Window and Siding Replacement in Eliot, ME

Eliot at a glance

Permit to re-side

Depends

Window, same opening

Depends

New or bigger opening: required

Window must meet

U-0.30 or lower

2021 IECC (statewide)

Built before 1980

52%

Homes in Eliot, Census 2020–2024

People: 7,146
Homes: 3,201
Size: 19.8 square miles
From downtown: About 44 miles southwest
ZIP codes: 03903
Founded or incorporated: 1810

Eliot was settled in 1623 as part of Kittery and became its own town in 1810. It lies along the Piscataqua River and Sturgeon Creek across from Portsmouth and Newington, New Hampshire, rather than on the open ocean, and includes the village of South Eliot and the Green Acre community.

The houses in Eliot

Before 194024%

1940–19598%

1960–197920%

1980–199924%

2000 or later25%

52% of the homes in Eliot are older than 1980 and 24% older than 1940; the median one dates from 1979; 81% are detached houses and 80% of occupied homes are owner-occupied. With most of the housing older than 1980, the federal lead rule is likely on most window and siding jobs here. What the lead rule requires of a contractor.

Owners here put the median home's value at about $498,900, and 61% of homes have three bedrooms or more — each bedroom needs an emergency escape opening under the egress rule.

Half the homes in Eliot were built before 1979, 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 $498,900 here and $395,700 across the county and detached houses are 81% of the homes, above the county's 70%.

Rooms in the median home: 5.9
Heated with gas / electricity: 3% / 7%
Townhouses and other attached homes: 4%
Homes in buildings of 2 to 4 units: 6%
Homes in buildings of 5 or more units: 5%
Mobile homes: 3%

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 Eliot, 25% of them, was built in 2000 or later, so that is the house described here.

Double-glazed low-e vinyl or fiberglass windows, usually installed with flashing tape over a house wrap. These rarely need replacing for age; when one fails it is usually a seal or a piece of hardware, and the maker's warranty is worth checking before anything else. Heavy frost or water on the inside of the glass in a cold snap is more often a humidity problem in a tight house than a window defect.

Vinyl, fiber cement or engineered wood over oriented strand board and a house wrap, the wall assembly the current code expects. The weak points are workmanship, not materials: tape that let go at the window corners, a missing kickout where a roof edge meets a sidewall, J-channel run tight with no room for the siding to move.

The one to watch on a house of this age

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.

And on the 24% built before 1940

Nothing behind the boards sheds water: no house wrap and no flashing at the window heads, only paint and trim. A new window set into that wall needs a sill pan and head flashing improvised into old framing, so ask how the installer will lap it before you compare prices.

Neighborhoods

We work across South Eliot, Green Acre, East Eliot, Crams Corner, Gould Corner, Kennard Corner, Tobeys Corner, Rosemary and Frankfort Island.

Next door

Eliot shares a boundary with Kittery, York, South Berwick, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Newington, New Hampshire, Dover, New Hampshire and Piscataqua River.

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

The rules in Eliot

Siding replacement Conditional

It depends on the job. Eliot's code enforcement FAQ treats routine maintenance as needing no permit, and says any project that materially alters a structure, for example by spending $2,000 or more, needs a building and use permit. A full re-side usually clears that figure.

Window replacement, same opening Conditional Enlarging or cutting an opening Permit required

The same $2,000 test applies to windows. A new or enlarged opening alters the structure.

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

With 6,717 residents in the 2020 Census, Eliot 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.

Who to call

Building dept: 207-439-1813
Official: Shelly Bishop, Code Enforcement Officer / Health Officer
Permits: Department page

What is behind the siding: every layer explained

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

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

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

Red clapboard cape-style house with a center chimney, shrubs and a sunny lawn

How Eliot compares with its neighbors

Place	Permit to re-side	Permit for a window	Window must meet
Eliot	Depends	Depends	U-0.30
Kittery	Yes	Depends	U-0.30
York	Yes	Yes	U-0.30
South Berwick	No	No	U-0.30
Hollis	No	Not published	U-0.30
Kennebunk	Depends	Yes	U-0.30
Kennebunkport	No	Not published	U-0.30

All 29 York County places side by side →

Work we have done in Eliot

Nothing completed in Eliot so far. Rather than pad this out, we have left it blank until there is a real job to describe.

Common questions about Eliot

What age of house is typical in Eliot?

25% went up in 2000 or later and 24% before 1940; the median Eliot home dates from 1979, and 52% are older than 1980 (24% older than 1940). ACS 2020–2024.

Does Eliot require a permit for new siding or windows?

For siding, it depends. Eliot's rules make it depend on the job whether you need a permit to re-side or to replace a window in the same opening and require a permit to cut or enlarge an opening. It depends on the job. Eliot's code enforcement FAQ treats routine maintenance as needing no permit, and says any project that materially alters a structure, for example by spending $2,000 or more, needs a building and use permit. Next door in Kittery, a re-side needs a permit.

How energy-efficient does a new window have to be in Eliot?

Maine sets it statewide, not Eliot: a U-factor of 0.30 or lower under the 2021 energy code Maine adopted, with no limit on solar heat gain. With 6,717 residents in the 2020 Census, Eliot is over the 4,000 mark at which Maine requires a town to enforce the state's building and energy code.

What does the egress rule mean for windows in Eliot?

Yes. 61% of Eliot's homes have three or more bedrooms (median owner-estimated value $498,900), and each bedroom needs an emergency escape opening: at least 5.7 square feet of net clear opening (5 at a grade-floor sill), 24 inches high and 20 inches wide, with the sill no more than 44 inches above the floor (IRC R310).

Where these facts came from

Sources: eliotme.gov · eliotmaine.portal.iworq.net · eliotmaine.portal.iworq.net · s3.amazonaws.com · maine.gov · maine.gov · legislature.maine.gov

Window and siding replacement in Eliot

What we do in Eliot

Replacement windows

Siding replacement

Vinyl siding

Fiber cement

Hail & storm damage

Older homes