Siding installation in Gray, ME means working in a town of six village areas and several lakes, where two thirds of the houses went up after 1970. We open the old wall before pricing, then hang vinyl, LP SmartSide or James Hardie fiber cement.
Southern Maine Siding re-sides homes in Gray, Maine, from Gray Village and Dry Mills to the lake roads around Little Sebago, Crystal and Forest Lakes. The work runs from tear-off and a sheathing check to housewrap, flashing, trim and the new siding.
Gray sits inland with deeper frost and heavier snow than the coast, so flashing and the gap above grade decide how long new siding lasts. Only one wall stands open at a time, and you see what was under it before it gets covered.
The figure to keep: Gray averages run $975 to $1,225 a square for vinyl and about $2,425 a square for cedar shingles, drawn from many quotes and never a price on your walls.
A Gray re-side should start behind the siding because deeper frost and heavy snow push meltwater into every window head, sill and roof corner left unflashed.
Gray's 2020 plan dates under a tenth of its housing to before 1920.
Residential building in Gray peaked in 1970, and the newer houses sit mostly on rural land or by the lakes. For those commuter-town homes we recommend vinyl siding replacement first, at the lowest cost per square.
Each panel hangs loose enough to slide on its nails, because tight-nailed vinyl waves on a sunny wall by July.
Lake homes and former camps line Little Sebago and the shores of Crystal Lake and Forest Lake. For a lake house that should look like painted wood, LP SmartSide lap is our pick over vinyl.
Shoreland zoning applies to Gray's lake lots, and the town has its own Shoreland Zoning Permit Application. We hold LP clear of decks, roofs and soil and seal each cut end.
Gray's Village Center design standards make clapboard or cedar shake the basic facade, and accept synthetic siding that looks substantially the same and lasts at least as long. That makes painted James Hardie fiber cement lap our first suggestion there.
Code Enforcement decides whether a plain re-side counts as substantially altering a house, so we ask before ordering.
We take on three kinds of siding work in Gray.
Gray's building code ordinance requires a permit before any part of a building is altered, so we ask Gray Code Enforcement how that reaches your re-side and pull the permit where it does.
Where you allow it, we lift old siding at a sill, a window and a roof corner.
For jobs over $3,000, 10 MRSA §1487 requires a written contract and keeps the deposit to no more than a third.
Only one side of a Gray house is open at once, and at the end we walk the exterior with you and take the old siding away.
You choose siding installation in Gray, ME by picking the contractor who explains the state of your sheathing before selling you any new siding. Ask where the kick-out flashing goes.
In the two Village Center districts, ask whether they know the design standards that prohibit T-111, plywood, diagonal and standing seam metal siding. On a lake lot, ask about the town's shoreland zoning permit.
Old paint falls under the EPA's lead-safe renovation rule on pre-1978 houses, including every Gray house from before the 1970 building peak.
Gray owners who call us about siding mostly own single-family homes and commute out of town, so we open one wall at a time while they work.
We put up siding in all six village areas, from Gray Village and Dry Mills to East, North, South and West Gray, and on the lake roads.
A Gray re-side should be scheduled between late spring and early fall, after frost leaves the ground. For a lake home used in summer, ask for a shoulder-season slot.
A Gray re-side costs about $975 to $1,225 a square for vinyl, while LP SmartSide averages $1,450 to $1,825, James Hardie fiber cement $1,575 to $1,950 and cedar shingles about $2,425. Treat each band as the middle of many past quotes: a budget check, never your price.
| House size | Vinyl | LP SmartSide | James Hardie | Cedar shingles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small20 to 25 squares | $19,500 to $30,500 | $29,000 to $45,500 | $31,500 to $48,500 | $48,500 to $61,000 |
| Medium25 to 32 squares | $24,500 to $39,000 | $36,500 to $58,500 | $39,500 to $62,500 | $61,000 to $78,000 |
| Large32+ squares | from $31,000 | from $46,500 | from $50,500 | from $78,000 |
Gray installed averages, never an estimate: removal, wrap, flashing, trim and disposal included. One square equals 100 square feet of wall.
Besides the material, a Gray siding price rises most with damage the old layer hid, like wet sheathing under a window. Second-story walls, awkward reach and a lot of trim rank next.
Siding over the old layer makes sense over asbestos-cement shingle or lead-painted wood best left in place, and it skips the tear-off. A soft, wavy or wet wall never gets covered.
A Gray siding repair needs a visit before a price because three pieces at eye level and rot under a second-story window are different jobs. If most of a wall is failing, new siding on that wall is the better spend.
You start a siding job in Gray with a free estimate request; we then read the walls and send a written scope and price.
