Window and siding replacement in Maryland Heights
What the code and the permit desk actually require here — and what the houses in Maryland Heights tend to be hiding behind the siding.
- People
- 28,284
- Homes
- 13,425
- Size
- 23.41 square miles
- From downtown
- About 15 miles northwest
- ZIP codes
- 63043, 63146
- Founded or incorporated
- 1985
Maryland Heights is anchored by the Riverport entertainment/commercial district (Hollywood Casino, the Maryland Heights amphitheater) near I-270 and the Missouri River bottoms.
Maryland Heights
Median home age is about 42 years; much of the housing predates the city's comparatively late 1985 incorporation, when the area was still unincorporated St. Louis County land.
What that vintage turns up
First-generation vinyl replacements went in across this whole period and they are now hitting both of the ages that matter at once: the frames are inside the twenty-to-forty-year band and the sealed glass units are well past the eight-to-twenty-year band. That combination produces the most common call we get on houses this age — fogged glass in a frame that is still perfectly sound. The honest first answer there is replacing the glass unit, not the window.
Hardboard and wood-composite lap siding from this era is the one with the paperwork. Masonite's hardboard covered product installed between 1980 and 1998 and reached roughly four million homeowners; Louisiana-Pacific's Inner-Seal siding had its own national settlement in the mid-1990s. Both claim programmes closed years ago, so the relevance now is diagnostic rather than financial: swelling, delamination and mushrooming along the bottom edges of the boards on a house of this age is a known product history, not necessarily the owner having neglected it.
The one to watch on a house of this age
Synthetic stucco applied before about 1997 is the high-risk cohort. Roughly ninety-five per cent of American applications were the face-sealed kind, which has no way to drain what gets past it, and the failures traced back overwhelmingly to flashing that was left out. Drainable systems are a different animal and are not the problem.
Lead paint. No, for anything built after 1978 — but confirm the build year before assuming it. 69.2% of the homes in St. Louis County were built before 1980, and on anything pre-1978 the EPA renovation rule applies to both of these trades. Window replacement is never exempt from it, at any size — a single window triggers it. A whole-house re-side clears the twenty square foot exterior threshold on the first wall. What the rule actually requires of a contractor.
Neighbourhoods
We work across Riverport.
Next door
Maryland Heights shares a boundary with Creve Coeur and Bridgeton. Where we have a page for a neighbour it is linked; where we do not, the rules there are still different from the rules here.
The rules in Maryland Heights
Siding replacement Not published
The city publishes a specific, itemized list of residential work requiring a permit and siding does not appear on it, nor is siding named as exempt anywhere. The published list is: accessory structures over 200 square feet; basement finish projects; decks; gazebos and pergolas over 200 square feet; storage buildings and sheds over 200 square feet; garages; demolition; enclosing a carport; 'Exterior, door modifications/replacement'; fences enclosing a pool; framing or masonry to accommodate fireplace installation; flagpoles; structural foundation repair; kitchen or bath remodels; patio, deck or porch roofs/patio covers; retaining walls over 24 inches in height; roof sheathing replacement; room additions; spas or hot tubs; swimming pools; 'Windows (replacement or alterations)'; and certain mechanical, plumbing or electrical work.
Window replacement, same opening Permit required Enlarging or cutting an opening Permit required
The Residential Building Permits page lists 'Windows (replacement or alterations)' among the work for which a building permit is required. The word 'replacement' covers like-for-like replacement in the existing opening, and 'alterations' covers changing the opening, so both cases require a permit and the city draws no distinction between them. The same list separately requires a permit for 'Exterior, door modifications/replacement.'.
A replacement window here has to be U-0.35 or lower
Building Division page: 'The City recently adopted the 2021 International Code Council family of codes with the exception of the International Energy Code (which will remain 2015 as amended).' So the energy code deliberately lags the rest of the ICC family by two cycles. No ordinance number or adoption date is published alongside that statement.
That figure comes from the 2015 edition this jurisdiction has adopted.
A window fitted here must also carry an SHGC of 0.40 or lower.
For comparison, ENERGY STAR asks for U-0.25 or lower with an SHGC of 0.40 or lower everywhere in this metro, which is stricter than every code edition in force here. And the code only bites when the sash and the glazing are replaced together — replace the glass alone in an existing sash, or add a storm window over the top, and it does not apply.
What the permit costs
'The minimum permit fee due at the time of application is typically $50. Depending on the cost of construction, additional permit fees may be required before permit issuance.' No flat fee specific to residing or window replacement is published. For reference, the city publishes occupancy inspection fees of $75 residential (includes up to 2 re-inspections), $60 per unit multi-family (includes two re-inspections) and '$5 per 1,000 square feet with a minimum of $100' commercial.
Local quirks
Two distinctive things. Direct contacts published: Permits Coordinator 314-738-2240, Plans Examiner 314-738-2239.
Who to call
- Building dept
- 314-291-6550
- Official
- Jason Boren, Building Commissioner (314-738-2241)
- Permits
- Department page
How Maryland Heights compares with the rest of St. Louis County
Same county, same climate, same houses. Not the same rules.
| Place | Permit to re-side | Permit for a window | Window must meet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maryland Heights | Not published | Yes | U-0.35 |
| Affton | Depends | Depends | U-0.34 |
| Ballwin | Yes | Yes | — |
| Brentwood | Yes | Not published | U-0.28 |
| Chesterfield | Depends | Depends | U-0.34 |
| Clayton | Yes | Yes | U-0.30 |
| Creve Coeur | Not published | No | U-0.35 |
| Des Peres | Yes | Yes | U-0.32 |
| Ellisville | Not published | Not published | — |
| Eureka | Depends | Depends | — |
| Florissant | Depends | Yes | U-0.30 |
| Kirkwood | Not published | Not published | U-0.30 |
| Manchester | Depends | Depends | U-0.34 |
| Mehlville | Depends | Depends | U-0.34 |
| Oakville | Depends | Depends | U-0.34 |
| Richmond Heights | Not published | Not published | U-0.28 |
| Town and Country | Depends | No | — |
| Unincorporated St. Louis County | Depends | Depends | U-0.34 |
| University City | Depends | Yes | U-0.32 |
| Webster Groves | Yes | Yes | U-0.35 |
| Wildwood | Depends | Depends | U-0.34 |
Work we have done in Maryland Heights
Not yet — Maryland Heights is on our list rather than in our records. We will say so until that changes.
Where these facts came from
Everything on this page about Maryland Heights was read off a published source. Where a question has no published answer we have said so rather than filling the gap.
Sources: marylandheights.com · marylandheights.com · marylandheights.com · marylandheights.com
Work coming up in Maryland Heights?
We will tell you what the rules here are, including when they work in your favour.
Tell us about the house
We answer the phone. If we miss you, we call back.