Melted goop in window

[Jonathan Cartwright]

Home inspection yesterday has dual glazed vinyl windows and sliding doors. The gray colored sealant? in between the glass panes of the rear sliding door appears to have melted and piled up at the bottom of the door. The remaining sealant in the upper parts of the door has several small cracks in it. Most of the windows around the house had cracks in the sealant but not the melty mess at the bottoms. No visible signs of broken seals were evident at the time. No other signs of window problems were found.

What is this stuff? Is the fact that its no longer where it was in the door/window cause a problem?? Does this affect the thermal resistance of the window assembly???

[Jim Luttrall]

I've never seen that before but it can't be good.
I'd just report what I saw and move on. It might not affect the performance of the window, just a cosmetic eyesore, then again, it might cause a seal failure. In any case it is not intended to be that way. Depending on the age and brand of the windows there might be a warranty consideration.