Cumberland County, Maine
Window and siding replacement in Scarborough
Replacement windows and new siding for homes in Scarborough. Here a re-side needs a permit, and a replacement window has to be U-0.30 or lower.
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Windows & siding services
What we do in Scarborough
Siding replacement
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Vinyl siding
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Fiber cement
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Hail & storm damage
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Older homes
Learn moreScarborough 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
39%
Homes in Scarborough, Census 2020–2024
- People
- 23,215
- Homes
- 11,097
- Size
- 47.7 square miles
- From downtown
- About 7 miles southwest
- ZIP codes
- 04074, 04070
- Founded or incorporated
- 1658
A coastal town on Saco Bay with beach neighborhoods at Pine Point, Higgins Beach and Prouts Neck, and the Scarborough Marsh between Pine Point and the inland villages. Incorporated in 1658, it is the most populous place in Maine still called a town.
The houses in Scarborough
Before 19408%
1940–19597%
1960–197924%
1980–199931%
2000 or later30%
39% of the homes in Scarborough are older than 1980 and 8% older than 1940; the median one dates from 1988; 69% are detached houses and 77% 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.
65% of the homes in Scarborough have three or more bedrooms. The median owned home is worth about $551,900 by its owner's estimate, the figure to weigh any siding or window quote against.
Half the homes in Scarborough were built before 1988, which makes its housing about 12 years newer than across Cumberland County as a whole (median 1976). Set against Cumberland County as a whole, owners live in 77% of occupied homes here against 70% county-wide, the median owner-estimated value is $551,900 here and $451,200 across the county and detached houses are 69% of the homes, above the county's 63%.
- Rooms in the median home
- 6.3
- Heated with gas / electricity
- 13% / 15%
- Townhouses and other attached homes
- 9%
- Homes in buildings of 2 to 4 units
- 7%
- Homes in buildings of 5 or more units
- 13%
- Mobile homes
- 2%
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 Scarborough, 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 30% 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 Pine Point, Higgins Beach, Prouts Neck, Dunstan, Oak Hill, Blue Point, North Scarborough, West Scarborough, Eight Corners, Pleasant Hill and Grand Beach.
Next door
Scarborough shares a boundary with Cape Elizabeth, South Portland, Westbrook, Gorham, Buxton, Saco, Old Orchard Beach, Saco Bay and Atlantic Ocean.
The rules in Scarborough
Siding replacement Permit required
Yes. Scarborough's codes FAQ answers 'What types of projects require a permit?' with the residential code's own rule: anyone who intends to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move or demolish a building must first get the required permit. The only work its FAQ says needs none is a fence seven feet high or less.
Window replacement, same opening Permit required Enlarging or cutting an opening Permit required
The same rule reaches a replacement window and, plainly, a new or enlarged opening.
Maine sets this, not Scarborough: U-0.30 or lower
With 22,135 residents in the 2020 Census, Scarborough 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
Renovation permit fees may be figured at $12.50 per $1,000 of estimated construction cost, with a $50 minimum, and after-the-fact permits cost double.
Local quirks
A property in a Special Flood Hazard Area needs a Flood Hazard Development Permit for any development, which the town defines as any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate, so a re-side near the marsh or the beaches can need one too.
Who to call
- Building dept
- 207-730-4040
- Official
- Brian Dobson, John Lotfey and Christian Glendinning, Code Enforcement Officers
- Permits
- Department page
How Scarborough compares with its neighbors
| Place | Permit to re-side | Permit for a window | Window must meet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scarborough | Yes | Yes | U-0.30 |
| Cape Elizabeth | No | Depends | U-0.30 |
| South Portland | Not published | Not published | U-0.30 |
| Westbrook | Not published | Not published | U-0.30 |
| Gorham | Yes | Yes | U-0.30 |
| Buxton | No | No | U-0.30 |
| Saco | Yes | Yes | U-0.30 |
All 25 Cumberland County places side by side →
Work we have done in Scarborough
No completed job in Scarborough on the books yet, and we would rather say so than invent one.
Common questions about Scarborough
What age of house is typical in Scarborough?
31% went up in the 1980s and 1990s and 30% in 2000 or later; the median Scarborough home dates from 1988, and 39% are older than 1980 (8% older than 1940). ACS 2020–2024.
Does Scarborough require a permit for new siding or windows?
Yes: a re-side, a window in the same opening and a new or bigger opening all need one in Scarborough. Yes. Scarborough's codes FAQ answers 'What types of projects require a permit?' with the residential code's own rule: anyone who intends to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move or demolish a building must first get the required permit. Next door in Cape Elizabeth, a re-side needs no permit.
How energy-efficient does a new window have to be in Scarborough?
Maine sets it statewide, not Scarborough: a U-factor of 0.30 or lower under the 2021 energy code Maine adopted, with no limit on solar heat gain. With 22,135 residents in the 2020 Census, Scarborough is over the 4,000 mark at which Maine requires a town to enforce the state's building and energy code.
What does a permit cost in Scarborough?
Renovation permit fees may be figured at $12.50 per $1,000 of estimated construction cost, with a $50 minimum, and after-the-fact permits cost double.
Where these facts came from
Sources: scarboroughmaine.org · scarboroughmaine.org · scarboroughmaine.org · scarboroughmaine.org · scarboroughmaine.org · resources.finalsite.net · resources.finalsite.net · maine.gov · legislature.maine.gov
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