Tank Water Heaters in Raymond, Maine

Raymond Homes and What They Need

Raymond's housing is shaped by water. More than a quarter of the town's area is lake, and Census estimates count about 1,050 of its roughly 3,100 housing units as seasonal or recreational, about a third of the total. Those camps and cottages line Jordan Bay on Sebago Lake, Panther Pond, Crescent Lake and Thomas Pond, alongside year-round homes in Raymond village, East Raymond and North Raymond. The stock is older than in inland neighbours such as Gray: the median year built is 1973, and nearly one in five units predates 1940. Almost all are detached single-family houses. Many camps were built for summer use, with crawlspaces, supply lines that are easy to freeze and little insulation, so turning one into a year-round home usually means rethinking both heat and plumbing that survives a Maine winter, along with a heat source that can run unattended while the house sits empty.

Water Supply and Drains in Raymond

Sebago Lake is the drinking-water source for the Portland Water District, which lists Raymond among the towns it supplies, but most Raymond homes draw from their own wells: the USGS counted nearly every household as self-supplied in the 1990 census, and the town's current plan talks about public water only in limited growth areas. Wastewater goes to septic systems, and lakefront lots face extra rules: installing or replacing a system within 200 feet of Sebago's normal high-water mark needs a Portland Water District permit as well as a town one. Arsenic is less common here than in Gray, with about 2 percent of sampled wells over the federal standard in a USGS review of 2005-09 data, but the Sebago Lake region sits on granite, so radon testing of well water is sensible. For seasonal places, careful fall winterizing and leak repair after a hard freeze are recurring chores.

Getting to Know Raymond