What actually governs a roof in this metro, what does not, and which of the things contractors tell homeowners are true. Written to be checkable — every claim below names its source.
Maine has one building code for the whole state, the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (10 M.R.S. 9721 to 9725). State law requires every town of more than 4,000 people to enforce it; a town of 4,000 or fewer may choose to, but may not adopt or enforce any other building code (10 M.R.S. 9724). Its residential part is the 2021 International Residential Code with Maine's changes, in force since April 7, 2025. Towns may not change the code itself, but they set their own permit rules, fees and inspections.
Maine's changes to the national code leave the roof chapter, the ice-barrier rules, the re-roofing section and the design table as the International Code Council wrote them. What Maine changed is who decides on permits: a permit is required where a town's ordinance requires one, and a town's ordinance may exempt more work, which is why one town needs a permit for a re-roof and the next does not. The state's code office, now part of the Maine Office of Community Affairs, says the code applies to every building in Maine whatever the size of the town, and that meeting it is the building owner's responsibility even where the town does not enforce it. For ground snow loads it points designers to the exact address in the American Society of Civil Engineers' hazard tool.
Maine does not license roofers. The Attorney General's office puts it plainly: general contractors and trades such as roofing are not licensed or regulated in Maine, and the notice it requires on every home construction contract over $3,000 is headed “Contractors Are Not Licensed.” So there is no Maine roofing license for a roofer in southern Maine to hold. What the law does give you is a written contract: any job to build, remodel or repair a home for more than $3,000 must be in writing and signed by both sides, with the start and completion dates, the total price, a down payment of no more than one-third, the statutory warranty and a written change-order rule (10 M.R.S. §§ 1486–1490). An out-of-town seller who goes door to door selling home repairs needs a state door-to-door sales license, and its number goes on the contract (32 M.R.S. §§ 14504, 14506). The Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division (1-800-436-2131) can tell you whether a contractor has been the subject of consumer complaints, and its home construction page lists the home contractors the state has sued.
| Criterion | Figure | What it drives |
|---|---|---|
| Ultimate design wind (Vult) | 115–120 mph | Fastener schedule and the manufacturer wind rating we specify |
| Nominal design wind (Vasd) | 89–93 mph (derived, not published locally) | The allowable-stress figure older specs quote |
| Ground snow load | 50–70 psf (set by address) | Structure, and how much the eaves hold in a freeze-thaw |
| Frost depth | 48 in | Footings, not roof covering |
| Seismic design category | B–C residential | Lateral bracing and structural connections — not shingles |
Vasd = Vult x sqrt(0.6): 115 x 0.7746 = 89 mph and 120 x 0.7746 = 93 mph. These are computed conversions, not figures any town here publishes. The ultimate figures themselves come from the few towns that print one: 115 mph in Topsham's 2021 design table and in Yarmouth's and Raymond's published design criteria, and 120 mph in Westbrook's code FAQ. Most towns in the three counties print no wind figure.
The code sets minimums; the shingle manufacturer sets the rest. These are the layers, from the frame up.
The towns here that publish the code's design table put houses in seismic design category B–C: Topsham's table says B, and Cape Elizabeth's, Biddeford's and Raymond's say C. None of them publishes a category for commercial buildings.
On nailing, the code minimum and the shingle maker's instructions are two different things. The code also points to the maker's installation instructions, and those can ask for more nails than the code minimum, often for the shingle's wind rating; the maker's warranty depends on following them. So the number worth asking any roofer about is the one in the instructions for the shingle being quoted, and whether the quote follows it.
Whether an ice barrier is required is set by each town's design table, in its 'ice barrier underlayment required' entry, and the code tells a town to answer Yes where ice damming has a local history of damage. Every town here that publishes the entry answers Yes.
Hail is a smaller part of the roof story here than snow, ice and wind, but it does fall. Across the three counties on this site, NOAA's Storm Prediction Center logged 18 reports of hail 1 inch or larger from 2016 through 2025, on 10 days, 1 of them in 2025 alone. Each city and county page counts its own. Those are reports from spotters and the public, logged by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center with a location, not a full count, so anyone quoting you a precise “hail events per year” figure for one street is extrapolating.
What matters for your roof is simpler than a statistic: hail damage is often invisible from the ground and obvious from the roof, insurers generally give you a limited window from the date of loss to file, and a bruised mat can look fine for two years and then fail. That is why the inspection is free and photographed.
Each of these pages goes deeper on one job, with the same sources: roof replacement, roof repair, storm damage, roof inspection, roof ventilation, metal roofing, gutters, roof shingles, flat roofing, ice dams & roof snow. Every town page adds the permit rule and code edition for that town, plus its own Census housing figures and hail reports.
Free inspection, photographed, and the report is yours either way.
Researched 2026-10-24. Sources: legislature.maine.gov · legislature.maine.gov · legislature.maine.gov · legislature.maine.gov · legislature.maine.gov · legislature.maine.gov · legislature.maine.gov · legislature.maine.gov · www.maine.gov · www.maine.gov · www.maine.gov · www.maine.gov · www.maine.gov · www.maine.gov · www.maine.gov · www.maine.gov · www.maine.gov · www.maine.gov · www.maine.gov · www.maine.gov · www.maine.gov · www.maine.gov · www.maine.gov · www.topshammaine.com · www.yarmouth.me.us · www.raymondmaine.gov · westbrookmaine.gov · www.capeelizabeth.gov · ecode360.com. Rules and staff change; check with the jurisdiction.