Window and Siding Replacement in Falmouth, ME

Falmouth at a glance

Permit to re-side

Required

Window, same opening

Required

New or bigger opening: required

Window must meet

U-0.30 or lower

2021 IECC (statewide)

Built before 1980

42%

Homes in Falmouth, Census 2020–2024

People: 12,755
Homes: 5,283
Size: 29.4 square miles
From downtown: About 6 miles north
ZIP codes: 04105
Founded or incorporated: 1718

A northern suburb of Portland on Casco Bay with one of the largest boat anchorages in Maine off the Foreside. Trolley service reached Falmouth Foreside in 1898, and after World War II the town turned from a rural community into a residential suburb, its population roughly doubling in fifty years.

The houses in Falmouth

Before 194014%

1940–195912%

1960–197916%

1980–199931%

2000 or later27%

In Falmouth, 42% of homes went up before 1980 and 14% before 1940; the median one dates from 1986. 81% are detached single-family houses, and owners live in 84% 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.

Owners here put the median home's value at about $767,500, and 73% of homes have three bedrooms or more — each bedroom needs an emergency escape opening under the egress rule.

Half the homes in Falmouth were built before 1986, which makes its housing about 10 years newer than across Cumberland County as a whole (median 1976). Set against Cumberland County as a whole, owners live in 84% of occupied homes here against 70% county-wide, the median owner-estimated value is $767,500 here and $451,200 across the county and detached houses are 81% of the homes, above the county's 63%.

Rooms in the median home: 6.9
Heated with gas / electricity: 19% / 11%
Townhouses and other attached homes: 9%
Homes in buildings of 2 to 4 units: 2%
Homes in buildings of 5 or more units: 7%
Mobile homes: 1%

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.

Includes enclosed country-club neighborhoods built around two golf clubs opened in 1986 and 1988, along with other large subdivisions.

What that vintage turns up

The largest group of homes in Falmouth, 31% 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 27% 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 Falmouth Foreside, West Falmouth Corner, North Falmouth, Mackworth Point, Highland Lake, Blackstrap, Casco Terrace, Pleasant Hill, Waites Landing and York Landing.

Historic districts

Falmouth has 1 listed: Norton House 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

Falmouth shares a boundary with Cumberland, Portland, Westbrook, Windham, Long Island and Casco Bay.

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

The rules in Falmouth

Siding replacement Permit required

Yes. Falmouth's permit FAQ repeats the residential code's rule that anyone who intends to construct, enlarge, alter or repair a building must first get a permit, and its list of work that needs none (small sheds, fences up to 7 feet, retaining walls under 4 feet, finish work and the like) does not include siding.

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

The FAQ names windows outright: "A permit is required for the replacement of windows to confirm compliance with egress standards."

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

With 12,444 residents in the 2020 Census, Falmouth 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.

What the permit costs

Residential renovation permits cost $10 per $1,000 of estimated construction cost (fee schedule in effect since September 22, 2026), and starting without a permit can bring fines of $100 to $2,500 per violation under state law.

Who to call

Building dept: 207-699-5310
Official: Justin Brown, 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

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

Blue clapboard house with a front gable, a covered porch and a green lawn

How Falmouth compares with its neighbors

Place	Permit to re-side	Permit for a window	Window must meet
Falmouth	Yes	Yes	U-0.30
Cumberland	Not published	Not published	U-0.30
Portland	No	No	U-0.30
Westbrook	Not published	Not published	U-0.30
Windham	Depends	Depends	U-0.30
Freeport	Depends	Depends	U-0.30
Gorham	Yes	Yes	U-0.30

All 25 Cumberland County places side by side →

Work we have done in Falmouth

Not yet — Falmouth is on our list rather than in our records. We will say so until that changes.

Common questions about Falmouth

When were most of the homes in Falmouth built?

31% went up in the 1980s and 1990s and 27% in 2000 or later; the median Falmouth home dates from 1986, and 42% are older than 1980 (14% older than 1940). ACS 2020–2024.

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

Yes: a re-side, a window in the same opening and a new or bigger opening all need one in Falmouth. Next door in Cumberland, a re-side has no published rule.

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

Maine sets it statewide, not Falmouth: a U-factor of 0.30 or lower under the 2021 energy code Maine adopted, with no limit on solar heat gain. With 12,444 residents in the 2020 Census, Falmouth is over the 4,000 mark at which Maine requires a town to enforce the state's building and energy code.

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

Falmouth has 1: Norton House Historic District. Check a property's listing before ordering a visible window change.

How much is a building permit in Falmouth?

Where these facts came from

Sources: falmouthme.org · falmouthme.org · falmouthme.org · falmouthme.org · falmouthme.org · falmouthme.org · maine.gov · legislature.maine.gov

Window and siding replacement in Falmouth

What we do in Falmouth

Replacement windows

Siding replacement

Vinyl siding

Fiber cement

Hail & storm damage

Older homes