Windows in New York City are often old double-hung wood set in brick, with cords, weights, and brickmold that has been painted for decades. They rattle in harbor wind. They leak when rain is blown at the sash. They get painted shut. A sleeve or a window unit may be the only cooling. That opening is doing several jobs, and a replacement that ignores one of them will be a fight with the room.
Not every tired sash is a full tear-out. Rotted sills, broken cords, and a single fogged pane are different from a frame that has pulled away from the masonry. Insert work leaves the old frame in the brick. Full-frame work opens the rough edge, which is useful when the wood is soft and a mess when the brickmold and the interior casing are sound. Say which rooms, and whether the window must still open onto a fire escape or a court.
Water shows up on the stool, at the apron, or in the wall below, especially on the weather side. A lintel or a loose brick above the opening can be the real source, with the window taking the blame. Say if the leak happens only in wind-driven rain. Say if the glass sweats all winter because the heat is steam and the sash is a single pane. Noise is real here, but the call still needs the condition of the frame, not a speech about the street.
Have a count and a material. Wood, a later metal or vinyl unit, or a mix on the same facade. Say whether you own the opening or the building does. In a landmarked look-alike block the exterior profile may be sensitive, so say if the front elevation is old and intact. Ask how the sill is flashed and who repairs interior trim. Ask whether the numbers on the glass are for the whole unit. Bring one honest description of the worst opening.
A city sash in masonry is not a suburban picture window and not a Buffalo wall buried in snow. It is brick, a pulley window, and weather off the harbor. Windows in New York City start with that opening. Call the number on this page.