Cedar Siding & Shingles in Portland, Maine

Cedar belongs on a lot of Portland houses. Shingles and clapboard are the original skin on many island cottages on Peaks and Great Diamond, and on older homes in Stroudwater, the West End and Deering, where a painted cedar clapboard or a natural shingle wall is part of what makes the street look the way it does. In a historic district, replacing like with like in cedar is usually the simplest path through review.

The tradeoff is upkeep. On the islands and along the harbor, salt spray and steady wind weather cedar quickly, so shingles turn silver within a few seasons and painted clapboard needs attention more often than it does inland. Cedar lasts when it can dry out, which means a ventilated rain screen or a drainable wrap behind it, stainless or hot-dipped fasteners, and good clearance above roofs and decks. Materials bound for Peaks, Cliff or the Diamonds travel by ferry or barge, so ordering, staging and weather windows all have to be planned ahead. For owners who want the cedar look with less maintenance, fiber cement shingles are the usual alternative to compare.

Portland has roughly 36,600 housing units, and the American Community Survey estimates a median year built of 1946. About 46 percent predate 1940 and about 61 percent predate 1960, while only about 16 percent date from 1960 to 1979 and about 11 percent from 2000 or later. Owners occupy about 47 percent of occupied homes, and single-family detached houses make up only about 36 percent of the stock, so multi-unit buildings are the norm rather than the exception. After the Great Fire of 1866 the peninsula was rebuilt largely in Victorian and Italianate styles, and wood-framed triple-deckers fill much of the older residential grid. Off the peninsula, Deering and the outer neighborhoods run to capes, colonials and mid-century houses. The census also counts nearly 1,900 seasonal units, many of them island cottages in Casco Bay.

Portland sits on a peninsula in Casco Bay, and exposure changes block to block. Houses on the eastern and western ends of the peninsula, along the harbor and on the islands take wind straight off the water, while inland neighborhoods such as Deering and Stroudwater are more sheltered. Snowfall averages about 69 inches a year, but the city has seen seasons as light as 30 inches and as heavy as 150. Severe nor'easters arrive in winter with wind-driven rain and snow that finds any gap in old clapboard, trim or window casing. Repeated freeze and thaw works on paint, caulk and shingles, and salt air on the waterfront and islands speeds corrosion of fasteners, flashing and exposed metal.

Building permits in Portland go through the city's Permitting and Inspections Department, which handles permits, licensing and inspections in one office. A new deck is structural work and needs a building permit; ask the department whether a given roof, siding or window job needs one before work starts. Portland also has a strong historic preservation ordinance. Properties in local districts including the West End, India Street, Congress Street, Deering Street, Stroudwater and the Old Port waterfront need a certificate of appropriateness for exterior alterations, reviewed by preservation staff or the Historic Preservation Board. Waterfront and island lots may also fall under shoreland zoning.

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 Portland exterior services overview, or see every town on our Cumberland County service areas page.