Window Replacement Maintenance Checklist for Fort Lauderdale Homeowners

Window Replacement Maintenance Checklist for Fort Lauderdale Homeowners

A set of impact windows installed in 2022 can fail its next inspection because of one overlooked step: the weep holes on the aluminum frame got painted shut during a touch-up job. That single oversight voids the product warranty and the contractor’s labor guarantee, and it’s not in any generic maintenance checklist. Most maintenance guides for windows are written for houses in Ohio or Virginia, where the enemy is snow and ice dams. For more guides & resources tailored to South Florida conditions, explore our blog. Fort Lauderdale windows face a different set of opponents entirely: salt haze, tropical downpours, UV that chews through caulk in eighteen months, and a hurricane season that runs six months long. This guide is built for those conditions. You’ll learn which maintenance tasks actually matter here, when to do them, and which ones you should never attempt yourself.

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Quick Answer

The most effective window maintenance schedule for Fort Lauderdale homeowners is not quarterly. It is event-based: inspect after the first named storm of the season, reseal at the end of dry season (May), lubricate and test hardware before June 1, and check drainage weep holes every time you touch up exterior paint. Most single-window maintenance visits from a qualified technician run $75 – $180, and most DIY materials cost under $40 per window. Neglecting weep hole and sealant maintenance in South Florida’s salt-heavy air typically cuts a window’s functional lifespan by five to seven years.

Table of Contents

• Why Event-Based Maintenance Beats Calendar-Based in Fort Lauderdale
• Weep Holes and Drainage Channels: The Most Overlooked Maintenance Item
• The Dry-Season Sealant Check: What to Look For and What to Use
• Salt-Air Corrosion: Hardware vs. Frame, Two Different Responses
• Annual Hardware Lubrication Before the June 1 Season Opening
• The Post-Storm Window Inspection: A Step-by-Step Walkthrough
• Post-Installation Debris and Premature Seal Failure: What Other Crews Leave Behind
• What the Kingswell Guarantee Covers vs. What Homeowner Maintenance Covers
• Common Mistakes to Avoid
• When to Call a Professional
• Frequently Asked Questions
• The Bottom Line

Why Event-Based Maintenance Beats Calendar-Based in Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale’s climate does not run on a tidy quarterly rhythm. It runs on three forces: the dry season (November through May), the wet season (June through October), and the unpredictable arrival of named storms between June 1 and November 30. A calendar-agnostic checklist tells you to inspect your windows every three months. That advice misses every meaningful trigger. The first tropical storm of the season is when drainage problems reveal themselves. The end of dry season is when caulk and sealant have baked in UV for five straight months and must be touched up. The first sustained cold front, usually in late October or November, is when frames contract and any hairline gaps become visible. If you only follow a quarterly calendar, you’ll check in March, June, September, and December, and you’ll sit right on either side of the actual events that matter.

We’ve seen this pattern in homes from Victoria Park to Plantation to Coral Ridge. A homeowner has windows that look fine in March, then the first afternoon downpour of June reveals water weeping through a bottom corner. The problem is not that the window failed in June. The problem is that the sealant started failing in April, when dry-season heat and reflected UV from concrete patios broke down the outer bead, and nobody looked until water showed up. Florida building codes under the High Velocity Hurricane Zone provisions, which govern Fort Lauderdale and all of Broward County, require impact-rated windows that can handle specific wind and pressure loads. For details on the regulatory side, read our guide to Windows & Doors Permits, Codes & Inspections in FL: What You Need to Know. But no code requires a homeowner to check the sealant at the right moment. That part is on you.

Our recommendation is three anchors, not four calendar checks. First: the day you hear the first named storm of the Atlantic season has formed, even if the cone is not aimed at Broward County, do a visual sweep. Second: the last two weeks of May, before the hurricane season opens June 1, do the full sealant and hardware pass. Third: the first sustained cold front, whenever it arrives, check for frame gaps. Those three events cover about 95 percent of the maintenance failures we see in Fort Lauderdale homes. Everything else is opportunistic: if you’re already touching up exterior paint, check weep holes. If you’re having the house pressure-washed, have the crew avoid blasting water directly into window frames. The event triggers are the non-negotiables.

If you’re not sure what to look for during any of these event inspections, Westlight Windows Fort Lauderdale performs free estimates and can walk you through the checklist on site as part of our Window Replacement services. For the do-it-yourself readers, the sections below cover exactly what to inspect at each trigger point, in the order houses here tend to fail.

Weep Holes and Drainage Channels: The Most Overlooked Maintenance Item

Weep holes are the small openings cut into the bottom track of an aluminum or vinyl window frame. Their job is simple: water that gets past the exterior seal, or condensation that forms inside the frame, drains out through those holes instead of pooling inside the sill. In Fort Lauderdale, where a single afternoon thunderstorm can drop two inches of rain in forty minutes, that drainage path is doing constant work. When a weep hole gets painted shut, or clogged with construction debris, or crusted over with salt and dirt, the water has nowhere to go. It sits in the track. Then it seeps under the frame, into the rough opening, and down into the drywall or the concrete substrate below.

This is the specific oversight from the opening of this guide, and it is worth repeating because it is so common. A homeowner or a handyman does a touch-up paint job on the exterior stucco or the window trim. The painter runs a brush or roller along the bottom frame edge and covers the weep holes without noticing. Six months later, the window owner calls a window company because the sill feels soft or there’s a water stain on the interior drywall. The window company pulls the casing and finds a paint plug in every weep hole. The product warranty from the window manufacturer is now void because the drainage system was altered. The labor guarantee from the original installer may also be void if the alteration happened after installation. All of that from a thirty-second paint touch-up, because no generic maintenance checklist said anything about weep holes.

How to check weep holes on an aluminum frame without voiding the manufacturer’s warranty:

1. Locate the weep holes on the exterior bottom edge of the frame. Most aluminum frames in Fort Lauderdale have two or three small rectangular slots per window section, roughly a quarter-inch wide.
2. Use a soft nylon brush, like an old toothbrush, to clear dust and salt crust from the opening. Do not use a metal pick, a screwdriver, or a wire brush. Scratched aluminum is an invitation for salt-air corrosion, and if you scratch the frame, you may void a coating warranty.
3. Check that water actually drains. You can pour a small cup of clean water (not saltwater, not soapy water) into the exterior track and watch whether it exits through the weep holes. If it ponds, you have a blockage.
4. Never drill additional weep holes. This is a modification, plain and simple. It voids the frame warranty and can compromise the structural rating of an impact-rated window, which is a genuine safety issue in Fort Lauderdale’s wind zone.
5. If a weep hole is clogged with hardened paint or construction adhesive, do not chip at it. Call a professional. Removing the plug without damaging the frame requires patience and, in some cases, solvent work that should never be done by a homeowner on a finished frame.

Glazing tape is the second drainage-related item nobody checks. Glazing tape is the adhesive strip that sits between the glass unit and the frame, sealing that joint and preventing water from reaching the inside of the frame. On south-facing windows in Fort Lauderdale, UV degrades the outer edge of the glazing tape slowly, and the first sign is usually a faint moisture haze between the glass panes on humid mornings. By the time that haze is visible, the tape has already failed. The fix is not a DIY project. It involves removing the glass unit, cleaning the glazing pocket, applying new tape, and resetting the unit, and doing that wrong on an impact-rated window compromises the window’s structural rating. But the homeowner can watch for the signs: moisture haze between panes, a whitish film creeping inward from the glass edge, or a window that develops condensation between the panes even when the humidity outside is moderate. That last one is the red flag.

We specify aluminum frames here because aluminum is the dominant frame material in Fort Lauderdale. It handles the thermal expansion and the salt environment better than wood, which rots in this humidity, and better than unrated vinyl, which gets brittle under Florida UV. But aluminum is not maintenance-free. The weep holes and drainage channels on an aluminum frame are the difference between a window that sheds water for thirty years and a window that rots the rough opening in eight.

The Dry-Season Sealant Check: What to Look For and What to Use

In Fort Lauderdale, the dry season runs from November through May, and May is the month that breaks the sealant on your windows. It is the hottest, brightest, driest month before the afternoon thunderstorms start, and it is the month when the exterior caulk and sealant beads around window frames have taken the most sustained UV and heat. Reflected heat from concrete driveways and pool decks pushes surface temperatures on window frames above 140 degrees. That is the environment where even good sealant gives up.

The timing matters for a specific reason. If you check sealant in March, it may still look serviceable. But by late May, cracks have started to form, and by the time the first real wet-season storms arrive in June, those cracks are open channels for water. Checking at the end of dry season, specifically the last two weeks of May, catches the failures before the rain does. In our experience, this one check prevents the majority of water-intrusion service calls we field in Fort Lauderdale during the wet season.

What to look for during the dry-season sealant check:

• Shrinkage cracks: thin, irregular lines running along the sealant bead, perpendicular to the frame. These form when the sealant shrinks under repeated heating and cooling cycles. In Fort Lauderdale, that cycle happens daily.
• Separation from the substrate: the sealant bead pulls away from the stucco, brick, or aluminum frame, leaving a visible hairline gap. Run a finger along the bead (carefully; brittle sealant can cut). If it flexes away from the surface, it has separated.
• Chalking: a powdery white residue that rubs off when you touch the sealant. Chalking means the sealant’s outer surface is breaking down from UV. It may still be watertight, but its life is measured in months, not years.
• Bubbling or blistering: small raised areas where water vapor has gotten under the sealant and is pushing it up. This is a sign that water has already reached the underside.
• Mold or mildew along the bottom bead: in Fort Lauderdale’s humidity, mold on the exterior sealant usually means the sealant is porous and water is wicking through.

For a homeowner doing a spot repair, the product matters. Not every caulk is right for South Florida. You want a high-quality exterior sealant rated for UV exposure and movement, not interior acrylic caulk, which will fail within three months of a Fort Lauderdale summer. We have seen homeowners use interior-grade product on exterior frames, and the result is predictable: it skins over, shrinks, and falls out. Read the label and confirm it says exterior, paintable if you plan to paint it, and flexible. For larger jobs, or for sealing around a full window perimeter, professional application with commercial-grade sealant is worth the cost. A full exterior sealant replacement on a typical Fort Lauderdale home runs $500 – $1,500 depending on window count, and it buys several years of dryness.

Salt-Air Corrosion: Hardware vs. Frame, Two Different Responses

Fort Lauderdale’s salt-air corrosion is worse than most people think. The city sits between the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway, and the prevailing onshore breeze carries salt aerosol inland for miles. Homes in Rio Vista, Las Olas Isles, Harbor Beach, and anything within about two miles of the beach get the heaviest load, but even houses more than five miles inland see measurable salt on window hardware because the salt travels with the humidity. In our work across Fort Lauderdale, we see a clear difference in hardware wear between homes east of Federal Highway and homes further west. The closer to the ocean, the faster the degradation.

Hardware corrosion and frame corrosion look similar but require different responses. Hardware, meaning the hinges, locks, crank mechanisms, and rollers, is replaceable. If a hinge is staining, pitting, or seizing up, the fix is usually to replace the component, not to treat it. Cleaning and lubricating a corroded hinge helps only in the short term. The corrosion has already eaten into the metal. On impact-rated windows, the hardware is part of the structural system, and compromised hardware means a compromised window in a hurricane. Replace it.

Frame corrosion is different. Aluminum frames in Fort Lauderdale are typically protected by a factory finish, often anodized or powder-coated. When that finish is intact, salt doesn’t reach the underlying aluminum. When the finish gets scratched, gouged, or worn through, salt gets to work. The first sign of frame corrosion is a white, powdery oxidation, aluminum’s version of rust, around a scratch or at a joint. The second sign is pitting, small depressions in the surface. If you see white powder on an aluminum frame, the immediate response is to clean it gently with a soft nylon brush and a mild solution, then protect the area. A touch-up product designed for aluminum finishes can slow the corrosion. But if the corrosion has advanced to pitting, the long-term fix is frame repair or replacement, not touch-up paint.

Do not use steel wool, a wire brush, or abrasive cleaners on an aluminum frame. Steel particles left behind by steel wool will embed in the aluminum and create galvanic corrosion, which is faster and more damaging than plain salt corrosion. That is a mistake we have seen homeowners make more than once, and it turns a minor scratch into a real problem. For hardware, use a silicone-based lubricant, not a petroleum product. Petroleum-based lubricants attract dust and salt and turn into a gritty paste. Silicone repels water and does not hold salt. It is a small product choice with a measurable lifespan impact.

If you suspect frame corrosion has compromised the frame’s structural integrity, which is the case when pitting is deep or when corrosion shows at the corners where sections join, do not attempt repair. On an impact-rated window in Fort Lauderdale, frame integrity is a wind-load safety issue, and a compromised frame can fail during a hurricane. Call a professional for an assessment.

Annual Hardware Lubrication Before the June 1 Season Opening

Hurricane season in the Atlantic officially opens June 1, and for Fort Lauderdale homeowners, that date should trigger one specific maintenance task: lubricate every operable window in the house. The reason is simple. During a storm, you may need to open or close a window quickly, and a seized crank mechanism or a jammed sliding track is not something you want to fight while the wind is picking up. Beyond the storm scenario, an annual lubrication extends the life of hinges, rollers, cranks, and locking mechanisms, all of which are more expensive to replace than a can of lubricant costs.

The catch is that Fort Lauderdale’s salt air turns lubrication into a job with a wrong way and a right way. The wrong way is to spray a heavy oil onto the hardware, work the mechanism a few times, and wipe off the excess. That leaves an oil film that attracts salt aerosol and road dust. Within a month, that film becomes a grinding paste. The right way is to use a dry or silicone-based lubricant applied sparingly, then work the mechanism through its full range of motion several times to distribute it, then wipe the surface clean. The goal is lubrication inside the pivot points and the track, not a film on the outside.

Here is the step-by-step annual lubrication pass, done before June 1:

1. Vacuum the track of every sliding window and sliding glass door. Use the crevice tool. Salt and sand accumulate in the bottom track and act like sandpaper on the rollers.
2. Wipe the track clean with a damp cloth, then dry it completely. Do not leave water sitting in the track.
3. Check the rollers. If a sliding window is hard to move or has a grinding feel, inspect whether the rollers are intact. Rollers are replaceable, but once they start scoring the track, you’re looking at track repair too.
4. Apply a silicone-based lubricant to the hinges, pivots, and crank mechanisms of casement and awning windows. One short spray per pivot point is enough. Do not soak it.
5. Work each window open and closed five to seven times to distribute the lubricant.
6. Wipe any excess off the visible surfaces with a clean cloth.
7. Check the locking mechanisms. If a lock is hard to throw or feels gritty, clean it before lubricating. Do not force a stuck lock; forcing it is how lock tabs break.

This pass should take a homeowner between one and two hours for a typical three-bedroom Fort Lauderdale home with twelve to sixteen windows. It is the single most effective DIY maintenance task in terms of preventing service calls, and it requires nothing more than a vacuum, a cloth, and a can of silicone lubricant that costs between $8 and $15 at any hardware store in Fort Lauderdale.

For hardware that is already beyond lubrication, which means it’s stiff even after the pass, the replacement cost for hinges, cranks, or lock mechanisms on a mid-range window is typically $40 – $120 per window in the Fort Lauderdale market. That number goes up for impact-rated hardware with higher structural ratings. It is still cheaper than replacing the window, and it is work we would not recommend a homeowner attempt on their own if the window is impact-rated, because the hardware is part of the structural load path.

The Post-Storm Window Inspection: A Step-by-Step Walkthrough

The Atlantic hurricane season is not something Fort Lauderdale homeowners get to opt out of. Even when a storm makes landfall on the Gulf Coast or curves out to sea, the outer bands can deliver hours of wind-driven rain. Wind-driven rain is the test that reveals window weaknesses in a way that a sunny-day inspection cannot. During a storm, wind pushes water against the window at pressure, and that pressure forces water into any gap that would normally shed a light rain without leaking. For that reason, the post-storm inspection is a distinct checklist item, not a repeat of the dry-season sealant check.

Do this walkthrough within 48 hours after any named storm passes near South Florida, even if your house showed no obvious damage. Some leaks are intermittent and only reveal themselves under sustained wind pressure, and by the time you see a water stain on the interior drywall, water has been working inside the wall cavity for weeks or months. The post-storm walkthrough catches leaks early.

1. Walk the interior perimeter of every window and sliding glass door. Look for water stains, damp drywall, or paint bubbling at the bottom corners and along the seam where the casing meets the wall.
2. Press a dry finger against the drywall along the bottom corners of each window. If it feels cool and damp compared to the surrounding wall, water is behind the drywall.
3. Check the sill track of every window. Is there standing water in the track? If yes, the weep holes may be clogged, and that is the first place to look.
4. Look at the exterior sealant beads around each window. Wind-driven rain can push tiny debris against the sealant and damage it, or the sealant may have been the failure point all along.
5. Open and close every operable window. Check that the movement is smooth and that the lock engages fully. A window that was strained by wind pressure during the storm may have shifted slightly, and a shifted window is a window that will not seal tightly.
6. For windows that stayed closed during the storm, check the meeting rail, the horizontal bar where the two sashes meet on a single-hung or double-hung window. This is a common leak point under wind pressure because the interlocking seal is exposed.
7. Take photos of anything questionable. If you need to file an insurance claim or a warranty claim, dated photos from within 48 hours of the storm make the process easier.

If you find water intrusion during this walkthrough, do not wait for the next storm to see if it was a fluke. A small leak that only shows under wind pressure is still a leak, and in Fort Lauderdale’s wet season, the next wind-driven rain is never far away. For a professional assessment, Westlight Windows Fort Lauderdale provides free estimates throughout Fort Lauderdale, and we would rather look at a small leak than a large one.

Post-Installation Debris and Premature Seal Failure: What Other Crews Leave Behind

There is a specific category of window failure in Fort Lauderdale that has nothing to do with the window and everything to do with the installation. It shows up in homes where the previous window contractor did not clean the rough opening before setting the new window. Debris left behind, drywall dust, shims, screws, chunks of old stucco, even a stray piece of house wrap, sits between the new window and the rough opening. Over time, that debris holds moisture against the frame. It prevents the sealant from bonding cleanly at critical points. It creates uneven pressure points that can stress the frame. The result is a window that fails early, usually with a seal failure or a persistent leak at one corner, and the homeowner blames the window when the real culprit was a crew that did not clean the site before installation.

This is what “leave the site cleaner than we found it” means for long-term performance. It is not about being polite. It is about not leaving the causes of future failure embedded in the wall. The Kingswell Way, the set of promises that governs every job at our Westlight Windows Fort Lauderdale home location, includes a clean job site as a written guarantee, not a vague intention. We clean the rough opening before the new window goes in. We clean the work area after it is done. We remove all installation debris from the property. And we put that promise in writing before the work starts.

If you had windows installed by another contractor and you are now dealing with a seal failure or a corner leak, the source may be debris in the rough opening, and the fix requires removing the window, cleaning the opening, and reinstalling. That is not a homeowner maintenance task, and it is not something a handyman should attempt on an impact-rated window in Fort Lauderdale, where the structural connections must meet High Velocity Hurricane Zone code. A Window Installation in Fort Lauderdale that was done right from the start does not have this problem. An installation that was rushed creates a problem no amount of caulk will fix.

The takeaway for homeowners: when you are getting windows replaced, ask the contractor how they prepare the rough opening and what they do with installation debris. The answer tells you a lot. A crew that vacuums the opening, verifies the shims are placed correctly, and hauls away every scrap of debris is a crew that understands what causes early window failure in Fort Lauderdale. A crew that says the caulk will cover it is a crew that will not be around when the leak shows up. For homeowners considering a full Window Replacement in Fort Lauderdale, the cleanliness of the installation is as important as the brand of window going in.

What the Kingswell Guarantee Covers vs. What Homeowner Maintenance Covers

There is a line between warranty coverage and homeowner responsibility, and in Fort Lauderdale, that line matters more than in most places because the environment is harder on windows. Homeowners who understand the line are less likely to be surprised when a warranty claim is denied, and they are more likely to do the maintenance that keeps the warranty valid in the first place.

The Kingswell Guarantee, which governs every job done by Westlight Windows Fort Lauderdale, covers the workmanship and the installation. That means the window was installed correctly, the site was cleaned, the arrival window was honored, and the written price did not change. If the installation fails within the guarantee period, Westlight returns and corrects it at no charge. That is the 365-Day Done Right Promise: if the work is not right, we make it right, and that promise is in writing and handed to every customer at job completion. If a repair fails, the second visit is free. No negotiating, no fine print, no extended warranty upsell. That is the contractor’s side of the line.

What the guarantee does not cover is the homeowner’s ongoing maintenance. Sealant that fails because it was never inspected and touched up, weep holes that clog because exterior paint was allowed to cover them, hardware that seizes because it was never lubricated, glass that etches because salt spray was never rinsed off windows east of Federal Highway, these are maintenance items, not installation defects. The window manufacturer’s product warranty, which covers defects in the window itself, also does not cover maintenance neglect. If a weep hole is painted shut, the manufacturer’s drainage warranty is void. That is a plain fact, and it is the reason we spend so much of this guide on maintenance.

In plain terms, here is the line. The contractor is responsible for what happened during the installation and for the correction of any failure that results from the installation. The homeowner is responsible for what happens after the installation: keeping the drainage paths clear, keeping the sealant intact, keeping the hardware lubricated, and doing the three event-based checks described earlier. A homeowner who does those things will rarely need to make a warranty claim at all. A homeowner who skips them may find that a legitimate claim is denied because the failure was caused by neglect, not defect. That is not a trick. It is how every window warranty in Fort Lauderdale works, and we believe in being honest about it before the work starts, not after.

For homeowners considering a Door Installation in Fort Lauderdale, the same line applies. Entry doors have thresholds, weatherstripping, and drainage channels that require the same event-based attention. The Kingswell Guarantee covers the installation of doors with the same written promises, and the same homeowner maintenance expectations apply to the door after installation. Thresholds and sweeps on doors facing the prevailing southeast breeze in Fort Lauderdale take more of a beating than doors on the lee side of the house, and inspecting them after the first named storm is as important as checking the windows.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Using interior acrylic caulk on exterior window frames. Interior caulk is not formulated for UV exposure or the expansion cycles of a South Florida exterior wall. It fails within months, and the failure point is worse than no caulk because the old product must be fully removed before a proper sealant goes on.
• Drilling extra weep holes into a frame that is draining slowly. Drilling modifies the frame, voids the product warranty, and can compromise the structural rating of an impact window in Fort Lauderdale’s wind zone. Clear the existing holes. Do not add new ones.
• Lubricating window hardware with WD-40 or another petroleum-based spray. Petroleum products attract salt and dust in Fort Lauderdale’s coastal air and turn into a grinding paste inside the track. Use silicone-based lubricant instead, and wipe the excess.
• Painting over the weep holes during an exterior touch-up. This is the most expensive small mistake in this guide, because it voids the drainage warranty and leads to water damage inside the wall. Tape over weep holes before painting, and remove the tape when the paint is dry.
• Skipping the post-storm inspection because nothing looks broken from the street. Wind-driven rain intrusion often leaves no exterior trace at all. The evidence is on the interior drywall, the sill track, or the bottom corners, and finding it early is the difference between a sealant touch-up and a wall repair.
• Cleaning aluminum frames with steel wool or a wire brush. Steel particles embed in the aluminum and create galvanic corrosion, which eats the frame faster than the salt air alone. Use a soft nylon brush or a cloth.
• Waiting for a visible leak before doing the end-of-dry-season sealant check. By the time water is visible inside the house, the sealant has been failing for months and the water has been working its way into the wall cavity. The May sealant check catches the failure before the wet season turns it into a leak.

When to Call a Professional

Several situations in this guide should not be handled by a homeowner, full stop. If a weep hole is clogged with hardened paint or construction adhesive, do not chip at it. If an aluminum frame shows deep pitting or corrosion at the corner joints, do not attempt repair, because frame integrity on an impact-rated window in Fort Lauderdale is a wind-load safety concern. If you find water intrusion after a storm and the source is not obvious, a professional assessment is worth more than guessing. If a window has a failed glazing tape, shown by a moisture haze between the panes, the glass unit must be removed and reset by someone who knows how to do it without compromising the window’s structural rating. And if you had windows installed by a contractor who left debris in the rough opening, the fix is a full removal, cleaning, and reinstallation. Westlight Windows Fort Lauderdale offers free estimates in Fort Lauderdale. Call (754) 354-5397 to schedule one, and we will tell you honestly whether the problem is a maintenance item or an installation defect. If you are still in the research phase, start with the Window Replacement in Fort Lauderdale page to understand the full scope of a replacement project.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line

Fort Lauderdale windows do not fail on a quarterly calendar. They fail at specific moments: when the first storm of the season exposes a drainage problem, when the dry-season heat finally cracks the sealant in late May, when salt air has been working on unprotected hardware for a season too long. The homeowners who get the longest life out of their windows are the ones who pay attention to those triggers. Clear the weep holes every time you paint. Lubricate before June