Window and Siding Replacement in Hollis, ME

Hollis at a glance

Permit to re-side

Not required

Window, same opening

Not published

New or bigger opening: required

Window must meet

U-0.30 or lower

2021 IECC (statewide)

Built before 1980

58%

Homes in Hollis, Census 2020–2024

People: 4,872
Homes: 1,944
Size: 32.0 square miles
From downtown: About 18 miles west
ZIP codes: 04042
Founded or incorporated: 1798

Hollis is a rural bedroom community of Portland along the Saco River, where water-powered mills once ran at Hollis village, Bar Mills, Moderation Falls, North Hollis and Bonny Eagle Falls. It was incorporated in 1798 as Phillipsburg and later renamed Hollis.

The houses in Hollis

Before 194020%

1940–19593%

1960–197934%

1980–199921%

2000 or later21%

In Hollis, 58% of homes went up before 1980 and 20% before 1940; the median one dates from 1977. 83% are detached single-family houses, and owners live in 88% of the occupied ones. 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.

65% of the homes in Hollis have three or more bedrooms. The median owned home is worth about $338,900 by its owner's estimate, the figure to weigh any siding or window quote against.

Half the homes in Hollis were built before 1977, which makes its housing about 3 years older than across York County as a whole (median 1980). Set against York County as a whole, owners live in 88% of occupied homes here against 77% county-wide, the median owner-estimated value is $338,900 here and $395,700 across the county and detached houses are 83% of the homes, above the county's 70%.

Rooms in the median home: 5.9
Heated with gas / electricity: 1% / 7%
Townhouses and other attached homes: 3%
Homes in buildings of 2 to 4 units: 1%
Homes in buildings of 5 or more units: 2%
Mobile homes: 10%

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 Hollis, 34% of them, was built in the 1960s and 1970s, so that is the house described here.

Aluminum sliders and single-hungs, single-glazed or with an early sealed unit, alongside the first vinyl-clad wood windows. An aluminum frame is a cold bridge: in January it collects frost and runs condensation onto the sill and the drywall return. Few of these windows are worth repairing, and on this vintage a full replacement is usually money well spent.

Raised ranches and split-levels in the new subdivisions, and lake cottages turned into year-round houses, clad in plywood panel siding, aluminum lap or the first vinyl. Plywood panels drink water at the bottom edge and at every butt joint; aluminum dents and chalks but rarely leaks. A converted camp may have siding nailed straight to the studs, with no sheathing and little or no insulation behind it.

The one to watch on a house of this age

The bottom of the wall. Panel siding that runs down close to the ground soaks up water and snowmelt, and the rim joist and sill plate behind it rot unseen. On a converted camp, check whether there is any sheathing at all before anyone prices new siding as a simple swap.

And on the 21% built in the 1980s and 1990s

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.

Neighborhoods

We work across Hollis Center, Bar Mills, North Hollis, West Hollis, South Hollis, Bonny Eagle, Clarks Mills, Salmon Falls and Tylers Corner.

Historic districts

Hollis has 1 listed: Salmon Falls (West) 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

Hollis shares a boundary with Limington, Standish, Buxton, Dayton, Lyman, Waterboro and Saco River.

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

The rules in Hollis

Siding replacement No permit

No, unless the work goes below the siding. The Hollis Building Code (section 7.A.1, amended November 7, 2017) says normal maintenance, including re-roofing and residing, needs no application or permit unless underlying material such as plywood, sheetrock or framing has to be replaced, added or removed.

Window replacement, same opening Not published Enlarging or cutting an opening Permit required

Windows are not named. Replacing framing for a new or larger opening is the kind of underlying work that needs a permit.

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

With 4,745 residents in the 2020 Census, Hollis 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

Building permits are void unless work starts within 6 months, and the permit must be posted in plain view on the property within 48 hours.

Who to call

Building dept: 207-929-2251
Official: Duane Hanson, 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 Hollis compares with its neighbors

Place	Permit to re-side	Permit for a window	Window must meet
Hollis	No	Not published	U-0.30
Limington	No	No	U-0.30
Standish	Depends	Depends	U-0.30
Buxton	No	No	U-0.30
Dayton	No	No	U-0.30
Lyman	No	No	U-0.30
Waterboro	Not published	Not published	U-0.30

All 29 York County places side by side →

Work we have done in Hollis

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

Common questions about Hollis

When were most of the homes in Hollis built?

34% went up in the 1960s and 1970s and 21% in the 1980s and 1990s; the median Hollis home dates from 1977, and 58% are older than 1980 (20% older than 1940). ACS 2020–2024.

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

Not for siding. Hollis's rules require no permit to re-side; say nothing on whether you need a permit to replace a window in the same opening; and require a permit to cut or enlarge an opening. No, unless the work goes below the siding. Next door in Standish, a re-side depends on the job.

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

Maine sets it statewide, not Hollis: a U-factor of 0.30 or lower under the 2021 energy code Maine adopted, with no limit on solar heat gain. With 4,745 residents in the 2020 Census, Hollis is over the 4,000 mark at which Maine requires a town to enforce the state's building and energy code.

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

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

Where these facts came from

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

Window and siding replacement in Hollis

What we do in Hollis

Replacement windows

Siding replacement

Vinyl siding

Fiber cement

Hail & storm damage

Older homes