Cedar Siding & Shingles in Gray, Maine

Cedar has a long history on the farmhouses and camps around Gray, and it still belongs on a cottage on Forest Lake or a Cape in one of the old villages like Dry Mills or West Gray. White cedar shingles weather to silver on their own, while red cedar clapboard takes stain or paint and suits the older houses whose trim was built for wood. Both breathe, which helps a camp that sits closed and unheated for part of the year, and both can be patched board by board if a limb or a ladder damages a section.

Inland Gray spares cedar the salt spray it faces on the coast, but not the moisture. Shingles on shaded lake lots stay wet, and the courses nearest the ground take snow and splash for months, so cedar here needs a rain-screen gap or a breathable underlayment, stainless or hot-dipped galvanized nails, and a bottom course kept well above grade. Plan on recoating stained or painted cedar every several years; natural shingles can simply be left to weather. If you want the look with less upkeep, compare it with a fiber cement shingle panel before deciding.

The Census Bureau's American Community Survey estimates about 4,440 housing units in Gray, with a median year built of 1983. Roughly 12 percent predate 1940 and about 18 percent predate 1960, so most of the town is younger than its village center suggests. Two building waves stand out in the data: about 29 percent of homes went up between 1960 and 1979, and about 27 percent in 2000 or later, the years of subdivision growth off the state routes. Close to 78 percent of units are single-family detached houses, and about 82 percent of occupied homes are owner-occupied. The survey also counts roughly 630 seasonal units, around one in seven, which fits the camps and cottages along the town's lake frontage. The older stock runs to Capes and farmhouses, such as the Freeman Farm's circa-1812 Cape with its long ell and 1830s bank barn.

Gray is inland, with a town center about 256 feet above sea level, and it gets noticeably more snow than the coast. The town is home to the National Weather Service office that forecasts for western Maine and New Hampshire, and NOAA's 1991-2020 normals for the Gray station list about 84 inches of snow a year, with December, January and February each averaging roughly 18 to 21 inches. January averages about 22 degrees with a typical low near 14, and the coldest night of an average winter falls below zero. Salt air is not a factor here. The loads on a Gray exterior are freeze-thaw cycling, deep snow sitting on roofs and decks for weeks, ice dams at cold eaves, and wind across open fields and lake coves.

Building permits in Gray go through the Community Development Department at the Henry Pennell Municipal Complex, 24 Main Street. The town's residential permit application lists decks as a structure type, asks for a plot plan and building plans, and asks for a Dig Safe number from calling 811 before digging. In the Village Center and Village Center Proper zoning districts, the design standards in Section 402.8.3 of the zoning ordinance, amended in 2021, require a Design Standard Certificate before a building permit is issued for development. Land within 250 feet of a great pond falls under Maine's mandatory shoreland zoning. Confirm what applies with the code office before work starts.

Cedar clapboards and shingles are the original New England exterior, and for shingle-style cottages, capes and historic homes nothing else looks quite right. Cedar is naturally rot-resistant and light, but it is wood: it needs airflow behind it and a finish that suits the exposure. Pre-finished shingles, such as the Maibec shingles on several projects shown on this site, arrive stained or primed on all sides, which cuts the upkeep and evens out the color.

• Walls are stripped, repaired and wrapped; where it helps drying, a ventilated or drainage layer goes behind the cedar.
• Shingles are coursed and laid out so exposure lines up at windows, doors and corners.
• Stainless or hot-dipped galvanized fasteners are used so they do not stain or corrode.
• Corners are woven or finished with boards, and trim is detailed to shed water.
• Pre-finished product is touched up at cuts; natural cedar is left to weather or finished as you choose.

• The house is a cape, shingle-style cottage or historic home where cedar belongs
• Existing shingles are cupped, split, missing or black with mildew
• A historic district or your own taste calls for real wood
• You want a natural finish that weathers to silver-gray

• Clapboard versus shingle, and grade of cedar
• Pre-finished versus natural or site-finished
• Coursing detail, corner treatment and trim
• Wall area, height and tear-off
• Any rainscreen or drainage layer behind the siding

Every job is priced from a free on-site visit. Typical ranges for the trade are on our siding page, and the details of this service are on the cedar siding and shingles overview.

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