In Saco, the 2021 IRC is in force and the median home was built in 1982. We replace and repair roofs here and inspect after storms, starting with a free, photographed inspection.
Saco runs to about 38.6 square miles and roughly 20,819 people. It sits about 12 miles southwest of downtown Portland. The community dates back to 1775. We cover ZIP code 04072.
In Saco's Historic Preservation Overlay District, a certificate of appropriateness is needed for additions, alterations or reconstruction clearly visible from a public way, and for skylights and rooftop solar panels, and no building permit is issued until it is granted. Minor alterations can be decided by the Planning and Development Department within 10 working days. The standards ask for worn historic features to be repaired, or matched in design, color and texture when they must be replaced.
No completed roof in Saco is logged in our job records yet.
We work across Saco rather than one corner of it — Camp Ellis, Ferry Beach, Bay View, Kinney Shores, Factory Island, Sandy Brook and Boothbay Park included. Age and construction change between them, which is why we look before we quote.
Saco sits on Saco Bay at the mouth of the Saco River, with beach neighborhoods such as Camp Ellis, Ferry Beach, Bay View and Kinney Shores in the salt air; the Camp Ellis shore has been eroding since a jetty was built at the river mouth in the 1860s. Downtown grew as a textile mill center around Factory Island after the railroad arrived in 1842, and Saco became a city in 1867.
From this stretch of building, houses in Saco sit on plywood or OSB, were first roofed in three-tab shingles, and are mostly on their second roof now. Trouble tends to be at the penetrations rather than across the field: the rubber collar on a pipe boot splits years before the shingles give out, and it is the leak we trace most often. Ridge vents were hit and miss in these decades, and OSB that stays damp for a season softens in a way plywood does not, something you feel underfoot rather than see from the yard.
The Census Bureau counts 9,869 homes in Saco, with a median year built of 1982. 2,199 of them (22%) went up before 1940 — 16th of 64 places on this site for pre-1940 share — and 2,510 (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 Saco sits above it.
About 25 years is the usual useful life of a roof, by the figure in the Maine Bureau of Insurance's claims guide. By that measure, 75% of Saco's homes — the 7,359 built before 2000 — are past their first roof, and the 3,748 built before 1970 (38%) are usually on a third covering or later. Homes from the 2000s (1,240 in Saco) are reaching their first replacement, while the 1,270 built since 2010 are mostly still on the roof they were built with. On houses that old, the question worth asking is how many layers are up there: a roof laid over an old one hides the deck.
Detached single-family houses make up 56% (5,535); attached houses and townhouses 6% (641). 2,094 homes (21%) sit in two- to nine-unit buildings and 1,269 (13%) 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 330 mobile homes, which are a different kind of roof job. Owners live in 73% of the 8,998 occupied homes. Read together, those figures point toward 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 | 2,199 | 22% | |
| 1940s | 560 | 6% | |
| 1950s | 417 | 4% | |
| 1960s | 572 | 6% | |
| 1970s | 873 | 9% | |
| 1980s | 1,886 | 19% | |
| 1990s | 852 | 9% | |
| 2000s | 1,240 | 13% | |
| 2010s | 1,122 | 11% | |
| 2020 or later | 148 | 1% |
Census ACS 2020–2024, tables B25034, B25035, B25024 and B25003: 9,869 homes, 8,998 occupied. Survey estimates.
NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center logged one report of hail 1 inch or larger within 5 miles of Saco’s center from 2016 through 2025. The stone was 1.25 inches, on July 14, 2020, about 4.5 miles southwest of the center. Counts follow people as much as storms, since every report is a spotter’s or a resident’s.
If that storm crossed your street and nobody has been on the roof since, a storm inspection photographs what it did.
Saco's Building and Energy Code chapter says all construction work covered by the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code needs a building permit from the city before work starts. Its list of exempt work is short: fences, sidewalks and driveways, finish work such as painting and flooring, small prefabricated pools under 24 inches deep, play equipment, and small wall-mounted awnings. Roofing is not on that exempt list, but the city's permit pages do not name roofing on their own. The city's permit list does name vinyl siding and door and window replacement. Ask the Code Enforcement Office before a re-roof. Starting work before a permit is issued costs double the permit fee on a first offense.
Saco enforces the 2021 IRC. Saco has applied and enforced the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (MUBEC) since December 1, 2010 (City Code Chapter 73). The city's Codes in Effect page lists the 2021 International Residential Code, 2021 International Building Code, 2021 International Existing Building Code, 2021 International Energy Conservation Code and 2021 International Mechanical Code.
The published number is 207-284-6983. The building official on record is David Twomey, Director of Code Enforcement. The department page is here.
Design wind here is set by location, not one figure for the whole area: across greater Portland and southern Maine the published ultimate design wind speeds run 115–120 mph, depending on where a house stands. The building department for Saco can tell you which figure applies. Ground snow load is set for each address, not one figure for the whole area: the published figures here run 50–70 psf. What it does to a roof is in the roofing code guide.
Saco borders Biddeford, Old Orchard Beach, Scarborough, Buxton, Dayton and Saco River. Our pages for them:
Also in York County:
| Town | Re-roof permit | Code | Median built |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saco | Not published | 2021 IRC | 1982 |
| Biddeford | Not published | 2021 IRC | 1952 |
| Old Orchard Beach | Not published | 2021 IRC | 1982 |
| Scarborough | Not published | 2021 IRC | 1988 |
| Buxton | Conditional | 2021 IRC | 1981 |
| Dayton | Not published | Enforcement optional | 1990 |
| Acton | Not published | 2021 IRC | 1974 |
All 29 York County towns side by side →
Saco's Building and Energy Code chapter says all construction work covered by the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code needs a building permit from the city before work starts. Its list of exempt work is short: fences, sidewalks and driveways, finish work such as painting and flooring, small prefabricated pools under 24 inches deep, play equipment, and small wall-mounted awnings. Roofing is not on that exempt list, but the city's permit pages do not name roofing on their own. The city's permit list does name vinyl siding and door and window replacement. Ask the Code Enforcement Office before a re-roof. Starting work before a permit is issued costs double the permit fee on a first offense.
Saco enforces the 2021 IRC. Saco has applied and enforced the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (MUBEC) since December 1, 2010 (City Code Chapter 73). The city's Codes in Effect page lists the 2021 International Residential Code, 2021 International Building Code, 2021 International Existing Building Code, 2021 International Energy Conservation Code and 2021 International Mechanical Code.
Older than most people guess: the Census puts 75% of Saco's homes before 2000 and 38% before 1970, with a median year built of 1982 (2020–2024 estimates). A roof usually lasts about 25 years, so the deck and the layers get checked before any quote.
The only report near Saco of hail 1 inch or bigger since 2016 came on July 14, 2020, in NOAA's records within 5 miles.
The building official on record is David Twomey, Director of Code Enforcement. The department's own number is on this page, beside its name.
It can. Saco has Saco Historic District and Biddeford-Saco Mills Historic District. Inside a designated district, changing a visible roof material or color can need preservation review before the permit is issued. Like-for-like replacement usually raises fewer questions, but we check before quoting.
Not yet: no completed roof in Saco 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.sacomaine.org · www.sacomaine.org · www.sacomaine.org · www.sacomaine.org · www.sacomaine.org · www.sacomaine.org · www.sacomaine.org · www.sacomaine.org · ecode360.com · ecode360.com · sacome.portal.iworq.net · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · www2.census.gov · www2.census.gov · prd-tnm.s3.amazonaws.com · oshermaps.org · data.census.gov · www.spc.noaa.gov. Rules and staff change; check with the jurisdiction.
