Stone walls, a coal chute bricked shut, joists low enough to duck. A basement under an Irwin house from the twenties was dug to hold a furnace and a wringer washer. Our carpenters dry it, open it up and make it a room worth the stairs.
Irwin Basements
Most of Irwin's houses predate 1960 and many are small, so the space downstairs is often where a family grows. Here's what people in the borough want from theirs.
Nearly 30% of the borough's houses date from before 1940, and a foundation that old has had decades to weep and shed mortar. Owners want to know whether that kind of wall can ever sit behind a finished room.
Often it can. We repoint loose mortar, fix the outside water first, and coat the wall where it suits the masonry. New framing stands a few inches in from it, so the old wall never touches the new one.
What old basements show usNearly half the houses in the borough top out at four rooms. When the living room is also the playroom and the office, owners look downstairs for the extra room the floor plan never had.
A family room or den with a dry floor, recessed lights tucked between the joists, and enough outlets for the TV and the kids' games. One open room, kept simple, makes a small footprint feel bigger.
Family rooms downstairsIn an old Irwin house the washer and dryer often live downstairs, beside a concrete tub under one bare bulb. Owners ask for a laundry room they don't mind spending an hour in on a Saturday.
We wall off the laundry from the furnace, add a folding counter, cabinets and bright lights, and give the washer its own drain and a dryer vent run straight outside. The old tub goes, or gets a new faucet.
Laundry roomsRenters fill 57% of the borough's homes, a good share of them in two-unit buildings. Landlords ask for a basement that tenants can actually use, for laundry and storage, and that stands up to the borough's inspection when the unit turns over.
Lockable storage for each unit, a shared laundry with lights on switches, smoke alarms where the code calls for them, and finishes that clean easily. No bedrooms down there unless the room has a legal way out.
Storage and laundryPrewar basements were built around a furnace, not a family room, and some come up short on height once the ducts and pipes are counted. Owners want to know if there's enough room to stand before they plan anything.
We tape the clear height first. A basement room needs seven feet under the ceiling, though a beam or duct may drop to six-four. Where it's short, moving ducts or digging the floor lower can find the inches, and we price that up front.
Headroom and ceilingsClose to 40% of the borough's owners are over 65. Plenty of them would rather have a bench and a radio downstairs than another room to dust. They ask for a workshop that's lit, dry and wired for the tools.
We give the shop its own circuits, bright shop lights, a sealed floor that sweeps clean and a door that keeps sawdust out of the furnace room. Pegboard and shelves go up wherever the walls are dry and sound.
Workshops and storageHomes, rooms and owners: Census Bureau, ACS 2020–2024, Borough of Irwin (the borough alone, not the whole 15642).
The rest of the job
How it runs, what it costs and who builds it are on our main basement finishing page.
A Basement in the Borough
Irwin sends plans to an outside code firm, checks for sump hookups when a house sells, and rates its own termite risk in the building code. All three come up when a basement is finished.
424 Main St.Permits and plan review
Finishing a basement adds wiring and often plumbing, so it needs a permit from the borough office, and its code firm can take three working weeks to review the plans. In a rental, the unit's next inspection covers the work too. The Irwin kitchen page has the details.
Irwin permits and rentals, explained30 daysTo disconnect an illegal hookup
Basement seepage and groundwater can't go to Irwin's sanitary sewer. At a sale or refinance, the borough's inspection hunts for anything that sends them there, from a sump line to a floor drain, and gives a month to fix it. The Irwin bathroom page walks through it.
The Irwin inspection, explained§110-1Termite hazard: moderate to heavy
Irwin's building code rates the local termite hazard moderate to heavy, and the residential code wants wood on a basement slab treated against decay unless a moisture barrier separates it. Our bottom plates are treated, and old wood from past work gets checked for damage before we reuse anything.
Irwin Code §110-1 (opens in a new tab)Basement Questions
Five questions we get in Irwin before a basement gets its walls. Our basement finishing page lays out the whole job.
Ask a QuestionIt comes down to the walls and the height. A dry block basement with good headroom is the low end; a stone foundation that needs repointing and outside drainage, or ducts that have to move for height, adds to it. We put the number in writing after one visit.
Basement price rangesWe close it for good from outside with block or brick, seal the joint against water and air, and insulate and frame over it inside. If an old coal bin still stands, it comes out, and the floor under it gets cleaned and leveled.
What we find in old basementsNot necessarily. Plenty of cracks come from shrinkage or soil and water pressure, but much of the borough sits over confirmed mining, so we look at the width, the direction and whether it's growing. If subsidence is possible, the Irwin page explains the state's insurance program.
Mining under IrwinYes, before any framing. Roughly one in three radon results logged for the 15642, a ZIP Irwin splits with North Huntingdon, reached 4 picocuries or more. If yours does, a mitigation system is fitted before framing, and the walls go up around its pipe.
Radon around IrwinCarefully. Stone and old block need to dry toward the inside, so we use insulation that handles a little moisture, keep the framing off the wall, and skip plastic sheeting that would trap water against the masonry. Where the wall stays damp, the water gets dealt with before insulation goes on.
Insulating basement wallsOther Services
Irwin basements are one part of our work in the borough; kitchens, baths, attics and porch repairs are the rest. 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
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
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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Trafford, PA 15085
