Insulation in Raymond, Maine

Insulation and air sealing in Raymond

Raymond runs to about 33 square miles and roughly 4,610 people. It sits about 21 miles northwest of downtown Portland. There are around 3,053 housing units here. The community dates back to 1803. We cover ZIP code 04071.

We have not logged a completed job in Raymond yet. We would rather say so than put a number on this page that is not real.

The housing stock in Raymond

The typical home in Raymond dates to around the mid-1970s. Postwar building here often meant three or four inches of fiberglass and no attempt at air sealing. If nobody has touched it since, that is what is still up there.

We work across Raymond rather than one corner of it — East Raymond, North Raymond and Raymond Neck included. Construction and vintage change between them, sometimes by thirty years and a whole different framing method, which decides whether a wall can be dense-packed at all.

A summer recreation town on Sebago Lake, with Raymond village at the head of Jordan Bay and the ferry landing for Frye Island at Raymond Neck. Mills once ran on Panther Run below Panther Pond, and Nathaniel Hawthorne spent boyhood years here.

Raymond homes in the Census numbers

The Census Bureau estimates 3,053 homes in Raymond. 465 of them (15%) went up before 1940 — 38th of 64 places on this site for pre-1940 housing. The 1980s were the busiest decade, adding 506 of today's homes (17%); 54% predate 1980 and 22% were built in 2000 or later. For Cumberland County as a whole the pre-1940 share is 23%, so Raymond sits below it.

Of 1,934 occupied homes, 1% heat with utility gas and 15% with electricity; another 16% burn propane or other tank gas. Electric heat here is as common as across the county (15%), and ranks 9th of 64 on this site. Whoever comes out will ask what heats the house first: the rebate is the same on any fuel, but the saving is not.

90% of occupied homes are owner-occupied and 94% of all homes are single-family detached houses. With houses like these, the conversations we expect most are about the attic, which is where most houses here start.

3,053 homes, Census ACS 2020–2024 (B25034, B25040, B25003); 1,934 occupied.

Sealing comes first in Raymond

717 of Raymond's 3,053 homes (23%) were built in the 1980s and 1990s. The gaps in houses of that age are the parts nobody sealed: batts stuffed into the rim joist, bare spots over cathedral and tray ceilings, soffit vents buried with no baffles, can lights punched through the ceiling plane. A top-up plus a day of sealing usually covers it.

What the energy code requires in Raymond

Raymond enforces the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (2021 IECC with Maine amendments). Raymond enforces the state code through Chapter 400, its Building Construction Ordinance, and its Building Code Information page lists the 2021 IECC with the 2021 residential code.

Under that edition the required attic value for new work here is R-60, and walls R-30, or R-20 + R-10 continuous, or R-13 + R-15 continuous, or R-20 continuous. For comparison, the Department of Energy recommends R60 for an uninsulated attic in climate zone 6A, where Raymond sits, and R49 where there are already a few inches up there.

The 2021 IECC insulation table (R402.1.3), climate zone 6; Maine's energy chapter changed the wood-frame wall entry and left the attic at R-60.

Do you need a permit to insulate here?

Raymond publishes no answer either way. Insulation and air sealing appear on neither the permit-required list nor the exempt list. Raymond's ordinance exempts cosmetic work such as siding and requires a permit for any structural alteration; it does not name insulation. We confirm it with the department before we start and pull whatever is needed. We would rather write that here than guess on your behalf.

Permits and inspections in Raymond

The published number is 207-655-4742. The department page is here.

Permitting is on us, not on you.

Rebates a Raymond homeowner can actually use

51% of the occupied homes in Raymond burn fuel oil or kerosene for heat, 15% use electricity and 16% propane or other tank gas (Census ACS 2020–2024). The insulation money for a Raymond house comes from Efficiency Maine, not the electric company. For a zone of 500 square feet or more it pays $2,000 at any income, $3,000 at moderate income and $4,000 at low income, and $150 to $300 more for attic air sealing. It applies to work completed on or after October 1, 2026 by one of its Residential Registered Vendors, and an attic qualifies only if it starts at R-21 or less. Income-qualified households in Cumberland County can apply to Community Concepts Inc (207-795-4065) for free weatherization through MaineHousing instead. Every condition is in the rebate guide. The Cumberland County page compares the towns.

Nearby

Raymond borders Casco, Gray, Windham, Standish, New Gloucester and Poland. These are the ones we also cover, each with its own energy code and permit rule:

Elsewhere in Cumberland County we also cover:

How Raymond compares with its neighbors

Maine sets the residential energy code statewide, so the attic figure is R-60 wherever it is published here; what changes is the permit desk, and 1 of the 7 publishes a permit rule for insulation.

All 25 Cumberland County jurisdictions side by side →

Common questions about insulation in Raymond

Code and permit facts checked October 24, 2026, rebates October 24, 2026; housing: Census ACS 2020–2024. Sources: raymondmaine.gov (2, 3, 4) · raymondcode.portal.iworq.net · maine.gov (2) · en.wikipedia.org (2) · zip-codes.com · tigerweb.geo.census.gov · efficiencymaine.com (2, 3, 4) · energystar.gov · data.census.gov. These change; confirm with the building department at 207-655-4742 or Efficiency Maine at 866-376-2463 first.