Hempfield built half its present houses from 1950 to 1979, and the families in them have changed since. We read the township's yard and garage rules before anything is drawn, then frame the new room so it suits the roofline and the lot.
Hempfield Additions
Here the median build year is 1971, every second home has three bedrooms, and 45% of households have someone aged 65 or more. Those three facts drive most of what gets added here.
About 41% of Hempfield homeowners have reached 65. Where every bedroom is a flight up, many want sleeping, bathing and dressing all at ground level, so the house can last them.
A single-story wing with a level-entry shower and fold-down seat, blocking for future grab bars, and 36-inch doors. Its floor lines up with the old one exactly, with no threshold to catch a toe.
Primary suite additionsOf the township's households, 45% include someone over 65, and some are grown children who've brought a parent home. They want rooms of the parent's own, still under the family's roof.
Sleeping room, bath and parlor built into the main house, opening onto a hall or the kitchen. It stays one household's home, and any cooking space goes to the zoning office before design begins.
In-law suitesOwners short on space sometimes eye the garage first and ask us to turn it into a family room or bedroom. In Hempfield the zoning code doesn't allow any part of a garage to become living space.
So we put the room alongside the garage, or on a new foundation behind it, and leave the garage as a garage. The new room gets its own heat and insulation, and the shared wall gets the fire separation the code calls for.
Room additionsOwners with a patio or a deck they use all summer want a glassed-in room in the same spot, warm enough for coffee in March. Putting a roof on an existing deck takes its own township permit, which surprises some owners.
We file that permit, set footings below frost, build insulated walls around big windows and carry the new roof back to the old one. Because attached rooms may not reach into a required yard here, we place it on the lot before drawing.
SunroomsThree-bedroom houses are half the township's homes, and 24% of households have children. When a fourth child, a teenager or a home office needs a room, owners ask for a wing rather than a move.
A bedroom plus a second full bath, or a second-floor bedroom over a new den, with roof pitch and siding to match. Where there's a septic tank, its design gets checked first, because the state sizes systems by bedroom count.
Room additionsSome township lots have space for a second garage, a workshop or a building for the tractor and the trailer. Owners ask what can go where, and how long the permit takes for a building that size.
A detached building can't sit closer to the road than the rear wall of the house. Below 1,000 sq ft, it's exempt from the state code review and the township's turnaround is 15 business days. We site it, pour the slab and frame it.
Garage buildsHomes and households: Census Bureau, ACS 2020–2024, Hempfield Township. Garage and yard rules: Hempfield zoning, Chapter 87.
The rest of the job
How it runs, what it costs and who builds it are on our main additions & adus page.
Adding On in Hempfield
Hempfield's own permit office sets the schedule, and two lines in its zoning code shape almost every addition: what a garage may be, and how far an attached room may reach.
1,000 sq ftDetached buildings with a faster review
Additions go through the state code review, and the township allows itself 30 business days for that; smaller detached buildings get 15. Hempfield's own inspectors do the site visits. The township's kitchen remodeling page goes deeper, and we file early to hold the dig date.
Hempfield permits, explained§87-17 GNo living space in a garage
The township's zoning code says no garage, or any part of one, may be turned into or used as living space, and an accessory garage can't hold a business either. A family room or apartment has to be new space built for people, which is how we plan it.
Hempfield Township Code (opens in a new tab)24 in.Chimneys and cornices, the only reach
Porches, patios, carports and balconies attached to the house may not extend into a required yard on any side. Only small features like chimneys and cornices may reach 24 inches. We check your yard lines on the township map before sketching.
Hempfield zoning map (opens in a new tab)Addition Questions
Owners in the township raise these first. The additions and ADUs service page walks through each phase of construction.
Ask a QuestionBy the lot and what the house needs. A single flat-lot room is the lightest; building up a floor, a bath tied to septic, a slope that needs a wall, or new heat where there's no gas line each push it up. Expect the figure on paper after one walk-through.
Addition price rangesPossibly, once the system is checked. Pennsylvania designs septic flow by bedroom count, and a fourth bedroom adds 100 gallons a day to what a three-bedroom system was built for. The attic page for Hempfield explains it. Your system's design gets reviewed before the bedroom goes on paper.
Bedrooms and septicFootings can follow the slope in steps, and the township's plan calls its hills a stormwater challenge, so drainage gets designed with the addition. A retaining wall needs a 5-foot setback of its own. We look at where water runs before choosing the spot.
What we check firstFor some lots. Roughly a third of Hempfield lies over old workings, on DEP's map, mainly out west near the Jeannette line and north of Greensburg. Look the property up before design is final, and ask the state's subsidence insurance program what it would cover.
Mining in HempfieldHempfield's zoning page notes amendments made in 2026. Before design, we read the version in force and confirm the setbacks for your district with the zoning office, so the plans we file match the rules on the day they're reviewed.
Hempfield zoning ordinance (opens in a new tab)Other Services
Across Hempfield we also rebuild 1970s kitchens and bathrooms, turn attics and lower levels into rooms, and set decks on hillside lots. Choose a service 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
Windows & Exterior DoorsWindows and exterior doors set, flashed, and trimmed so water stays out of the wall.View Service
Exterior Restoration & Structural RepairsRotted trim and siding, sagging joists, failed sills: opened up and repaired to solid wood.View Service
Decks & Covered PatiosDecks, covered patios and three-season rooms, flashed to the house and built for Westmoreland winters.View ServiceVerified Google Reviews
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