Nearly a third of Greensburg's homes went up before 1940, from Academy Hill's Queen Anne and Craftsman houses to the blocks around the courthouse. We bring them up to date and keep the trim, plaster and porches that make them worth keeping.
Inside the City Limits
The median Greensburg home was built in 1957, and close to a third are older than 1940. Two- and three-bedroom houses account for six in ten homes, and nearly half are rented. These are the four spots we open up first.
Houses this old usually have plaster on lath, not drywall. Where it is sound, we patch and keep it; where a wall has to open, we cut back clean and match the surface.
Kitchens in prewar houses were often small rooms off the rear hall. Opening them toward the dining room works where the framing allows, and we shim cabinets true on floors that have settled for decades.
If the house has a real staircase to the attic, that space may already be halfway to a bedroom. We check the rafters, floor joists and headroom before we price it.
Windows in a house built before the war often come in sizes that are not standard today. We order units to fit the opening instead of shrinking it, and rebuild the trim to match.
Census figures for the City of Greensburg, American Community Survey 2020–2024. The plan is a typical layout, not a specific house. Greensburg on Census Reporter (opens in a new tab)
What We Build Here
Greensburg's houses run from the 1880s to the 1990s, but the center of the city is older than most of the towns we work in. Each job below begins with what a house of that era tends to hide.
01Kitchen RemodelingAn older kitchen often has a radiator, a chimney or a doorway right where the cabinets want to go. We plan around them or move what can move, then build and set the kitchen ourselves.View Service
02Bathroom RemodelingUpstairs baths in older houses sit on joists that have carried a tub for decades. We check and sister the joists, waterproof the walls and floor, and tile it new.View Service
03Attic FinishingA finished attic gives an older house a bedroom, an office or a playroom without an addition. We insulate the roof, frame knee walls, lay a subfloor and finish it like the floors below.View Service
04Basement FinishingOlder foundations often let some water through. We find where it gets in and stop it first, then frame, insulate and finish a basement room that stays dry through a Greensburg spring.View Service
05Additions & ADUsIn the city, an addition needs a zoning permit from the planning director before work starts. We draw it, file it, set the footings, then frame it and match it to the house.View Service
06Windows & Exterior DoorsSwapping a window or door for one the same size usually needs no building permit. We pull the old unit, repair the opening and set the new one plumb, flashed and trimmed to match.View Service
07Exterior Restoration & Structural RepairsA century of rain finds its way behind siding, under porch roofs and into sill plates. We open up the rot, rebuild it solid and fix the gutter or flashing that let the water in.View Service
08Decks & Covered PatiosA worn back porch can be rebuilt as it was or replaced with a covered deck. New footings go in first, then we frame it to carry snow and match the trim to the house.View ServiceAround the City
Greensburg packs a courthouse, a university and more than a century of houses into about four square miles. Here are five neighborhoods, with the detail that shapes a project in each.
National Register · 1999
The hill takes its name from the Greensburg Academy, built here in 1811, and its National Register district counts 252 structures. On a Queen Anne or Craftsman house here, we keep the trim, stairs and woodwork and build around them.
Main Street · the courthouse
Downtown is its own National Register district, anchored by the county courthouse and the 1911 train station, restored and reopened in 1998. Exterior work there, down to new windows or siding, needs a certificate of appropriateness from City Council.
Highland & Tremont · Cercemaggiore roots
Immigrants from Cercemaggiore, Italy, settled Hilltop, and Our Lady of Grace Church went up at Highland and Tremont avenues in 1910. On streets this established, we plan deliveries, parking and the dumpster around the neighbors before the first day.
Glenview Avenue · flood project
An unnamed stream runs through backyards parallel to Glenview Avenue before joining Jacks Run, and Northmont has flooded for decades. A culvert project is in the works; until it is done, we plan basement work here around high water.
Jacks Run · the Five Star Trail
Lynch Field holds the city pool, the Kirk S. Nevin Arena and the start of the Five Star Trail, which runs to Youngwood. Jacks Run flooded the fields and reached the arena in 2018, so near the creek, we start with drainage.
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Who Does the Work
Nearly half of Greensburg's homes are rented, so we work for landlords as often as for the people who live in the house. Either way you deal with one crew of carpenters, the same people from the estimate to the final trim.
The usual way
The AllTrades way
The Year in Greensburg
Jacks Run runs through the city, and it has climbed its banks more than once. Add a snowy winter and nights below freezing, and every season leaves its mark on an older house.
Snow and freeze
44.1 inPittsburgh airport snow, normal year
A normal winter drops snow by the foot, about 44 inches in all, with around 114 freezing nights. Ice dams form on older roofs with thin attic insulation, so we insulate and vent the attic whenever we work up there.
Spring rain
39.6 inYearly precipitation, Pittsburgh airport
Spring rain on top of snowmelt is when older foundations show where they leak. We would rather find the seep in April than after the drywall is up, so we check before any basement gets finished.
Summer storms
Sept. 2026Storm emergency declared
In September 2026 the city declared a state of emergency after severe storms left several areas flooded. When we work low on a lot or below grade, we plan drainage for a storm like that one, not an average day.
Snow, freezing nights and precipitation: Pittsburgh International Airport normals, 1991–2020 (NOAA). September 2026 storms: WPXI. WPXI: Greensburg declares a state of emergency (opens in a new tab)
Building in Greensburg
Three city and authority rules come up on almost every job we price in Greensburg. We plan for each one before the estimate is final.
2021 UCCThe city's adopted code
The city enforces the 2021 Uniform Construction Code, and its planning director must issue a zoning permit before anything is built, enlarged or structurally altered. Same-size window swaps and new siding usually need no code permit. We file what the job needs and are there for every inspection.
Greensburg zoning permit rule (§265-134) (opens in a new tab)Every 2 yrsRental inspections
Any property that is not fully owner-occupied gets a city inspection at least every two years, and it cannot change hands without a pre-transfer inspection. If you own a rental or a duplex, we can fix what an inspector flags before the sale or the next visit.
Greensburg property maintenance code (§205-3) (opens in a new tab)30 daysBefore closing, request it
Before any property on the Greater Greensburg Sewage Authority system can be sold, it needs a dye test, and you have to request it 30 days before closing. If a remodel moves plumbing or downspouts, we finish that work first so the test reflects the house you are selling.
GGSA: dye testing before a sale (opens in a new tab)Where Else We Build
Hempfield Township wraps around much of Greensburg and has its own page. From there we work west through Jeannette, Irwin and Murrysville to our shop in Trafford.
Asked in the City
Rules for rentals, sales and the downtown district come up often in the city. Here are five, answered for Greensburg.
Ask a QuestionIf the house is completely owner-occupied, the city does not require one. Any other property, including rentals and duplexes, needs a pre-transfer inspection confirming it meets the city's property maintenance code. Separately, every sale on the sewage authority's system needs a dye test, requested 30 days before closing.
Greensburg property maintenance code (§205-3) (opens in a new tab)Only if it sits in the downtown district. There, exterior changes, including new windows, doors or siding, need a certificate of appropriateness from City Council on the planning commission's recommendation; routine maintenance is exempt. The city's old architectural review board was dissolved in 2019.
Greensburg Downtown District rules (§265-40) (opens in a new tab)Often enough to test. Pennsylvania's registry lists more than 17,000 tests with a Greensburg mailing address, which also covers parts of Hempfield, and 37% measured 4 picocuries or more. Test the basement before any finishing work; at 4 or more, have a mitigation system installed before we frame.
PA DEP: Radon in the Home (opens in a new tab)Quite possibly. On the state's map, confirmed mining lies beneath large parts of the city, especially north of the courthouse, around Seton Hill, Lynch Field and Northmont. Standard policies leave out mine subsidence, so check your address before an addition and ask about the state's own coverage.
Check your address on the state's mine subsidence map (opens in a new tab)Sewer is the Greater Greensburg Sewage Authority, which serves about 9,800 customers in the city, Southwest and South Greensburg and parts of Hempfield. Water comes from the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County. You own the sewer lateral from your house, and we coordinate with both when a job moves plumbing.
Greater Greensburg Sewage Authority (opens in a new tab)Verified Google Reviews
5.0 out of 5 · 17 reviews
Written by the homeowners we've worked for across Westmoreland County. Every one verified on Google, every one pulled from the real feed.
Get in Touch
Tell us about the project in the form or give us a call. Either way, estimates are free and the number is the number — priced to the actual work, written down before anyone swings a hammer.
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hello@alltradeshq.com
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Shop
529 Forest Ave
Trafford, PA 15085
