Window and Siding Replacement in Buxton, ME

Buxton at a glance

Permit to re-side

Not required

Window, same opening

Not required

New or bigger opening: required

Window must meet

U-0.30 or lower

2021 IECC (statewide)

Built before 1980

49%

Homes in Buxton, Census 2020–2024

People: 8,512
Homes: 3,943
Size: 40.5 square miles
From downtown: About 14 miles west
ZIP codes: 04093, 04004
Founded or incorporated: 1772

Buxton, incorporated in 1772, grew as a string of mill villages at the falls of the Saco River, including Salmon Falls, Bar Mills and West Buxton at Moderation Falls, and that mill-era prosperity left behind fine older architecture. Bonny Eagle Pond, 211 acres, lies in the northern part of town.

The houses in Buxton

Before 194019%

1940–19599%

1960–197921%

1980–199927%

2000 or later24%

In Buxton, 49% of homes went up before 1980 and 19% before 1940; the median one dates from 1981. 78% are detached single-family houses, and owners live in 80% of the occupied ones. A sizable share of homes here date from before 1980, the era the federal lead rule covers (homes built before 1978). What the lead rule requires of a contractor.

By the owners' own estimate, the median owned home in Buxton is worth about $356,800. 62% of homes have three or more bedrooms, and each bedroom needs an emergency escape opening under the egress rule.

Half the homes in Buxton were built before 1981, which makes its housing about the same age as across York County as a whole (median 1980). Set against York County as a whole, owners live in 80% of occupied homes here against 77% county-wide, the median owner-estimated value is $356,800 here and $395,700 across the county and detached houses are 78% of the homes, above the county's 70%.

Rooms in the median home: 5.5
Heated with gas / electricity: 0% / 5%
Townhouses and other attached homes: 1%
Homes in buildings of 2 to 4 units: 10%
Homes in buildings of 5 or more units: 2%
Mobile homes: 8%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates (tables B25034, B25035, B25024, B25003, B25077, B25041, B25018 and B25040), read through Census Reporter. These are survey estimates, not a count of every house.

What that vintage turns up

The largest group of homes in Buxton, 27% of them, was built in the 1980s and 1990s, so that is the house described here.

Double-glazed vinyl or clad wood windows with a nailing fin, many now thirty or forty years old. The common failure is the seal between the panes: once it lets go the glass fogs between the layers and the gas fill is gone. When the frames are still square and dry, new sealed glass in the old frame is the cheaper repair; when the frames are cracked or the sills are soft, it is time for the whole unit.

The capes, colonials and raised ranches of the subdivisions that spread across the commuter towns, sided in vinyl or cedar clapboard over plywood or particle-board sheathing, with felt paper or an early house wrap behind it. The siding itself usually holds up; what to look at is what water has done at the corners, around the windows and under any deck ledger fastened through the siding.

The one to watch on a house of this age

Windows of this era were often sealed to the wrap with caulk and little else. When the siding comes off, check the sheathing below each window's lower corners: that is where a failed caulk joint shows up first, as dark, soft wood.

And on the 24% built in 2000 or later

Houses built to recent Maine codes are tight, and Maine now holds new houses to a lower air-leakage limit than the national code. A tight house with too little ventilation fogs its windows all winter; before blaming the glass, check the humidity and the bath and kitchen fans.

Neighborhoods

We work across Bar Mills, West Buxton, Buxton Center, Groveville, Salmon Falls, Tory Hill, Chicopee, Kimbles Corner, Emory Corner and Roberts Corner.

Historic districts

Buxton has 1 listed: Salmon Falls (East) Historic District. A National Register listing on its own does not limit what you fit; a local district or landmark designation can, and in several towns here a change of siding material or window sash needs a certificate before the permit. Which towns' rules bind, and how.

Next door

Buxton shares a boundary with Gorham, Scarborough, Saco, Dayton, Hollis, Standish and Saco River.

Kitchen window with potted plants on the sill and a snowy yard outside

The rules in Buxton

Siding replacement No permit

No, as long as nothing structural changes. Buxton's Zoning Ordinance (section 5.5) says a building permit is not required for the replacement of roofing, siding, windows and interior flooring if no structural changes are required, and that the Code Enforcement Officer should be consulted before starting.

Window replacement, same opening No permit Enlarging or cutting an opening Permit required

Windows are named in the same exemption; a new or enlarged opening is a structural change.

Maine sets this, not Buxton: U-0.30 or lower

With 8,376 residents in the 2020 Census, Buxton is over the 4,000 mark at which Maine requires a town to enforce the state's building and energy code.

That is the 2021 energy code’s window figure, with no solar heat gain limit.

ENERGY STAR’s own figure here is U-0.22 or lower with an SHGC of 0.17 or higher, stricter than any code edition in force. When the code applies to a replacement window, and when it does not.

Local quirks

The same section exempts work of $2,500 or less, but none of these exemptions apply in Special Flood Hazard Areas, where the town's floodplain rules decide.

Who to call

Building dept: 207-929-3046
Official: Patti McKenna, Code Enforcement Officer
Permits: Department page

What is behind the siding: every layer explained

Worker on a lift painting new shingle and lap siding on a house gable

Gothic-style house with carved bargeboard trim, a pointed window and diamond-pane sashes

Yellow clapboard house with black shutters behind a white picket fence

Victorian clapboard house with a mansard roof, bracketed eaves and a columned front porch

How Buxton compares with its neighbors

Place	Permit to re-side	Permit for a window	Window must meet
Buxton	No	No	U-0.30
Gorham	Yes	Yes	U-0.30
Scarborough	Yes	Yes	U-0.30
Saco	Yes	Yes	U-0.30
Dayton	No	No	U-0.30
Hollis	No	Not published	U-0.30
Standish	Depends	Depends	U-0.30

All 29 York County places side by side →

Work we have done in Buxton

We have no finished work in Buxton to show you yet. This fills in as jobs land, and not before.

Common questions about Buxton

When were most of the homes in Buxton built?

27% went up in the 1980s and 1990s and 24% in 2000 or later; the median Buxton home dates from 1981, and 49% are older than 1980 (19% older than 1940). ACS 2020–2024.

Do I need a permit to re-side a house in Buxton?

Not for siding. Buxton's rules require no permit to re-side and to replace a window in the same opening and require a permit to cut or enlarge an opening. Next door in Gorham, a re-side needs a permit.

What U-factor does a replacement window need in Buxton?

Maine sets it statewide, not Buxton: a U-factor of 0.30 or lower under the 2021 energy code Maine adopted, with no limit on solar heat gain. With 8,376 residents in the 2020 Census, Buxton is over the 4,000 mark at which Maine requires a town to enforce the state's building and energy code.

Does Buxton have historic districts that limit window or siding choices?

Buxton has 1: Salmon Falls (East) Historic District. Check a property's listing before ordering a visible window change.

Where these facts came from

Sources: buxton.me.us · buxton.me.us · buxton.me.us · buxton.me.us · buxton.me.us · buxton.me.us · buxton.me.us · maine.gov · legislature.maine.gov

Window and siding replacement in Buxton

What we do in Buxton

Replacement windows

Siding replacement

Vinyl siding

Fiber cement

Hail & storm damage

Older homes