Window and Siding Replacement in Yarmouth, ME

Yarmouth 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)

Built before 1980

66%

Homes in Yarmouth, Census 2020–2024

People: 9,053
Homes: 3,639
Size: 13.4 square miles
From downtown: About 10 miles northeast
ZIP codes: 04096
Founded or incorporated: 1849

A harbor town where the Royal River meets Casco Bay, with Cousins, Littlejohn and Lanes islands inside its limits. Ships were built in the harbor from 1818 into the 1870s, and the river's four falls powered almost sixty mills between 1674 and 1931.

The houses in Yarmouth

Before 194017%

1940–19599%

1960–197939%

1980–199923%

2000 or later11%

66% of the homes in Yarmouth are older than 1980 and 17% older than 1940; the median one dates from 1973; 76% are detached houses and 80% 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 Yarmouth is worth about $639,700. 69% of homes have three or more bedrooms, and each bedroom needs an emergency escape opening under the egress rule.

Half the homes in Yarmouth were built before 1973, which makes its housing about 3 years older than across Cumberland County as a whole (median 1976). Set against Cumberland County as a whole, owners live in 80% of occupied homes here against 70% county-wide, the median owner-estimated value is $639,700 here and $451,200 across the county and detached houses are 76% of the homes, above the county's 63%.

Rooms in the median home: 6.7
Heated with gas / electricity: 16% / 12%
Townhouses and other attached homes: 7%
Homes in buildings of 2 to 4 units: 4%
Homes in buildings of 5 or more units: 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.

What that vintage turns up

The largest group of homes in Yarmouth, 39% 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 23% 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 Cousins Island, Littlejohn Island, Lower Yarmouth, Yarmouthport, Yarmouth Landing and Lanes Island.

Next door

Yarmouth shares a boundary with Cumberland, Freeport, North Yarmouth, Chebeague Island, Royal River and Casco Bay.

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

The rules in Yarmouth

Siding replacement Not published

Yarmouth does not publish whether a re-side needs a building permit. Its fee schedule charges residential renovations $10 per $1,000 of the cost of general trades, which it says do not include items that need no permit under the state code.

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

The town's fee schedule lists window replacement as its own permit, at no fee. A new or enlarged opening is renovation work charged at the renovation rate.

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

With 8,990 residents in the 2020 Census, Yarmouth 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 renovations: $10 per $1,000 of estimated cost of general trades, $50 minimum; window replacement: no fee.

Local quirks

In Yarmouth's historic districts and on its landmarks, the Historic Preservation Committee reviews the replacement of non-historic windows or doors, any change to the size or location of an opening, and any replacement of or change to siding. Storm windows count as impermanent, reversible alterations and are not reviewed, and the review is required but advisory.

Who to call

Building dept: 207-846-2401
Official: Nicholas Ciarimboli, Building Inspector and 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 Yarmouth compares with its neighbors

Place	Permit to re-side	Permit for a window	Window must meet
Yarmouth	Not published	Yes	U-0.30
Cumberland	Not published	Not published	U-0.30
Freeport	Depends	Depends	U-0.30
North Yarmouth	No	No	U-0.30
Baldwin	Depends	Depends	U-0.30
Bridgton	No	No	U-0.30
Brunswick	No	Not published	U-0.30

All 25 Cumberland County places side by side →

Work we have done in Yarmouth

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

Common questions about Yarmouth

What age of house is typical in Yarmouth?

39% went up in the 1960s and 1970s and 23% in the 1980s and 1990s; the median Yarmouth home dates from 1973, and 66% are older than 1980 (17% older than 1940). ACS 2020–2024.

Does Yarmouth require a permit for new siding or windows?

No rule is published. Yarmouth'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. Yarmouth does not publish whether a re-side needs a building permit. Next door in Freeport, a re-side depends on the job.

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

Maine sets it statewide, not Yarmouth: a U-factor of 0.30 or lower under the 2021 energy code Maine adopted, with no limit on solar heat gain. With 8,990 residents in the 2020 Census, Yarmouth 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 Yarmouth?

Residential renovations: $10 per $1,000 of estimated cost of general trades, $50 minimum; window replacement: no fee.

Where these facts came from

Sources: yarmouth.me.us · yarmouth.me.us · yarmouth.me.us · yarmouth.me.us · yarmouth.me.us · yarmouth.me.us · yarmouth.me.us · maine.gov · legislature.maine.gov

Window and siding replacement in Yarmouth

What we do in Yarmouth

Replacement windows

Siding replacement

Vinyl siding

Fiber cement

Hail & storm damage

Older homes