Window and siding replacement in Freeport

Freeport at a glance

People

8,802

Homes

4,249

Size

34.7 square miles

From downtown

About 15 miles northeast

ZIP codes

04032, 04078, 04013

Founded or incorporated

1789

Freeport grew as four villages, and the waterfront ones along the Harraseeket River, South Freeport, Porter's Landing and Mast Landing, now form the Harraseeket Historic District. Shipbuilding peaked in the 1850s and South Freeport once had four shipyards, while Freeport Corner became the busy shopping downtown.

The houses in Freeport

44% of the homes in Freeport are older than 1980 and 17% older than 1940; the median one dates from 1984; 72% are detached houses and 78% of occupied homes are owner-occupied. 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 Freeport is worth about $508,400. 58% of homes have three or more bedrooms, and each bedroom needs an emergency escape opening under the egress rule.

Half the homes in Freeport were built before 1984, which makes its housing about 8 years newer than across Cumberland County as a whole (median 1976). Set against Cumberland County as a whole, owners live in 78% of occupied homes here against 70% county-wide, the median owner-estimated value is $508,400 here and $451,200 across the county and detached houses are 72% of the homes, above the county's 63%.

Rooms in the median home

5.9

Heated with gas / electricity

8% / 13%

Townhouses and other attached homes

2%

Homes in buildings of 2 to 4 units

5%

Homes in buildings of 5 or more units

16%

Mobile homes

6%

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 Freeport, 30% 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.

Neighborhoods

We work across South Freeport, Mast Landing, Porter Landing, Bustins Island, Wardtown, Pleasant Hill and Cushing Briggs.

Historic districts

Freeport has 2 listed: Harraseeket Historic District and Freeport Main Street 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

Freeport shares a boundary with Brunswick, Yarmouth, Pownal, Harpswell, Durham, Chebeague Island, Harraseeket River and Casco Bay.

The rules in Freeport

What the permit costs

Alteration permits cost $11 per $1,000 of value, with a $55 minimum.

Local quirks

In Freeport's Design Review Districts, replacing siding and trim with wood, fiber cement or engineered wood of the same style and exposure needs no design review certificate, but other materials visible from a public way go to the Project Review Board. Replacement windows of the same size and configuration can be approved by the Town Planner within 14 days, and where the old windows have muntins the lite pattern must be kept, with true or simulated divided lites.

Who to call

Building dept

207-865-4743

Official

Nick Adams, Codes Enforcement Officer

Permits

Department page

How Freeport compares with its neighbors

All 25 Cumberland County places side by side →

Work we have done in Freeport

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

Common questions about Freeport

Where these facts came from

Sources: freeportmaine.com · freeportmaine.com · freeportmaine.com · freeportmaine.com · freeportmaine.com · freeportmaine.com · freeportmaine.com · maine.gov · legislature.maine.gov