Mount Desert Island's Roofing & Exterior Contractor
From Somesville capes to Northeast Harbor cottages — exterior work worthy of the island, built for granite-coast weather.
Exterior Work Worthy of the Island
Mount Desert Island's homes range from working capes to shingle-style cottages that defined an American architecture — and all of them answer to the same landlord: granite-coast weather. Salt fog, hard winters, and exposure that changes cove to cove. We bring mainland logistics and island-appropriate craftsmanship to every corner of MDI, from Somesville to Seal Harbor.
Materials That Belong Here
Cedar that weathers to the island's silver, copper that earns its patina, standing seam on camp roofs, architectural shingle where it serves — the palette is traditional because tradition is what survives here. We spec to the house and the exposure, and we detail for weather that arrives off the open Atlantic.
Coordinated With Owners, Caretakers, and Seasons
Island projects often run three-way: owner, caretaker, contractor. Our JobTread portal keeps all three looking at the same scope, schedule, photos, and documents — so decisions happen fast, and the cottage is ready before the season starts, not during it.
The island sets a high standard. We build to it.
Schedule a ConsultationSix Services, Island Standard
The whole exterior, specified to the house and the exposure — built by one accountable crew. Explore what we bring to MDI:
Roofing
Cedar, standing seam, and architectural shingle — roofs specified to the cottage and the exposure.
Custom Siding
Cedar shingle siding detailed to weather evenly to island silver — or alternatives that skip the upkeep.
Replacement Windows
Glass that frames the sound and the granite — sealed for weather off the open Atlantic.
Entry & Patio Doors
Entries built for cottages with names — solid, weathertight, and right for the architecture.
Custom Decks
Decks and porches set against granite and spruce — engineered quietly, built to last.
Seamless Gutters
Copper and seamless aluminum drainage — because water management is estate management.
Roofing on Mount Desert Island
MDI roofs run from camp-simple to estate-complex, and all face the same Atlantic weather. We replace, repair, and install roofs across the island — cedar where tradition calls for it, standing seam on camps and ells, architectural shingle where it serves — scheduled in island blocks and documented for owner and caretaker alike.
Cedar, Metal, and Shingle — Specified, Not Defaulted
The roof follows the house: a Northeast Harbor cottage and a Somesville cape shouldn't get the same spec sheet. Exposure, architecture, and maintenance appetite drive the choice — and the detailing is estate-grade regardless of the material.
One File for the Roof's Whole Life
Every MDI roof we touch produces a record — materials, photos, flashing details, warranty terms — filed in the portal where owner and caretaker can find it years later. Institutional memory for houses that outlive their contractors.
Cedar Shingle Siding on MDI
Cedar shingle is the island's native dress — and installed right, it weathers to that even silver the island is known for. We side and re-side homes across Mount Desert Island with cedar detailed the traditional way, or modern alternatives that hold the same shadow lines without the tending.
Silvering Evenly, Decade After Decade
Even weathering is earned: rain-screen ventilation, stainless fasteners, proper exposure, flashing that routes water out. It's why some island walls look better at eighty than others do at eight.
Matching Walls That Have Weathered for Decades
Additions and repairs have to join walls the island has been silvering for fifty years. We match exposure, course lines, and material so the new work blends in as it weathers — instead of announcing itself for a decade.
Window Replacement on Mount Desert Island
Island windows frame the reasons people are here — the sound, the granite, the light — and take the weather that comes with them. We replace windows across MDI in programs sized from a single room to a whole cottage, coordinated with owners and caretakers and finished before the season.
The Sound and the Granite, Framed Right
Big glass takes engineering on an exposed site — units specified for wind and installed with flashing that assumes Atlantic rain. The rooms get brighter and quieter; the weather stays outside where it photographs best.
Designed in Winter, Installed by Spring
The island calendar rules: measurements and selections over the quiet months, installation while the roads are clear, everything finished and cleaned up before the family or the tenants arrive. The portal keeps everyone certain of where things stand.
Entry Doors for Island Homes
A cottage entry on MDI carries presence and takes punishment in equal measure. We install entry and patio doors across the island — arched and paneled statements for shingle-style cottages, solid workaday doors for camps — all hung square, sealed tight, and fitted with hardware that ignores salt.
Presence Outside, Performance in the Frame
The frame, flashing, and threshold do the real work, and on an island they do it in salt air — so the metals, sealants, and weatherstripping get chosen for the marine climate, not the catalog default.
Hardware That Survives Salt
Standard hardware pits and seizes in island air. We specify marine-tolerant finishes and mechanisms as a matter of course — hinges, locksets, closers — so the entry works as beautifully in year ten as on day one.
Decks and Porches on MDI
Granite ledge, spruce shade, and water views make MDI deck-building its own craft. We design and build decks and porches across the island — set onto ledge correctly, framed for coastal wind, and finished in materials that suit a cottage with a name.
Set Into Granite, Built to Disappear
The best island decks feel inevitable — structure anchored to the site the right way, railings that defer to the view, and decking that weathers with the house. Engineered quietly, enjoyed loudly.
Built With the Ledge, Not Against It
Granite dictates terms — footings pinned where the ledge allows, framing adjusted to the site, and the landscape disturbed as little as possible. The result sits on the land like it was always meant to.
Copper and Seamless Gutters on MDI
On island properties, drainage is preservation — water routed off cedar, away from granite foundations, and clear of the gardens someone planned for decades. We install copper and seamless aluminum gutters across MDI, sized from real roof volume and detailed to the standard of the house.
Water Management as Estate Management
Copper earns its patina and its price on the right house; seamless aluminum does quiet, excellent work everywhere else. Both get hung for snow load, routed with intent, and documented for the property file.
From Copper Estate to Practical Camp
Not every island building wants copper — and we'll say so. The drainage spec follows the building's standard and the owner's intent, from soldered half-round on the main house to clean seamless aluminum on the boathouse.
What Our Customers Say on Google
One portal keeps owner, caretaker, and crew on the same page — from anywhere.
Schedule a ConsultationWhy MDI Homeowners Choose Restorations Roofing
Island properties are long-term relationships — between families and houses, and between houses and weather. We do our work like part of that relationship: quietly, correctly, and with paperwork a caretaker can file.
Estate-Grade Documentation
Every project produces a record: scope, materials, photos of what was found and what was done. For properties that pass between generations and management hands, that file is worth nearly as much as the work.
Seasonal Scheduling, Kept
When the family arrives Memorial Day weekend, the staging is gone and the work is done — because the schedule was built backward from that date and managed in the portal all spring. Deadlines on the island aren't suggestions, and we don't treat them that way.
The Whole Exterior, One Team
Roof, siding, windows, doors, decks, and drainage as one system, one crew, one accountable number to call — whether the call comes from the owner or the caretaker.
Your Project, Documented in JobTread
From consultation to final walkthrough, your Mount Desert Island project lives in one portal — schedule, photos, documents, and approvals, visible from anywhere.
Clarity From First Walkthrough to Final Photo
No wondering what was decided, when the crew arrives, or what that line item covers. Everything about the project sits in one place, updated as the work happens — the way exterior contracting should run.
- Documented scope and pricing before work begins
- Project schedule you can check anytime
- Progress photos as the work happens
- Every document in one place — proposal to warranty
- Changes approved in writing, never assumed
- Message the team with everything on the record
Ready before the season starts. Documented from the first walkthrough.
Schedule a ConsultationServing Mount Desert Island and Communities Across Central and Coastal Maine
We work every village on Mount Desert Island — Bar Harbor, Northeast Harbor, Seal Harbor, Somesville, Southwest Harbor — plus Trenton at the head of the island and the Penobscot Bay towns along our routes from Winterport.
- Bangor, ME
- Bar Harbor, ME
- Belfast, ME
- Blue Hill, ME
- Brewer, ME
- Bucksport, ME
- Camden, ME
- Holden, ME
- Hermon, ME
- Mount Desert Island, ME
- Newburgh, ME
- Northport, ME
- Orono, ME
- Searsport, ME
- Southwest Harbor, ME
- Stockton Springs, ME
- Surry, ME
- Trenton, ME
- Veazie, ME
- Winterport, ME
Mount Desert Island Exterior Questions, Answered
What MDI owners and caretakers ask before starting exterior work.
Which Parts of Mount Desert Island Do You Serve?
All of it — Bar Harbor, Somesville, Northeast Harbor, Seal Harbor, Southwest Harbor, and the quiet corners between, plus Trenton at the causeway. Island work is scheduled in dedicated blocks so projects run without gaps.
Do You Work with Caretakers and Property Managers?
Constantly. The project portal gives owner and caretaker the same view — scope, schedule, photos, documents — so approvals move fast and nobody relays messages secondhand.
Can You Have the House Ready Before We Arrive for the Season?
That's how island schedules should be built: backward from your arrival date. Design and approvals happen over the winter, the work lands in spring, and the staging is gone before the season starts.
Do You Install Premium Materials Like Cedar and Copper?
Yes — cedar roofing and siding, copper gutters and flashing, standing-seam metal — specified where they genuinely serve the house, and detailed the traditional way, which is why the originals lasted a century.
How Does MDI Weather Change How You Build?
Salt fog means corrosion-resistant fasteners and metals. Atlantic exposure means edge fastening and flashing done to the strictest detail. And granite lots mean drainage is planned, not assumed — water has to be given somewhere to go.