Windows and siding in York County

Maine sets one energy code for the whole state, so every town in York County holds a replacement window to the same figure: a U-factor of 0.30 or lower under the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code, with no limit on solar heat gain. A town of more than 4,000 people has to enforce that code; a smaller one may leave it unenforced, but the state still counts meeting it as the owner's job. Permits still change from place to place: Acton publishes no re-side rule, while Alfred needs no permit to re-side.

49.9% of the housing in York County was built before 1980, and 19.9% before 1940 (22,926 of 115,091 units): the share that decides how often the federal lead rule is on a window or siding job here.

The housing across York County

Census Bureau, ACS 2020–2024 5-year estimates for York County, ME and for each town, via Census Reporter.

Things worth knowing before you sign anything

• Biddeford: In Biddeford's downtown and mill-area historic districts and on designated landmarks, any change other than minor repair in siding materials, or in door and window sash, needs a certificate of appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Commission before Code Enforcement issues a permit.
• Buxton: The same section exempts work of $2,500 or less, but none of these exemptions apply in Special Flood Hazard Areas, where the town's floodplain rules decide.
• Cornish: In Cornish's Historic District around the village center, and on the historic buildings the town lists, the materials used for windows, doors and siding are part of the review of any material change, and the Planning Board must approve before a permit to alter a listed building's exterior is issued.
• Dayton: Permit fees are set each year by the Select Board.
• Hollis: Building permits are void unless work starts within 6 months, and the permit must be posted in plain view on the property within 48 hours.
• Kennebunk: In Kennebunk's Historic Preservation Overlay District, created in 1963, no building permit for exterior work is issued until the Historic Preservation Commission grants a certificate of appropriateness.
• Limerick: The ordinance makes the property owner responsible for contacting the Code Enforcement Officer before work begins to confirm whether a permit is needed.
• Lyman: Permits are issued only to the owner of record, or to an agent with a signed letter of authorization and a copy of the owner's driver's license.
• Newfield: Projects in the shoreland area need a site visit and pre-approved bench marks.
• Ogunquit: On a property the town has designated a historic site or landmark, any physical change to the exterior needs a certificate of appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Commission, whether or not a building permit is needed.
• Parsonsfield: The town's Building Code section requires exterior walls to be covered with clapboards, wood siding, masonry, vinyl, aluminum or another approved material within 12 months, and tarred paper or felt may not serve as the finished covering.
• Saco: In Saco's historic districts, installing vinyl siding and replacing wooden window sash both need a certificate of appropriateness, the standards prohibit vinyl siding on buildings not already sided with vinyl, and they ask that every reasonable effort be made to preserve historic wooden sash.
• South Berwick: The same page warns that if a home is in the Historic District, or within 1,500 feet of a historic property, special circumstances apply; in the Village Center and Liberty Street historic districts any change in a building's exterior appearance needs a Certificate of Appropriateness, with samples of any siding proposed.
• York: York's Historic District Commission reviews exterior changes in the Village Center, Lindsay Road and York Harbor historic districts and on listed landmarks, and its guidelines say it does not expect to depart from its guideline on artificial siding.

Common questions across York County