Cedar Siding & Shingles in Saco, Maine

Census estimates put Saco's median home built around 1982, with about 22 percent of the housing stock older than 1940 and roughly a third older than 1960. That mix reflects two different building eras: modest worker housing and duplexes from the York Manufacturing and Saco-Lowell mill years clustered near downtown and Factory Island, and a much larger ring of capes, colonials and split-levels built from the 1960s onward as Saco filled in along Route 1 and Route 112. At Camp Ellis and Ferry Beach, small older cottages sit alongside newer, larger houses built up on pilings after decades of storm damage.

Camp Ellis takes the brunt of Saco's weather. A 19th-century Army Corps jetty at the river mouth has driven well-documented beach erosion there, and nor'easters push storm surge and wind-driven rain straight at the row of houses along Ocean Avenue. Winters bring damaging freeze-thaw cycles and a snow load that has to be planned for on any roof, while salt air off the Atlantic and the Saco River estuary accelerates corrosion on fasteners, flashing and gutters closer to the water. Inland, away from the coast, the exposure is a more ordinary Maine winter, but ice damming at the eaves is still a factor on any roof with poor attic ventilation.

Building permits in Saco go through the Code Enforcement Department at City Hall on Main Street, which handles siding, roofing, window and deck permits alongside other building work. Because Saco has both river and ocean frontage, Maine's Mandatory Shoreland Zoning Act applies within 250 feet of the Saco River and the Atlantic coastline, which affects what can be built or rebuilt at Camp Ellis, Ferry Beach and along the riverbanks. Property near the water may also fall under FEMA flood-zone rules, which matters most for deck framing and any work that touches the foundation.

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.

For a deeper walkthrough of materials, code details and photos, see our full Cedar Siding & Shingles: A Traditional Maine Look That Needs the Right Prep Underneath guide.

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