Window and Siding Replacement in Richmond, ME

Richmond at a glance

Permit to re-side

Not published

Window, same opening

Required

New or bigger opening: required

Window must meet

U-0.30 or lower

2021 IECC (statewide; town need not enforce)

Built before 1980

55%

Homes in Richmond, Census 2020–2024

People: 3,566
Homes: 1,782
Size: 30.4 square miles
From downtown: About 38 miles northeast
ZIP codes: 04357
Founded or incorporated: 1823

Richmond sits on the west bank of the Kennebec River at the head of Merrymeeting Bay, across from Swan Island and its state wildlife area. The town built more than 200 ships between 1815 and 1890, and its riverside village of homes and storefronts is a National Register historic district. Peacock Beach State Park is on Pleasant Pond.

The houses in Richmond

Before 194032%

1940–195910%

1960–197913%

1980–199922%

2000 or later23%

In Richmond, 55% of homes went up before 1980 and 32% before 1940; the median one dates from 1975. 75% are detached single-family houses, and owners live in 70% 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.

By the owners' own estimate, the median owned home in Richmond is worth about $242,700. 58% of homes have three or more bedrooms, and each bedroom needs an emergency escape opening under the egress rule.

Half the homes in Richmond were built before 1975, which makes its housing about the same age as across Sagadahoc County as a whole (median 1977). Set against Sagadahoc County as a whole, owners live in 70% of occupied homes here against 78% county-wide and the median owner-estimated value is $242,700 here and $333,300 across the county.

Rooms in the median home: 5.9
Heated with gas / electricity: 1% / 6%
Townhouses and other attached homes: 1%
Homes in buildings of 2 to 4 units: 11%
Homes in buildings of 5 or more units: 2%
Mobile homes: 12%

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.

The village holds a large collection of Greek Revival houses from the town's 1835 to 1857 shipbuilding and trade peak, along with later Victorian buildings.

What that vintage turns up

The largest group of homes in Richmond, 32% of them, was built before 1940, so that is the house described here.

The originals are wood double-hung sashes on cords and weights: small panes on the capes and farmhouses, two-over-two or one-over-one on the Victorian, Italianate and Greek Revival houses of the shipbuilding and mill towns. Many now sit behind an aluminum storm window added decades later. The sash wood is usually old-growth and sound; the putty, the sill paint and the cords are what give out. A tuned-up sash with a tight storm in front of it is a real alternative to replacement on these houses, and inside a local historic district it is often the one the review expects.

Painted wood clapboards on the street walls, and cedar shingles on the sides, the ells and every surface of the Shingle-style summer houses along the coast, all nailed straight to board sheathing. In the cities a good share of these are two- and three-family houses. Plenty were later wrapped in asbestos-cement shingles, aluminum or vinyl to stop the painting; underneath is either clapboard worth restoring or soft bottom courses where winter snow banked against the wall for decades.

The one to watch on a house of this age

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.

And on the 23% 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 Richmond Village and Iceboro.

Historic districts

Richmond has 1 listed: Richmond 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

Richmond shares a boundary with Bowdoinham, Bowdoin, Kennebec River, Merrymeeting Bay and Swan Island.

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

The rules in Richmond

Siding replacement Not published

Richmond publishes separate permit forms for re-roofing and for window replacement, but none for siding. Ask the Code Enforcement Officer whether a re-side needs a building permit.

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

Window replacement has its own $20 permit on the town's fee schedule. A new or enlarged opening goes on a building permit application.

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

Richmond counted 3,522 residents in the 2020 Census, under the 4,000 mark, so it need not enforce the state's code, and its pages do not say it does; the state still counts meeting the code as the owner's responsibility.

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

Window replacement permit: $20. An after-the-fact permit costs double the original fee.

Local quirks

In the National Register historic area of Richmond's Village District along the Kennebec, no historic building may be changed on the outside until the Code Officer approves, after review by a registered architect and the Planning Board.

Who to call

Building dept: 207-737-4305
Official: James Valley, Code Enforcement
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

Yellow clapboard house with black shutters behind a white picket fence

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

How Richmond compares with its neighbors

Place	Permit to re-side	Permit for a window	Window must meet
Richmond	Not published	Yes	U-0.30
Bowdoinham	No	No	U-0.30
Bowdoin	Not published	Not published	U-0.30
Topsham	No	No	U-0.30
West Bath	Yes	Yes	U-0.30
Woolwich	Not published	Not published	U-0.30
Arrowsic	Not published	Not published	U-0.30

All 10 Sagadahoc County places side by side →

Work we have done in Richmond

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

Common questions about Richmond

When were most of the homes in Richmond built?

32% went up before 1940 and 23% in 2000 or later; the median Richmond home dates from 1975, and 55% are older than 1980 (32% older than 1940). ACS 2020–2024.

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

No rule is published. Richmond's rules say nothing on whether you need a permit to re-side and require a permit to replace a window in the same opening and to cut or enlarge an opening. Richmond publishes separate permit forms for re-roofing and for window replacement, but none for siding. Next door in Bowdoinham, a re-side needs no permit.

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

Maine sets it statewide, not Richmond: a U-factor of 0.30 or lower under the 2021 energy code Maine adopted, with no limit on solar heat gain. Richmond counted 3,522 residents in the 2020 Census, under the 4,000 mark, so it need not enforce the state's code, and its pages do not say it does; the state still counts meeting the code as the owner's responsibility.

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

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

How much is a building permit in Richmond?

Window replacement permit: $20. An after-the-fact permit costs double the original fee.

Where these facts came from

Sources: richmondmaine.com · richmondmaine.com · richmondmaine.com · richmondmaine.com · richmondmaine.com · richmondmaine.com · richmondmaine.com · legislature.maine.gov · www2.census.gov · maine.gov · maine.gov

Window and siding replacement in Richmond

What we do in Richmond

Replacement windows

Siding replacement

Vinyl siding

Fiber cement

Hail & storm damage

Older homes