Siding Replacement in Standish, Maine

Replacing siding on a Standish house usually starts with the walls that never dry. On wooded lots along Route 35 and around Watchic Lake, north and east walls sit in shade most of the day, and on homes from the 1970s building boom that often means original wood or hardboard siding that has cupped, split at the nail lines and let moisture into the sheathing behind it. Lakefront camps add a second problem: walls facing the water take wind-driven rain off Sebago that finds every open butt joint and trim gap.

A full replacement is a chance to fix what caused the failure. Tearing off to the sheathing shows any rot around window heads and sills, which can be repaired before a weather-resistive barrier and new flashing go on. For the roughly half of Standish homes built since 1980, the job is usually straightforward; older houses near Standish Corner can have uneven walls and additions from different decades that need furring and careful trim work so the new siding lines up. Cardinal installs fiber cement, vinyl, cedar and composite siding, and an owner comes out to measure and give a written fixed price before any work is scheduled.

Census estimates put Standish at about 4,900 housing units, with a median year built of 1980. Roughly 17 percent of homes date from before 1940 and about 28 percent from before 1960, while about 22 percent went up between 1960 and 1979 and roughly 23 percent since 2000. This is a town of owners living in detached houses: about 91 percent of occupied homes are owner-occupied and about 86 percent of all units are single-family detached. Around 950 units are held for seasonal use, many of them camps and cottages on Sebago Lake, Watchic Lake and the town's smaller ponds. The town's own 2006 comprehensive plan notes that many seasonal owners come from out of state and use their places on weekends all year. The oldest houses cluster along Route 25 at Standish Corner, and the town allows individual mobile and manufactured homes on house lots.

Standish is inland, but more than a quarter of its area is water, and that shapes how houses weather. Lakefront homes on Sebago take a long open fetch of wind across the water, and the lake region is known for sudden weather changes in every season. Away from the shore, homes sit in woods and fields where shade keeps north walls and roofs damp. Winters are cold: at the Portland Jetport, the nearest long-record station, snowfall averages about 69 inches a year on 1991 to 2020 normals, and January lows average near 16 degrees. Repeated freeze-thaw cycles work water into siding joints, deck boards and roof edges, and heavy wet snow on shallow porch and camp roofs is a recurring load every winter here.

Building permits in Standish come from the Code Enforcement office at the Municipal Building on Northeast Road. The town requires footing, framing and final inspections, and the permit holder must call for each one; permits run two years. For bedroom windows, the office lists the residential code's egress rules: a sill no higher than 44 inches and at least 5.7 square feet of net clear opening. Lots within 250 feet of Sebago, Watchic, the Saco or the Presumpscot fall under shoreland zoning, which has its own application through the Planning office. Standish Corner has a local historic district, so ask the Planning office first.

Siding replacement is more than new cladding. The old siding comes off, the sheathing underneath is inspected and repaired where it has gone soft, a new weather-resistive barrier and flashing go on around every opening, and the new siding and trim are installed as one system. In Maine, where wind-driven rain, freeze-thaw cycles and long winters test every seam, the layers you never see decide how long the wall lasts.

• An owner walks the house, measures every wall, and notes rot, past leaks, and how many layers of old siding are on it.
• Old siding and trim are stripped to the sheathing, and damaged boards are cut out and replaced before anything new goes on.
• A house wrap or other weather-resistive barrier is lapped shingle-style, with flashing tape and head flashing at windows and doors.
• New corner boards, window and door casing, and frieze trim go up, then the siding itself, fastened to the manufacturer's spacing.
• Debris is hauled away, magnetic sweeps pick up nails, and the job is walked with you before the last crew leaves.

• Clapboards or shingles that are cupped, split, or soft when pressed
• Paint that peels within a few seasons of being painted
• Stains, mold, or bubbling paint on interior walls after storms
• Dated aluminum, asbestos-cement or 1970s metal siding you want gone
• Rooms that feel drafty along exterior walls

• Wall area and how many stories need staging or lifts
• How many layers of old siding come off, and whether any need special handling
• Sheathing repairs found once the old siding is off
• The siding material chosen: vinyl, fiber cement, cedar or composite
• Trim detail: corner boards, window casing, frieze boards and brackets
• Whether windows or the roof are replaced in the same visit

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 siding replacement overview.

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