By 1954 half the houses in Irwin were built, and a bathroom of that age could have been patched by three owners and rebuilt by none. Owner-occupied or rented, it gets the same treatment from us: back to sound framing, then built new.
Irwin Bathrooms
Thirty percent of the borough's houses were built before 1940, close to two in five owners have turned 65, and renters outnumber owners. Those numbers decide which bathroom jobs come up here, and how each gets built.
Close to 600 occupied Irwin homes date to 1939 or earlier. Such a bath may have been redone more than once, each owner leaving a different pipe, a different floor and a patch nobody can explain.
We open every wall and the floor so each pipe is in view, replace supply and drain lines back to sound material, and check the joists under the tub. The walls go back square and waterproofed before any tile.
Behind the walls of an old bathThirty-eight percent of the people who own their Irwin homes have reached 65, one in five is past 75, and nearly a quarter moved in before 1990. A tub wall to climb over every morning is the first thing many of them want gone.
The tub comes out, and in its place goes a shower with a low or level entry, a floor pitched to the drain, solid backing behind the tile where grab bars will mount, a fold-down seat and a handheld sprayer within easy reach.
Tub-to-shower conversionsIn 45 percent of Irwin homes, the whole place is four rooms or fewer. A bathroom sized to match is rarely generous: the door may swing into the toilet, the vanity may have no counter, and towels end up on the tank.
A pocket door frees the floor, a wall-hung vanity opens space beneath it, and recessed niches tuck storage between the studs. A fixed glass panel in place of a curtain makes the room read larger without moving a wall.
Small bathroom layoutsFifty-seven percent of Irwin households rent. When a tenant moves out, the borough registration ends, and the next one starts with an inspection that covers the plumbing code. A tired bathroom can hold up the new lease.
We book the bath into the weeks between tenants and choose finishes built for hard use. Shutoff valves that turn, a fan ducted outdoors, sealed tub edges and level tile leave an inspector little to write up.
Bathroom cost rangesAbout 300 Irwin homes sit in two-unit buildings. Where one apartment's bathroom is over the other's ceiling, a slow leak upstairs turns into a stain, and then a phone call, downstairs, often long before anyone sees water.
A full waterproof membrane goes under the tile, every fixture gets its own reachable shutoff, and the new drain is tested before the floor closes, so the tenant below never learns a bath was rebuilt above them.
Full bathroom remodelsIn a two-story Irwin house with one bathroom, the basement is often where a second one fits. The borough's sewer inspection looks at basement plumbing as well as the line to the street, so the new room has to be built to pass it.
New drains tie into the sanitary line, and every sump pump and floor drain stays out of it, as borough code requires. Where the drain sits below the sewer, an ejector pump lifts it, and a cleanout goes in if none exists.
Basement bathroomsFigures: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024, Borough of Irwin. Sewer and plumbing rules: Irwin Borough Code, Chapters 110 and 200.
The rest of the job
How it runs, what it costs and who builds it are on our main bathroom remodeling page.
A Bathroom in the Borough
Irwin's permit and rental rules reach a bathroom just as they reach a kitchen. Two more parts of the borough code touch a bath directly: what the sewer inspector checks indoors, and how high a new vent has to stand.
424 Main St.Irwin permits
Three borough rules reach a bath: the permit desk at 424 Main, a third-party firm that reviews the plans, and rental registrations that lapse with each tenant. The kitchen page for Irwin covers them one by one, and nothing differs for a bathroom. We do the paperwork.
Irwin rules, explained30 daysTo cut a sump off the sewer
At every sale or refinance, Irwin inspects the plumbing inside the house, not just the line to the street, looking for sump pumps, French drains and floor drains tied into the sewer. Any it finds has to come off within 30 days, so a new basement bath starts clean.
Irwin Code §200-42 and §200-43 (opens in a new tab)24 in.Vent pipe height above the roof
Every new toilet, tub and sink needs a vent to open air. Irwin's version of the plumbing code says a vent pipe through the roof must stand 24 inches above it, and sets a 40-pound ground snow load for the borough. We plan that run before framing.
Irwin Code §110-1 (opens in a new tab)Bathroom Questions
Five questions borough owners and landlords put to us first. For the general sequence of a bath job, the bathroom service page has it.
Ask a QuestionIt follows what moves. New finishes and fixtures over the old layout keep the number down; relocating a drain, adding a basement bath or replacing failing pipe in a prewar house raises it. A written number follows the walkthrough; the bathroom service lists the ranges we usually see.
Bathroom cost rangesIf the pipes change, yes. State rules count adding, moving or replacing drain, vent or supply piping as outside ordinary repair, so that work goes through the borough office. New finishes over the same plumbing usually do not. Which side your job lands on is something we settle at the walkthrough.
34 Pa. Code §403.62 (opens in a new tab)In Irwin, yes, if that floor drain runs to the sanitary sewer. Borough code keeps groundwater and seepage out of the sewer, the sale and refinance inspection checks for it, and a connection it turns up has to come off within 30 days. Building a basement bath is a good time to reroute the pump.
Irwin Code, Chapter 200 (opens in a new tab)Yes. When a property has no inspection stack, either out by the property's edge or at the building trap, Irwin's code puts it on the owner to add one so the borough can test the line. If a bathroom job already has the floor or the yard open near the drain, that is the easiest moment to do it.
Irwin Code §200-43 (opens in a new tab)For part of it, not usually for all of it. A remodel in the same footprint leaves the unit without a shower for a stretch, so the cleanest window is between leases. When that is not possible, we order the work so the toilet is usable again first and the shower follows once the tile cures.
How a bathroom job runsOther Services
Kitchens in rentals, porches on prewar fronts and framing settled over old mines: the same crew takes those on across Irwin. Pick a service below.
Kitchen RemodelingNew layouts, new cabinets, new counters: framed, built, and installed by the same crew.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
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
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.
Call or Text
412-730-8805
hello@alltradeshq.com
Hours
Mon–Fri · 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Closed Sat & Sun
Shop
529 Forest Ave
Trafford, PA 15085
