In Kittery, the 2021 IRC is in force and the median home was built in 1965. We replace and repair roofs here and inspect after storms, starting with a free, photographed inspection.
Kittery runs to about 17.8 square miles and roughly 10,473 people. It sits about 48 miles south of downtown Portland. The community dates back to 1647. We cover ZIP codes 03904 and 03905.
No completed roof in Kittery is logged in our job records yet.
We work across Kittery rather than one corner of it — Kittery Point, Kittery Foreside, Badger's Island, Gerrish Island, Seavey's Island, Cutts Island, Isles of Shoals, Admiralty Village, Shepherds Hill and Seapoint included. Age and construction change between them, which is why we look before we quote.
Kittery, incorporated in 1647 as the oldest town in Maine, sits at the mouth of the Piscataqua River across from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and is home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Seavey's Island. Kittery Point is its seaside district on the open ocean, and the town also takes in Badger's Island and part of the Isles of Shoals.
The postwar housing in Kittery is mostly simple to roof, which is why it gets done badly so often. Decking is usually 1x6 boards or early plywood, still sound but worth walking rather than assuming. The recurring problems are the low-slope sections — porch roofs, carport tie-ins, the flat bit over an addition — where a shingle was installed below its rated pitch and has been failing quietly ever since. Attic ventilation on houses of this era is also routinely short of what current shingle warranties require, and under-venting cooks a roof from underneath. We measure intake against exhaust before we quote rather than just nailing on a ridge vent and calling it solved.
By the Census Bureau's estimate there are 5,534 homes in Kittery, with a median year built of 1965. 1,374 of them (25%) went up before 1940 — 8th of 64 places on this site for pre-1940 share — and 1,386 (25%) in 2000 or later. More of today's homes date from before 1940 than from any decade since. Across York County the pre-1940 share is 20%, so Kittery sits above it.
The rule of thumb in the Maine Bureau of Insurance's claims guide is a useful life of usually about 25 years for a roof. On that yardstick the 4,148 homes in Kittery built before 2000 (75%) have outlived at least one roof, and the 2,964 built before 1970 (54%) are usually on a third covering or later. First replacements are arriving on the 922 homes built in the 2000s, while the 464 built since 2010 are mostly still on the roof they were built with. Older houses are where a second layer laid over the first turns up, and that layer is what hides soft decking.
By building type: 3,497 detached houses (63%), 309 attached (6%). 1,216 homes (22%) sit in two- to nine-unit buildings and 187 (3%) in buildings of ten units or more, whose roofs are normally an owner's or a board's call rather than a resident's. The count also takes in 314 mobile homes, which are a different kind of roof job. 3,299 of 4,911 occupied homes (67%) are lived in by their owners. Read together, those figures point toward full tear-offs on houses past two roof lives, deck and flashing checks on pre-war board sheathing, first replacements on 2000s builder-grade shingles and flat and low-slope sections, which turn up more on attached and multi-unit buildings.
| Built | Homes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1940 | 1,374 | 25% | |
| 1940s | 738 | 13% | |
| 1950s | 451 | 8% | |
| 1960s | 401 | 7% | |
| 1970s | 367 | 7% | |
| 1980s | 519 | 9% | |
| 1990s | 298 | 5% | |
| 2000s | 922 | 17% | |
| 2010s | 272 | 5% | |
| 2020 or later | 192 | 3% |
Census ACS 2020–2024, tables B25034, B25035, B25024 and B25003: 5,534 homes, 4,911 occupied. Survey estimates.
NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center logged no reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 5 miles of Kittery’s center from 2016 through 2025. That is a gap in the reports rather than proof that no hail fell: reports come from spotters and the public.
Kittery's land use code (Section 16.2.8) requires a building/regulated activity permit when the fair market value of the work is more than $2,000, when there is a structural alteration, or when the work needs a Code Enforcement Officer inspection, among other triggers. The town fee schedule treats roof repairs on an existing home as a maintenance permit: an application is still required, with a $25 application fee, and the $12 per $1,000 fee is waived on the first $10,000 of cost. The town's own example is a $15,000 roofing job that pays $85. Permits are applied for online through the town's OpenGov (ViewPoint Cloud) portal.
Kittery enforces the 2021 IRC. Kittery's Code Enforcement page says the town enforces the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (MUBEC): the 2021 International Residential Code, Building Code, Existing Building Code, Energy Conservation Code and Mechanical Code, enforced since April 7, 2025. Kittery's land use code (Section 16.2.8) says all work that needs a building/regulated activity permit must conform to MUBEC.
The published number is 207-475-1304. The building official on record is Kearsten Metz and Carrie Varao, Code Enforcement Officers. The department page is here.
Wind design changes with location across greater Portland and southern Maine: the published ultimate design wind speeds run 115–120 mph, and the building department can say which figure applies to a given address. Ground snow load is set for each address, not one figure for the whole area: the published figures here run 50–70 psf. See the roofing code guide for what it governs.
Kittery borders Eliot, York, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, New Castle, New Hampshire, Rye, New Hampshire and Piscataqua River. Our pages for them:
Also in York County:
| Town | Re-roof permit | Code | Median built |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kittery | Yes | 2021 IRC | 1965 |
| Eliot | No | 2021 IRC | 1979 |
| York | Yes | 2021 IRC | 1977 |
| Acton | Not published | 2021 IRC | 1974 |
| Alfred | Conditional | 2021 IRC | 1983 |
| Arundel | Not published | 2021 IRC | 1992 |
| Berwick | Not published | 2021 IRC | 1989 |
All 29 York County towns side by side →
Kittery's land use code (Section 16.2.8) requires a building/regulated activity permit when the fair market value of the work is more than $2,000, when there is a structural alteration, or when the work needs a Code Enforcement Officer inspection, among other triggers. The town fee schedule treats roof repairs on an existing home as a maintenance permit: an application is still required, with a $25 application fee, and the $12 per $1,000 fee is waived on the first $10,000 of cost. The town's own example is a $15,000 roofing job that pays $85. Permits are applied for online through the town's OpenGov (ViewPoint Cloud) portal.
Kittery enforces the 2021 IRC. Kittery's Code Enforcement page says the town enforces the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (MUBEC): the 2021 International Residential Code, Building Code, Existing Building Code, Energy Conservation Code and Mechanical Code, enforced since April 7, 2025. Kittery's land use code (Section 16.2.8) says all work that needs a building/regulated activity permit must conform to MUBEC.
The Census Bureau's 2020–2024 estimates put the median year built at 1965: 25% of Kittery's 5,534 homes predate 1940 and 25% were built in 2000 or later. At the usual 25-year roof life, 75% have needed at least one new roof already.
The building official on record is Kearsten Metz and Carrie Varao, Code Enforcement Officers. The department's own number is on this page, beside its name.
Not yet: no completed roof in Kittery is in our job records, so this page shows no job count.
Researched 2026-10-24; housing, Census ACS 2020–2024; hail, NOAA SPC. Sources: www.kitteryme.gov · ecode360.com · ecode360.com · ecode360.com · kitteryme.viewpointcloud.com · api-east.viewpointcloud.com · www.kitteryme.gov · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · www2.census.gov · www2.census.gov · www2.census.gov · prd-tnm.s3.amazonaws.com · data.census.gov · www.spc.noaa.gov. Rules and staff change; check with the jurisdiction.
