Siding, Roofing, Windows & Decks in Windham, Maine

Census estimates count about 8,700 housing units in Windham, with a median year built of 1985. Roughly 27 percent of homes were built in 2000 or later, and about 21 percent between 1960 and 1979, while only about 12 percent predate 1940. About 85 percent of occupied homes are owner-occupied and roughly 79 percent of units are single-family detached. Around 780 units are held for seasonal use. The town's 2017 comprehensive plan notes that many once-seasonal camps around the lakes are now lived in year-round, still reached by old gravel roads built for summer use. It also records that Windham's population held near 2,000 from 1830 to 1940, so most of today's houses belong to the decades of growth that followed.

Windham sits inland, so salt spray is not the main enemy here; snow, cold and lake wind are. Homes on Sebago Lake near Jordan Bay face a long reach of open water, and the lake region is known for sudden weather changes in every season. Houses on Little Sebago, Highland Lake and the town's smaller ponds sit among trees that keep walls shaded and damp. The Portland Jetport, the nearest long-record weather station, averages about 69 inches of snow a year on 1991 to 2020 normals, with January lows near 16 degrees. Frequent thaws and refreezes through the winter push water into siding laps, roof edges and deck framing.

Windham began as New Marblehead, granted in 1734 and incorporated as Windham in 1762. Its villages carry that history. South Windham grew with the mills at Little Falls on the Presumpscot, shared with Gorham across the river. Windham Center and Windham Hill line the old stage road to the lakes, where the Windham Hill Congregational Church dates from 1835. Great Falls keeps period homes along Great Falls Road and is a National Register historic district, and Popeville holds the Quaker Friends Meeting House. North Windham, on Route 302 between Jordan Bay and Little Sebago Lake, is the town's commercial center.

Windham's Code Enforcement department, at 8 School Road, administers the town's land use, building, plumbing and electrical codes, and permits are applied for through the town's online portal. Decks are structural work, so check permit needs there before building one. Properties within 250 feet of Sebago Lake, Little Sebago, Highland Lake, the Presumpscot or the Pleasant River fall under shoreland zoning, which the town administers and which limits building near the water. Windham adopted a historic preservation ordinance in 1989, but its 2017 plan says no local historic district boundaries were ever put in place.

Each page below covers one job in Windham: 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.