that wonderful “pop.” This time however, we were mystified as the broken window was now in our living room. One of the 12 vertical windows we have has as now imploded. Terrific. Again the inside pane. And then about 3 weeks ago I was awoken in at 1:30 am by a different sound. My husband and I ran around looking for the source of the odd “ping” we heard. He suggested a window. I said no, this was a different sound and the other 5 windows that broke (yes 5) were all around 6 am. We didn’t find anything and went back to bed. In the morning, I go out and find yet another broken window. This one was right next to the living room window that broke a month earlier. The perplexing thing about this one is that it is the outside pane that broke. I find this one particularly disturbing because it is the outside pane couple that with the fact that we have 10 more of these windows that could possibly break.
This is so damn ridiculous! Who has 6 windows in their house spontaneously implode? I do, because of the terrible Hurd Windows that are in my house. I would rather have the 60 year old windows in my house than these 13-14 year old piece of shit Hurd Windows.
Whatever you do – DO NOT PURCHASE HURD WINDOWS! Or you too could have unsafe, downright dangerous windows in your house, manufactured by a company that does not stand behind their bad product or care about their customers.
About 3 weeks ago, I sent an email to Hurd Windows at the terrifically ironic email address of perfection@hurdwindows. As of publishing, I have not received any type of response or acknowledgement. Nice customer service. I would expect them to be out of business in the near future again.
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i love it
That is crazy (and dangerous) that the windows are imploding! You’re lucky no one is hurt…you’d think the company would realize their liability and want to replace them instead of risking someone being seriously injured.
Wow! How scary is that, especially in your daughter’s room?! Sorry for your terrible experience, but thank you for sharing it on your blog. We have a ton of windows in our house that we need to replace and now I know what brand to stay away from.
How frustrating. Not only to have a dangerous product in your home, but to have a company that cares so little about their clientele.
That’s terrible and so dangerous. I’ll spread the word to stay away from Hurd Windows. Thanks for sharing your unfortunate experience.
That is awful. I will make sure to let others know of this awful product and company.
Wow, I have never heard of that happening before, my husband is in the construction industry, and installs replacement windows all the time. Now we know what company to stay away from, both for personal and business use.
Wow…what an ordeal! All the more reason to go with a nationally known brand name like Pella or Anderson.
Well, that’s a fine way to treat a customer, huh? That’s awfully dangerous, and what a poor way of “servicing” a customer. Thanks for letting us know who to stay away from in the window world.
Wow, that’s scary. It is amazing that nobody has been hurt. I agree with a previous poster that you would think that this company wouldn’t want to risk the liability of someone possibly getting hurt. I will definitely remember to never have Hurd windows installed in my home when the times comes for replacement, and I’ll be sure to pass the word to friends when they are considering window replacements on their homes.
Thank you for sharing we have had to replace all the windows in our house. We have 2 different brands. I don’t recall the old brand but one of the outside panes imploded and it appeared that the seals around the panes we’re defective.
You would think they would want to replace their defective product or determine if there is something else behind this. This is more than a cooincidence. Hope you get some sort of response.
That’s awful. I am sorry your family had to go through that. Dangerous, for sure. We won’t consider Hurd windows, ever.
I won’t buy windows from Hurd. That’s a safety issue for your home.
Hurd windows. Avoid them. I purchased 3 windows in fall 2009. One stress cracked in spring 2010. It took them til winter to get someone out to replace it. The other 2 I bought don’t go up or down. Side latch is catching. The screens have been replaced twice and they still didn’t get it right. Over $900/window. They look nice, but it helps when they go up and down when you don’t have A/C and screens that fit and don’t fall out.
Same issue, this is our 4th Hurd window, happened a few days ago (Oct 20th) and my hubby & I are so frustrated with this on going issue. About 10 years ago the mfg of the glass came & drilled a whole in the glass to relieve the pressure between the dbl pane window. I’ll be calling the builder since Hurd denied window replacement.
I have hurd windows in my home, a lot of them. Cardinal Glass was the manufacturer of the glass and they have been to my home twice over the years. The quick fix was to drill a small hole in the side frame which alowed the vacumn to release. No more negative pressure no more breaking glass. Randy Stoda Cardinal Glass 800-541-0585. Was a real gentleman. Maybe they can help you with the process. Do it before it gets cold again and they implode.
Only negative…part of the r insulating factor is the vacumn and that is gone.
Just had one break this weekend…one they missed. Good luck.
We too have had imploding Hurd windows – and it is so frustrating. We’ve been told that the windows were not under warranty, and have had to lay out the $$ to replace them. Ultimately we should replace all the windows – but who can afford to replace 33+ windows??? Their doors are no good either!
I also have Hurd windows in my home which we built in 1994. We thought we were installing top-of-the-line windows. In the last 5 years, we have had two kitchen windows implode which, fortunately they did cover under warranty. Just last week, we had a living room window implode. Each time it has been the inside pane and happens during the night when it is very cold. I contacted a Hurd sales office but was told they would no longer warranty a window if it was purchased before 2007. Spread the word to stay away from Hurd.