Bay & Picture Windows in Chebeague Island, Maine

Most Chebeague homes are within sight of salt water, and the view is often across Broad Sound, toward Cousins Island or down the bay toward Long Island and Portland. Large picture windows and projecting bays are how owners bring that into the living room. For older cottages, replacing a pair of small windows with one fixed unit flanked by operable casements is a common way to open a view without changing the character of the house.

Big glass on an exposed island has to be sized for the wind. Units need design-pressure ratings suited to coastal exposure, and the rough opening often needs a new header when a wall is widened. A projecting bay adds a small roof of its own, which must be flashed carefully to the wall and built to carry snow load, since snow drifting off the main roof tends to settle there. Orientation matters too: west-facing glass toward the mainland gets long afternoon sun, while east-facing units take the brunt of storm rain. Low-E coatings and insulated frames keep a wall of glass from turning a heated room cold in winter.

Census estimates count about 554 housing units in the town, and the median year built is 1938, which makes Chebeague one of the oldest housing stocks in Cumberland County. Roughly 51 percent of units predate 1940 and about 57 percent predate 1960. Building slowed sharply after that: only around 9 percent went up between 1960 and 1979, while about 20 percent date from 2000 or later. Nearly 97 percent of units are single-family detached houses, and about 71 percent of year-round households own their home. The defining number is seasonal use: about 263 units, close to half the total, are held for seasonal or occasional occupancy. Expect wood-frame capes and farmhouses from the fishing and stone-sloop era, cottages and former boarding houses from the summer-hotel years, and a newer layer of homes built since 2000.

The island is about three miles long and a mile wide, running from Chebeague Point in the north to Deer Point in the south, with North Road and South Road tying it together. Nineteenth-century islanders fished, farmed and crewed the stone sloops that carried quarried granite down the East Coast; by 1900 there were five hotels serving summer visitors who came by steamboat. The Chebeague Island Inn, built in the 1880s as the Hillcrest and rebuilt in 1925, overlooks the Stone Wharf. The Great Chebeague Golf Club, listed on the National Register in 2015, uses a Cape from about 1807 as its clubhouse, and the 1871 schoolhouse now serves as the island history museum.

Building permits come from the Town of Chebeague Island Code Enforcement office, which posts its monthly permit reports online. The town's zoning ordinance says no building may be erected, structurally altered, enlarged or moved without a permit from the Code Enforcement Officer, and a new or enlarged structure needs a site plan showing the lot, buildings and yards. The town fee schedule has a separate category for decks and sheds, and fines for building without a permit start at double the fee. Shoreland overlay districts cover the waterfront, with setbacks set by the town's Shoreland Zoning Ordinance, and a dozen small islands in the town are entirely Resource Protection.

Picture windows are large fixed units that frame a view and pour light into a room. Bay and bow windows project out from the wall, adding floor space and light from three or more directions. Both are heavier and more exposed than an ordinary window, so the structure, support, roof and flashing around them matter. The Cumberland Center colonial on this site received Andersen 400 Series bay, double-hung and picture windows.

• The opening, header and framing are checked; widening an opening may need a new header.
• Bay and bow units are supported with cables, brackets or a framed seat so they do not sag.
• The small roof over a bay is flashed into the wall and roofed or capped to match the house.
• Insulation goes into the seat and head so the projection is not a cold spot.
• Interior seat boards, casing and exterior trim are finished to match.

• A view you want to see more of from the main living space
• An old bay that sags, leaks at the roof, or feels cold at the seat
• Fogged glass in a large fixed unit
• A dark room that needs more daylight

• Size and configuration: picture, bay or bow, number of units
• Whether the rough opening changes size
• Support method and seat or roof finish
• Glass package and brand
• Interior finish carpentry

Every job is priced from a free on-site visit. Typical ranges for the trade are on our window replacement page, and the details of this service are on the bay and picture windows overview.

Back to the Chebeague Island exterior services overview, or see every town on our Cumberland County service areas page.