Window and Siding Replacement in Wells, ME

Wells 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

36%

Homes in Wells, Census 2020–2024

People: 11,713
Homes: 9,644
Size: 57.7 square miles
From downtown: About 31 miles southwest
ZIP codes: 04090, 04054
Founded or incorporated: 1653

Wells, incorporated in 1653 as the third town in Maine, stretches along the ocean at Wells Beach, Drakes Island and Moody Beach, where inns and hotels went up after the railroad arrived in the 1800s. The Webhannet River salt marshes lie behind the beaches, and the town once also included Kennebunk and Ogunquit.

The houses in Wells

Before 19408%

1940–195910%

1960–197918%

1980–199925%

2000 or later39%

Of the homes in Wells, 36% predate 1980 and 8% predate 1940; the median one dates from 1989. Detached single-family houses make up 67%; owners live in 90% of the occupied ones. 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.

Owners here put the median home's value at about $485,300, and 57% of homes have three bedrooms or more — each bedroom needs an emergency escape opening under the egress rule.

Half the homes in Wells were built before 1989, which makes its housing about 9 years newer than across York County as a whole (median 1980). Set against York County as a whole, owners live in 90% of occupied homes here against 77% county-wide, the median owner-estimated value is $485,300 here and $395,700 across the county and detached houses are 67% of the homes, below the county's 70%.

Rooms in the median home: 5.4
Heated with gas / electricity: 1% / 11%
Townhouses and other attached homes: 7%
Homes in buildings of 2 to 4 units: 6%
Homes in buildings of 5 or more units: 5%
Mobile homes: 14%

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 Wells, 39% of them, was built in 2000 or later, so that is the house described here.

Double-glazed low-e vinyl or fiberglass windows, usually installed with flashing tape over a house wrap. These rarely need replacing for age; when one fails it is usually a seal or a piece of hardware, and the maker's warranty is worth checking before anything else. Heavy frost or water on the inside of the glass in a cold snap is more often a humidity problem in a tight house than a window defect.

Vinyl, fiber cement or engineered wood over oriented strand board and a house wrap, the wall assembly the current code expects. The weak points are workmanship, not materials: tape that let go at the window corners, a missing kickout where a roof edge meets a sidewall, J-channel run tight with no room for the siding to move.

The one to watch on a house of this age

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.

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 Wells Beach, Moody, Moody Beach, Drakes Island, Wells Branch, Moody Point, Laudholm Beach, Tatnic, Highpine, Upper Landing, Lower Landing and Wells Beach Station.

Next door

Wells shares a boundary with Kennebunk, Sanford, North Berwick, South Berwick, York, Ogunquit and Atlantic Ocean.

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

The rules in Wells

Siding replacement Permit required

Yes. Wells says permits are required to enlarge, alter, repair, renovate, remodel and update any existing structure, and asks owners who are unsure to call the Code Office rather than risk a stop work order.

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

The town's permit guide is specific: replacing any window, exact replacement windows included, requires a permit.

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

With 11,314 residents in the 2020 Census, Wells 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

Residential additions and alterations cost a $140 base fee plus $0.60 per square foot, and working without a permit costs from double the fee up to $1,000; the permit must be posted where it can be seen from the street.

Who to call

Building dept: 207-646-5187
Official: Jodine Adams, Code Enforcement Officer
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

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 Wells compares with its neighbors

Place	Permit to re-side	Permit for a window	Window must meet
Wells	Yes	Yes	U-0.30
Kennebunk	Depends	Yes	U-0.30
Sanford	Yes	Yes	U-0.30
North Berwick	Not published	Not published	U-0.30
South Berwick	No	No	U-0.30
York	Yes	Yes	U-0.30
Ogunquit	Depends	Depends	U-0.30

All 29 York County places side by side →

Work we have done in Wells

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

Common questions about Wells

How old are most houses in Wells?

39% went up in 2000 or later and 25% in the 1980s and 1990s; the median Wells home dates from 1989, and 36% are older than 1980 (8% older than 1940). ACS 2020–2024.

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

Yes: a re-side, a window in the same opening and a new or bigger opening all need one in Wells. Yes. Wells says permits are required to enlarge, alter, repair, renovate, remodel and update any existing structure, and asks owners who are unsure to call the Code Office rather than risk a stop work order. Next door in Kennebunk, a re-side depends on the job.

What window efficiency rule applies in Wells?

Maine sets it statewide, not Wells: a U-factor of 0.30 or lower under the 2021 energy code Maine adopted, with no limit on solar heat gain. With 11,314 residents in the 2020 Census, Wells 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 Wells?

Where these facts came from

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

Window and siding replacement in Wells

What we do in Wells

Replacement windows

Siding replacement

Vinyl siding

Fiber cement

Hail & storm damage

Older homes