Window and Siding Replacement in Topsham, ME

Topsham at a glance

Permit to re-side

Not required

Window, same opening

Not required

New or bigger opening: required

Window must meet

U-0.30 or lower

2021 IECC (statewide)

Built before 1980

50%

Homes in Topsham, Census 2020–2024

People: 9,706
Homes: 4,313
Size: 32.2 square miles
From downtown: About 26 miles northeast
ZIP codes: 04086
Founded or incorporated: 1764

Topsham sits on the Androscoggin River across from Brunswick, where the river runs into Merrymeeting Bay. Its village grew around sawmills, paper mills and early shipbuilding, and mill workers settled in Pejepscot Village and Topsham Heights.

The houses in Topsham

Before 194012%

1940–195913%

1960–197925%

1980–199925%

2000 or later24%

Of the homes in Topsham, 50% predate 1980 and 12% predate 1940; the median one dates from 1980. Detached single-family houses make up 74%; owners live in 79% 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 Topsham is worth about $360,800. 62% of homes have three or more bedrooms, and each bedroom needs an emergency escape opening under the egress rule.

Half the homes in Topsham were built before 1980, which makes its housing about 3 years newer than across Sagadahoc County as a whole (median 1977). Set against Sagadahoc County as a whole, owners live in 79% of occupied homes here against 78% county-wide, the median owner-estimated value is $360,800 here and $333,300 across the county and detached houses are 74% of the homes, below the county's 75%.

Rooms in the median home: 5.9
Heated with gas / electricity: 20% / 10%
Townhouses and other attached homes: 3%
Homes in buildings of 2 to 4 units: 10%
Homes in buildings of 5 or more units: 6%
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.

The village holds Federal-style houses from the early 1800s along Main, Green, Pleasant, Winter and Elm streets, with later Greek Revival houses, Queen Anne houses on Summer Street, and Italianate porches and bay windows added to older homes.

What that vintage turns up

The largest group of homes in Topsham, 25% 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 25% 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 Topsham Village, Pejepscot Village, Topsham Heights, Topsham Foreside and Pleasant Point.

Historic districts

Topsham has 1 listed: Topsham 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

Topsham shares a boundary with Brunswick, Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Durham, Lisbon, Androscoggin River and Merrymeeting Bay.

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

The rules in Topsham

Siding replacement No permit

No. Topsham's General Building Permit application lists repairs to and maintenance of existing buildings, replacement of non-structural elements and decorative changes among the work that needs no building permit, and the town's sheet quoting Zoning Ordinance section 225-61 says the same.

Window replacement, same opening No permit Enlarging or cutting an opening Permit required

A window in the same opening is the replacement of a non-structural element. A new or enlarged opening needs a new header, which is structural, and the permit packet asks for window sizes, egress locations and tempered glass.

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

With 9,560 residents in the 2020 Census, Topsham 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

In the town's Historic District, work visible from the street needs a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic District Commission; paint color is not reviewed.

Who to call

Building dept: 207-729-0908
Official: Tom Lister, 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

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

Blue clapboard house with a front gable, a covered porch and a green lawn

How Topsham compares with its neighbors

Place	Permit to re-side	Permit for a window	Window must meet
Topsham	No	No	U-0.30
Brunswick	No	Not published	U-0.30
Bowdoin	Not published	Not published	U-0.30
Bowdoinham	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 Topsham

Not yet — Topsham is on our list rather than in our records. We will say so until that changes.

Common questions about Topsham

How old are most houses in Topsham?

25% went up in the 1960s and 1970s and 25% in the 1980s and 1990s; the median Topsham home dates from 1980, and 50% are older than 1980 (12% older than 1940). ACS 2020–2024.

Is a permit needed to replace siding or windows in Topsham?

Not for siding. Topsham's rules require no permit to re-side and to replace a window in the same opening and require a permit to cut or enlarge an opening. Next door in Bowdoin, a re-side has no published rule.

What window efficiency rule applies in Topsham?

Maine sets it statewide, not Topsham: a U-factor of 0.30 or lower under the 2021 energy code Maine adopted, with no limit on solar heat gain. With 9,560 residents in the 2020 Census, Topsham is over the 4,000 mark at which Maine requires a town to enforce the state's building and energy code.

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

Topsham has 1: Topsham Historic District. Binding for work visible from the street: a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic District Commission.

Where these facts came from

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

Window and siding replacement in Topsham

What we do in Topsham

Replacement windows

Siding replacement

Vinyl siding

Fiber cement

Hail & storm damage

Older homes