Window and Siding Replacement in Standish, ME

Standish at a glance

Permit to re-side

Depends

Window, same opening

Depends

New or bigger opening: required

Window must meet

U-0.30 or lower

2021 IECC (statewide)

Built before 1980

50%

Homes in Standish, Census 2020–2024

People: 10,662
Homes: 4,925
Size: 59.1 square miles
From downtown: About 18 miles northwest
ZIP codes: 04084, 04085
Founded or incorporated: 1785

Standish takes in Sebago Lake Village on the lake plus Standish Corner and Steep Falls, and much of the town is sandy plains covered with pine. Trains once met lake steamboats at Sebago Lake Station, and Frye Island in the lake was set off from Standish as its own town in 1998.

The houses in Standish

Before 194017%

1940–195911%

1960–197922%

1980–199927%

2000 or later23%

50% of the homes in Standish are older than 1980 and 17% older than 1940; the median one dates from 1980; 86% are detached houses and 91% of occupied homes are owner-occupied. 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 Standish is worth about $336,000. 71% of homes have three or more bedrooms, and each bedroom needs an emergency escape opening under the egress rule.

Half the homes in Standish were built before 1980, which makes its housing about 4 years newer than across Cumberland County as a whole (median 1976). Set against Cumberland County as a whole, owners live in 91% of occupied homes here against 70% county-wide, the median owner-estimated value is $336,000 here and $451,200 across the county and detached houses are 86% of the homes, above the county's 63%.

Rooms in the median home: 5.7
Heated with gas / electricity: 0% / 3%
Townhouses and other attached homes: 1%
Homes in buildings of 2 to 4 units: 5%
Homes in buildings of 5 or more units: 1%
Mobile homes: 7%

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 Standish, 27% 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 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 Standish Corner, Sebago Lake Village, Steep Falls, Richville, Elmwood, Standish Neck, Harmon Beach, Wards Cove and Two Trails.

Historic districts

Standish has 2 listed: Standish Corner Historic District and Paine Neighborhood 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

Standish shares a boundary with Gorham, Windham, Buxton, Hollis, Limington, Baldwin, Sebago, Raymond, Frye Island and Sebago Lake.

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

The rules in Standish

Siding replacement Conditional

Only if something structural changes. Standish's land use ordinance (section 181-53) requires a permit before a building is installed, erected, moved, added to or structurally altered, and a re-side is none of those unless the framing is opened up.

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

The same test applies to windows: a same-size swap is not a structural alteration, a new or enlarged opening is.

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

With 10,244 residents in the 2020 Census, Standish 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

Permits cost $33 for the first $1,000 of estimated value and $9 for each added $1,000, and starting any work without a permit doubles the fee (schedule updated January 2026).

Who to call

Building dept: 207-642-4571
Official: James Paul, 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

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 Standish compares with its neighbors

Place	Permit to re-side	Permit for a window	Window must meet
Standish	Depends	Depends	U-0.30
Gorham	Yes	Yes	U-0.30
Windham	Depends	Depends	U-0.30
Buxton	No	No	U-0.30
Hollis	No	Not published	U-0.30
Limington	No	No	U-0.30
Baldwin	Depends	Depends	U-0.30

All 25 Cumberland County places side by side →

Work we have done in Standish

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

Common questions about Standish

What age of house is typical in Standish?

27% went up in the 1980s and 1990s and 23% in 2000 or later; the median Standish home dates from 1980, and 50% are older than 1980 (17% older than 1940). ACS 2020–2024.

Does Standish require a permit for new siding or windows?

For siding, it depends. Standish's rules make it depend on the job whether you need a permit to re-side or to replace a window in the same opening and require a permit to cut or enlarge an opening. Only if something structural changes. Standish's land use ordinance (section 181-53) requires a permit before a building is installed, erected, moved, added to or structurally altered, and a re-side is none of those unless the framing is opened up. Next door in Gorham, a re-side needs a permit.

How energy-efficient does a new window have to be in Standish?

Maine sets it statewide, not Standish: a U-factor of 0.30 or lower under the 2021 energy code Maine adopted, with no limit on solar heat gain. With 10,244 residents in the 2020 Census, Standish is over the 4,000 mark at which Maine requires a town to enforce the state's building and energy code.

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

Standish has 2: Standish Corner Historic District and Paine Neighborhood Historic District. Check a property's listing before ordering a visible window change.

How much is a building permit in Standish?

Permits cost $33 for the first $1,000 of estimated value and $9 for each added $1,000, and starting any work without a permit doubles the fee (schedule updated January 2026).

Where these facts came from

Sources: ecode360.com · standishme.gov · standishme.gov · standishme.gov · standishme.gov · standishme.gov · standishme.gov · standish.portal.iworq.net · standish.portal.iworq.net · ecode360.com · ecode360.com · ecode360.com · townofnaples.org · legislature.maine.gov · maine.gov · maine.gov

Window and siding replacement in Standish

What we do in Standish

Replacement windows

Siding replacement

Vinyl siding

Fiber cement

Hail & storm damage

Older homes