Siding, Roofing, Windows & Decks in Long Island, Maine

Census estimates count about 423 housing units, and the median year built is 1938. About 66 percent of units predate 1940, and about 68 percent predate 1960. Almost nothing was built between 1960 and 1979, only around 3 percent, and about 15 percent went up in 2000 or later. Roughly 95 percent of units are single-family detached houses, and about 88 percent of year-round households own their home. Seasonal use dominates: about 307 units, nearly three-quarters of the stock, are held for seasonal or occasional use. The town's comprehensive plan counts about 50 homes converted from year-round to summer-only use over a recent 25-year stretch and describes many summer houses as unheated or poorly heated. Many trace back to the summer-cottage boom of the 1890s and 1900s.

Long Island lies about six miles out from Portland along Hussey Sound, a main passage into the inner bay. Wind reaches it from every direction, and the town's comprehensive plan notes that the first settlers built on the south side of the island to shelter from northerly winter winds. Portland International Jetport, the nearest long-term station, averages about 69 inches of snow a season under the 1991 to 2020 normals. A January 2022 winter storm badly damaged the wave break, floats and pilings at Mariner's Wharf, and the plan lists sea level rise, stronger storms and upkeep of the island's bluffs among the town's concerns.

Summer steamboats turned Long Island into a resort in the 1890s, with hotels such as the Granite Spring, the Dirigo House and the Mountfort Inn and summer cottages built by rusticators. A 1914 fire destroyed the Granite Spring Hotel, Ponce's wharf and most of the business district. During World War II the Navy built a fuel annex in the island's center, and nearly 90 homes and cottages were destroyed or moved to make room. Much of that land is now town conservation property. The comprehensive plan notes no National Register listings, but the island keeps the remains of Civil War veterans' retreats and a beach whose sand sings underfoot.

The Code Enforcement Officer meets by appointment through the Town Clerk. The town's building permit application covers new structures, additions, alterations, replacements and repairs, and it must include a scaled site plan and proof that a construction debris container has been delivered to be barged off the island. Every job gets at least three inspections: foundation, framing and final. Height is capped at 35 feet, and several zones limit structures to 15 percent of the lot. In the shoreland zone, new structures sit at least 75 feet from the upland edge of a coastal wetland, and the permit form warns that shoreland work may also need a Maine DEP permit.

Each page below covers one job in Long Island: what the town's houses and weather mean for it, what the work involves, and what moves the price. For the full picture of a trade, see our siding, window replacement, roofing and deck building pages.