You press a thumb into the trim beside the garage door and it gives. Most 15636 houses are thirty to forty years old now, built on clay hillsides that send water toward the foundation every spring. We open the damage up, follow it back to the leak that started it, and rebuild to solid wood.
Harrison City Repairs
Of the ZIP's homes, 70% were built in the thirty years after 1980. At that age, small leaks that started when the houses were new have had decades to work, and these are the repairs owners call about.
Pittsburgh's airport records roughly 44 inches of snow in a normal winter, and ice that builds at the gutters pushes meltwater back under the roof edge. Owners notice peeling paint on the fascia first, then wood that crumbles when the gutter is pulled.
We cut the fascia and soffit back to sound wood, replace the rotted rafter tails if the damage goes that far, and add drip edge and gutter hangers that hold. New boards are primed on every side before they go up.
Trim, fascia and soffitsWhere a lower roof runs into a two-story wall, rain sheets down the roof and into the siding. Without a kickout flashing at the bottom, that water can soak the sheathing for years before a stain shows inside.
We pull the siding, cut out soft sheathing and any rotted studs, and dry in the wall with new wrap. A kickout flashing goes in to throw water into the gutter, and the siding goes back so the patch blends in.
What the rot is hidingMuch of the area sits on Guernsey and Dormont soils, which the soil survey describes with springs on the slopes and groundwater near the surface each winter into April. On the uphill wall, owners find a soft rim joist or a damp sill plate in the basement.
We support the wall, cut out the rotted sill and rim in sections, and set new treated lumber on the foundation. Then we look outside at grading and downspouts so the water is sent away from that wall for good.
Sill plates and rim joistsA kitchen floor that slopes, a door that suddenly won't latch, a drywall crack that keeps growing. Owners ask whether it's ordinary settling, a tired beam or something under the house.
We go below and check the posts, beam and joists, look for water or past cuts, and measure how far things have moved. Joists get sistered, posts reset on footings, or a beam replaced, with the permit pulled where the work needs one.
Sagging floors and beamsIf your back deck went on during the nineties building boom, look where it meets the house. Where the ledger board was bolted to the house without flashing, water can rot the band joist behind it, out of sight under the decking.
We open the deck at the house, check the ledger and the band joist, and replace what's soft. The new ledger is flashed and through-bolted to solid framing, so the deck and the wall it hangs from are both sound.
What the rot is hidingAbout 9% of 15636 homes date from before 1940. Their porches have carried a century of weather, and owners see soft steps, a leaning post or a floor that bounces.
The porch roof is shored first, and every soft post, beam and joist is swapped for sound lumber, with fresh footings where the old piers have sunk. Railings are rebuilt solid, and the floor gets a slight pitch so rain runs off instead of soaking in.
Porch and stair structureHousing ages: Census ACS 2020–2024, ZIP 15636. Ground: federal soil survey for the area. Snowfall: NOAA climate normals.
The rest of the job
How it runs, what it costs and who builds it are on our main exterior restoration & structural repairs page.
Repairs in Harrison City
Three local facts shape a repair here: the line between ordinary repair and permitted work, the coal workings mapped under the village, and clay soils that keep the uphill side of a house wet each spring.
BeamsNot an ordinary repair
Swapping out rotted trim or siding counts as ordinary repair. Taking out a beam, or cutting into a wall that carries load, does not, and Penn Township issues and inspects that permit itself. Its office and hours are covered where we write about Harrison City kitchens.
Penn Township permitsMappedConfirmed mining at the village
DEP's mapping puts confirmed mine workings under the village itself; across the rest of the township the picture is patchier. Homeowner policies as usually written exclude subsidence, so look up your address and price a separate state subsidence policy.
State mine subsidence map (opens in a new tab)Jan–AprDormont's seasonal high water
Guernsey soils around the village have a clay layer below the topsoil and springs on the slopes, and Dormont soils keep groundwater near the surface through late winter. That water finds sill plates, rim joists and porch posts first. The hub page has more on the ground here.
Harrison City groundRepair Questions
These come up while we're probing the wood. The main exterior and structural repair page lays out a job from first look to final cleanup.
Ask a QuestionOnly after we've opened things enough to see how far the damage runs. A short stretch of trim is the small end; a wall of sheathing, a sill plate or a beam with posts and footings is the big end. The written price comes before any work starts.
Repair price rangesIt depends on the cause and your policy. Sudden damage, like a tree on the roof, is often covered; slow rot from a long-term leak usually isn't, and subsidence is left out of most policies. Our notes and photos of the damage can go straight to your agent.
Coal under the villageDoors that stop latching, floors that slope, cracks that lengthen and windows that bind are the usual signs. One alone may be seasonal; several together are worth a look underneath. We check the beam, posts and sill before saying which it is.
What the rot is hidingFor most rot repairs, no. When a beam, a long span or a foundation problem is involved, an engineer designs the repair and the township reviews it. At the inspection we say which kind of job yours is, so the timeline isn't a surprise.
How a repair runsMuch of it, yes. Structural work below the floor and inside walls goes on in any season, with each opening closed up the same day. Paint and some sealants need warmer weather, so outside finish work may wait for spring.
How a repair runsOther Services
Our other village work: kitchens, bathrooms, attics, lower levels, additions, and windows and doors. Pick one below.
Kitchen RemodelingNew layouts, new cabinets, new counters: framed, built, and installed by the same crew.View Service
Bathroom RemodelingFull gut renovations with proper waterproofing, new framing, and tile set by hand.View Service
Attic FinishingUnused attics framed into bedrooms and offices: subfloor, insulation, drywall, and a proper stair.View Service
Basement FinishingUnfinished basements turned into real rooms: framed, insulated, drywalled, and finished by our crew.View Service
Additions & ADUsAdditions and accessory dwelling units (ADUs), framed from the ground up and tied in clean.View Service
Windows & Exterior DoorsWindows and exterior doors set, flashed, and trimmed so water stays out of the wall.View Service
Decks & Covered PatiosDecks, covered patios and three-season rooms, flashed to the house and built for Westmoreland winters.View ServiceVerified 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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529 Forest Ave
Trafford, PA 15085
