Siding installation in Wells, ME runs from dense cottage streets at Wells Beach, Moody and Drakes Island to farmhouses on rural inland lots. We read each wall before pricing and never leave a house open on every side.
This page covers siding installation in Wells, Maine: stripping worn siding, fixing what it hid, and putting up cedar shingles, James Hardie fiber cement or a matched repair over a drained and flashed wall.
Wells mixes dense beach cottages at Wells Beach, Moody and Drakes Island with year-round homes and old farmhouses inland. Southern Maine Siding settles any flood-elevation question before re-siding and keeps one wall open at a time on tight lots.
The figure to keep: Wells vinyl works out to about $975 to $1,225 per square installed and cedar shingles about $2,450, both drawn from many quotes and meant for budgeting rather than as a price.
We settle flood height before re-siding a Wells cottage because flood elevation drives raise-or-rebuild decisions on the beach streets, and lifting a cottage changes the walls new siding covers.
The siding work that fits Wells depends on the house: cedar shingles on a beach cottage, fiber cement on a year-round home, a matched repair on an old farmhouse.
The beach districts allow lots as small as 5,000 square feet, so cottages sit close. On those walls we lay cedar shingle siding, the traditional coastal Maine wall, one side at a time.
Left unstained, the shingles go silver-gray; behind them sit lapped housewrap and flashed openings.
The May 2024 draft comprehensive plan finds Wells housing densest east of the Turnpike. For a year-round home there wanting a painted clapboard look near salt air, we recommend James Hardie fiber cement over vinyl.
We gap the boards off roofline and ground and flash each opening first.
The draft plan proposes protecting farmhouses and barns standing as of 1915. On walls that old, our siding repair cuts out a damaged section and matches new boards or shingles to the rest.
Chapter 132 leaves ordinary repair alone, even on a designated historic building, when design, material and appearance stay the same.
Every Wells job draws on these three.
Wells' permit handout covers altering, repairing or renovating a structure and names windows and doors, not siding; we ask Wells Code Enforcement first and pull any permit needed.
We open the siding at a sill and a corner, note old paint, and gauge how tight the lot runs.
The written price names tear-off, wrap, flashing and trim; the contract meets Maine's home construction contract statute, deposit capped at one third.
We close up one side before opening the next, then walk the finished walls with you.
You choose siding installation in Wells, ME by hiring a crew that asks about your flood zone and lot lines before color. New FEMA maps took effect July 17, 2024, and Maine's shoreland zoning reaches 250 feet from tidal waters and coastal wetlands.
Lots near the estuary and the Wells Reserve can carry extra environmental review, and pre-1978 houses fall under the EPA's lead-safe renovation rule.
Ask too whether the home is a designated historic building: Wells Chapter 132 requires a certificate of appropriateness for a material change to one, permit or not.
Wells owners who tend to need new siding hold beach cottages, year-round homes or inland farmhouses. The town gained about 1,700 seasonal units from 2004 to 2020.
Wells walls face the most weather along five miles of barrier dunes and beaches backed by marsh, where the 1991 storm flooded about 450 homes on Ocean and Atlantic avenues.
The best time for a Wells re-side is spring or fall, since schedules compress hard around summer in this seasonal market. Permit review takes up to about 14 business days.
Siding installation in Wells costs about $975 to $1,225 per square for vinyl, $1,475 to $1,850 for LP SmartSide, $1,600 to $1,975 for James Hardie fiber cement and about $2,450 for cedar shingles. Each band is what many quotes average out to per 100 square feet of wall: right for budgeting, wrong as a price for your cottage.
| House size | Vinyl | LP SmartSide | James Hardie | Cedar shingles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small20 to 25 squares | $19,500 to $31,000 | $29,500 to $46,000 | $32,000 to $49,000 | $49,000 to $61,500 |
| Medium25 to 32 squares | $24,500 to $39,500 | $37,000 to $59,000 | $40,000 to $63,000 | $61,500 to $79,000 |
| Large32+ squares | from $31,500 | from $47,500 | from $51,000 | from $79,000 |
Wells installed averages from many quotes, counting tear-off, wrap, flashing, trim and haul-away; rot behind the old layer pushes them up.
What raises a Wells siding price most after the material is the wall behind the old layer: rot, failed flashing or damaged framing. Second stories, cramped lots and heavy trim come next.
New siding can go over the old on a Wells house when the wall is dry and sound, saving the tear-off where asbestos-cement shingles or lead paint are best left covered. It never goes over rot.
This Wells page lists no repair price because a repair can be one storm-torn corner or half a wall of soft boards, priced after a visit. Once damage covers most of a side, re-siding it often beats patching.
You get a price for a Wells siding job by sending a free estimate request; we visit, look at the walls and lot, and put the number in writing.
