Fitting, sealing and commissioning — single openings to whole buildings
A window performs as specified only if it is installed correctly. The most common cause of a leaking or draughty new window is not the product — it is the perimeter detail around it.
We supply and install, which means one company is responsible for the whole opening. There is no gap between the supplier who says the unit was fine and the installer who says the product was faulty.
This service page is in place and will be expanded with full detail — scope, process, typical projects and pricing guidance.
In the meantime, if this is what you need, call 929-235-1233 or send us the details and we will answer directly.
Waterproofing Material Supply Custom Fabrication Design & Drawings Permits & Access All Services
Most new window leaks are not product failures. They are failures at the perimeter — the flashing, the tie-in to the wall's air and water barrier, and the drainage path. A well-made window in a badly detailed opening will still leak.
We prefer to supply and install, because it means one company is responsible for the whole opening and there is no dispute over whether a fault is product or installation. Contact us with the details and we will discuss it.
The frame perimeter is tied into the wall's air and water barrier rather than only sealed at the face, sill pan flashing is installed with end dams so water drains back out, weep paths are left clear, and sealant joints are tooled on both faces over backer rod.
Yes. Large replacement programmes are routinely phased by elevation, floor or tenancy, with sequencing planned around tenant access and working hours.
If the building sits inside a designated district, the specification is set by the Landmarks approval rather than by preference. We cover how that works, and what our role is, on our Carroll Gardens landmark window page.
A window carries a tested performance figure. That figure was achieved in a laboratory, in a purpose-built test wall, by people with unlimited time. What it achieves in your building depends almost entirely on how it was installed.
A high-performance unit fitted into a frame that leaks around the perimeter will underperform a modest unit sealed properly. That is not a marginal difference — it is the single most common reason an expensive glazing upgrade disappoints.
We measure every opening rather than measuring a few and assuming the rest match. In a building more than fifty years old they do not match: masonry has moved, heads are not the same width as sills, and jambs are rarely plumb.
The survey also identifies window patterns rather than just counting openings. Older buildings almost never have one window type throughout, because earlier replacement campaigns leave a mix, and a single hardware pattern will not fit all of them. Counting openings and ordering that many units is how a job goes wrong on installation day.
Access is settled at survey too. How the units reach the opening, whether a lift is needed, whether the work is over a public way and therefore needs a permit or a shed — all of that belongs in the quotation, not as a surprise later.
With a punched opening, the window is rarely the problem. The junction between window and wall is.
Water running down a wall has to be intercepted at the opening and directed back out. That requires a designed sequence: head flashing shedding water clear, jamb flashing lapping correctly so every overlap directs water outward, and a sill pan with end dams catching anything that gets past and draining it out rather than letting it track sideways into the wall.
Get that lapping order wrong — and it is wrong on a great many buildings — and the detail funnels water into the wall. Replacing the window will not fix it, which is why we look at the existing detail before quoting on a building with a history of leaks.
The perimeter joint then has to absorb movement. A frame in summer sun runs far above air temperature and below it on a clear winter night, so the joint moves through a wider range than the weather suggests. A joint too narrow for that movement tears whatever sealant is in it.
Most of our work is in buildings people are living or trading in, which shapes the method.
One opening at a time. An opening is not left unsecured overnight. If a unit cannot be completed in a day, the opening is made weathertight and secure before we leave.
Protection first. Floors, stairs and carry routes are protected before anything is removed. Glazing work makes dust and debris and it is our job to contain it.
Sequencing around occupancy. In hotels, rooms come out of service one at a time and go back the same day. In retail, work happens around trading hours. In apartment buildings, access is arranged unit by unit with realistic allowance for people not being home.
The old units go with us. Removal and disposal is part of the job, not an extra.
Hardware is adjusted and every unit operated and tested before we call it finished — locks engaging, sashes closing evenly, drainage clear. Interior trim is made good. On tilt-and-turn and multi-point systems, adjustment at handover matters more than on simpler windows, because those systems are precise and want setting rather than forcing.
These describe the kind of work each area brings rather than any specific client project.
Pre-war apartment buildings — the Bronx, upper Manhattan, central Brooklyn. Whole-building programmes in masonry openings that all differ. The survey is the job; the installation follows from it.
Historic districts — Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn Heights, Harlem. Working to the approvals an architect or general contractor has secured, matching profiles and bar widths to what was approved. See our landmark window page.
High-rise — Long Island City, Downtown Brooklyn, the Hudson waterfront. Hoisting, building rules and restricted working hours shape the programme as much as the work. Design pressure comes from the engineer.
Retail and hospitality — Flatbush, Coney Island Avenue, Astoria, Cedarhurst. Sequenced around trading, with the frontage secure at the end of every day.
Coastal — the Rockaways, Manhattan Beach, Staten Island's shores, the Shore. Stainless fixings, and perimeter details built for water arriving horizontally under pressure.
Tell us the building, the number of openings and whether there is a history of leaks. We install across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island, and throughout Northern New Jersey, the Jersey Shore, Philadelphia and the Lehigh Valley.
Tell us about the opening and we will specify it for you.
