Windows in San Francisco are old wood sash in a wet wind. Double-hung windows with ropes and weights stick, rattle, and leak air at the meeting rail. Fog swells the stiles. Glazing compound fails. Bay windows, which are half the personality of these blocks, are also a stack of joints, a little roof, and a seat that collects water. Single-pane glass is still everywhere, and it feels cold even when the outdoor air is only cool. This is not a heat-gain problem. It is drafts, damp, and wood that stays wet.
Repair is often the right first talk. A sash that will not stay up needs balances or cords, not a speech about a whole new wall of glass. A sash that will not close is a safety and a weather problem. Rotted stools and soft jambs mean the opening itself is failing, and a new pane in a soft frame will not last. Painted-shut windows are common and dangerous when they are the only exit from a room. Hardware from a dry climate corrodes or binds here. Storms of rain are less the issue than weeks of mist finding a hairline gap at the trim.
Dense streets add noise and soot, and people sometimes want that solved in the same breath as the draft. Say so if it is true, because a sash repair and a full opening replacement are different scales of work. Preserving the look of a Victorian or Edwardian front matters on many blocks, and the street-facing bay is not the place for a careless insert that leaks at the stucco or the wood casing. Side and rear windows on light wells may be rotted from a lack of sun rather than from wind. Treat each wall as its own weather.
Call with the count of sashes that stick, draft, or show soft wood. Mention bay windows, ropes that broke, or water on the seat after fog. The work should keep the character of these openings and actually close against the damp.
Call the number on this page.