Cicero's Mid-Century Half and the Steel Over Its Openings
Cicero has two populations of house, and only one of them has bare steel over the windows. The build decade tells you which you own.
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Which half of Cicero your opening belongs to
Cicero's median build year is 1980, the newest in the county and the same as the national figure, so most of this town was built when flashing over an opening was a requirement rather than a courtesy. But 26.6 percent of it predates 1960 and 19.7 percent sits in the 1940 to 1959 window, and that older fifth has a bare steel angle with nothing over it. So the first question about a crack over a Cicero window is the build decade, and the second is whether there is a rust stain with it.
What lintel repair involves
What goes over the steel, and what the code already required
On the newer part of town the useful fact is that flashing over a lintel is not a contractor being generous. The code requires approved corrosion resistant flashing at exterior window and door openings, at lintels and shelf angles, under and at the ends of masonry sills and copings, and where a chimney meets a frame or stucco wall. So if water is reaching steel in a house built since the 1980s, something was either left out or has failed, and that is worth finding rather than patching. On the older fifth, assume there is nothing over the angle and plan for it.
Flashing at lintels is required, not optional
The residential code requires flashing beneath the first course of masonry above finished ground level and at other points of support including shelf angles and lintels, and separately requires approved corrosion resistant flashing at exterior window and door openings, under and at the ends of masonry sills and copings, and at chimney to wall intersections.
One fifth of the town comes from the bare steel years
Cicero has 13,584 units with a median build year of 1980, a 6.9 percent prewar share and a 26.6 percent pre-1960 share, which leaves 19.7 percent in the 1940 to 1959 window. That older fifth is where the bare angle lives, and it is a minority rather than the rule.
Where Cicero sits on the lintel ranking
On the 1940 to 1959 ranking Cicero is second from the bottom of the county's 22 places at 19.7 percent, above only Clay at 12.8, and a long way below Galeville at 60.7. That is exactly why the build decade matters more here than the town name does.
Median 1980, and the fifth of Cicero that is older
Section R703.8.5 of the Residential Code of New York State requires that flashing be located beneath the first course of masonry above finished ground level above the foundation wall or slab, and at other points of support including structural floors, shelf angles and lintels, where masonry veneers are designed in accordance with Section R703.8. Section R703.4 additionally requires approved corrosion-resistant flashing, applied shingle fashion to prevent water entering the wall cavity or reaching the structural framing, at exterior window and door openings, at the intersection of chimneys or other masonry construction with frame or stucco walls, under and at the ends of masonry, wood or metal copings and sills, at wall and roof intersections and at built-in gutters.
Source: 2020 Residential Code of New York State, Section R703, Exterior Covering, via UpCodes, accessed 2026-09-10
The Town of Clay has 26,282 housing units, the largest count of any town in Onondaga County, with a median year of construction of 1978. Only 3.2 percent were built in 1939 or earlier and only 16.0 percent in 1959 or earlier, the lowest figures in the county. The Radisson census place inside Clay has a median of 1990 and a pre-1940 share of 4.2 percent. The Town of Cicero has 13,584 units, a median of 1980, a pre-1940 share of 6.9 percent and a pre-1960 share of 26.6 percent.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, table B25034 Year Structure Built and table B25035 Median Year Structure Built, accessed 2026-09-10
Ranked instead by the share of housing built between 1940 and 1959, the era in which steel angle lintels over openings became standard in brick and brick-veneer houses, the county orders itself completely differently: Galeville 60.7 percent, Seneca Knolls 58.9, Mattydale 54.6, Westvale 51.3, Lyncourt 47.1, Fairmount 42.7, North Syracuse village 38.5, Geddes town 37.1, Salina town 35.0, Solvay village 31.3, Camillus town 30.4, Liverpool village 27.1, Fayetteville village 26.8, East Syracuse village 26.4, DeWitt town 25.6, the City of Syracuse 23.3, Manlius town 22.3, Cicero town 19.7, Baldwinsville village 17.3, Marcellus town 15.1, Skaneateles village 13.1 and Clay town 12.8.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, table B25034 Year Structure Built and table B25035 Median Year Structure Built, accessed 2026-09-10
What decade is the house from?
Send the Cicero address with the year if you have it. In this town it changes which inspection is worth paying for.
Window head questions from Cicero owners
Our Cicero house is from 1995 and there is a crack over the front window. Is that steel?
Probably not corroding steel, and that is worth establishing before anybody opens a wall. A house from that era was built with flashing required at window and door openings, at lintels and shelf angles and under masonry sills, so the metal should not be getting wet in the first place. A crack in that context is more likely movement, a missing weephole, or water arriving from a sill or gutter above it. Photograph the head and whatever sits above it.
How do I find out when my Cicero house was built?
Your deed, your mortgage paperwork, the assessment record or the town's own file will all carry it, and it is the single most useful number you can give us. Cicero's median is 1980, the same as the national figure, but 26.6 percent of the town predates 1960 and 19.7 percent falls in the 1940 to 1959 window. Two houses a street apart can need opposite inspections, and the year sorts them faster than any survey does.
Get a Cicero opening matched to its era
A crack from a window corner, a rust stain, a head that has dropped: describe it with the address, no obligation.