Three bedrooms upstairs, two kids, one TV, and a block basement from the sixties holding the furnace and the holiday boxes. In North Huntingdon that basement is often the easiest room to add. Our carpenters get it dry, then make it a room the family fights over.
North Huntingdon Basements
A typical township house dates from the late sixties, has three bedrooms and is lived in by the family that owns it. When that family needs more room, the basement is the first place it looks.
Roughly one household in three here includes children, and 51% of the houses are three-bedrooms. Toys spill into the living room; parents want a place downstairs where they can close the door on the mess.
A carpeted or cushioned floor over a sealed slab, bright lights on a separate switch, built-in bins along one wall and a gate where the stairs begin. Outlets are tamper-resistant, and the furnace room stays locked.
Playrooms and family roomsA basement has the one thing a living room never will: no windows to wash out the screen. Owners ask for a room built around the TV or a projector, with seats, sound and a ceiling that keeps the noise downstairs.
We pre-wire for speakers and the screen before the drywall, pack the ceiling with sound insulation, put the lights on dimmers and give the equipment its own circuit. Dark paint on one wall finishes it.
Media roomsWith 40% of township houses dating from 1950 to 1969, their foundations have seen sixty winters. White powder on the wall or a damp stripe at the floor is what owners ask us about first.
That powder is salt left by water moving through the block. We trace where the water starts, fix the grading or gutters outside, and seal or drain the wall inside before any framing goes up a few inches off it.
Wet walls, fixed firstRoughly 19% of township houses are from this century, and some came with drain stubs already in the basement floor. Owners want that rough-in turned into a real bathroom before the kids hit their teens.
We check that the stubs line up with a sensible layout and the vent is there, then frame a full or half bath around them. Where the new bath sits below the sewer main out front, a backwater valve goes in, too.
Basement bathroomsEvery basement collects the overflow: holiday bins, camping gear, the kids' outgrown clothes. Near Brush Creek, which floods now and then, owners want that storage raised clear of the floor and out of a wet spring's way.
Metal or sealed shelving on legs, bins instead of cardboard, and a storage room with its own dehumidifier draining to the sump or a pump. The finished side gets materials that dry out if water ever does come in.
Storage roomsFor anyone who works from home, the basement is the one floor with no doorbell and no traffic noise from Route 30. Owners ask for an office down there with good light, a door that shuts and no basement feel at all.
Daylight-balanced recessed lights, a wall of outlets and a data line run from the router, sound insulation overhead, and a solid door. If the office runs a business, a home occupation permit from the township applies, and we'll point you to it.
Basement officesHomes and households: Census Bureau, ACS 2020–2024, North Huntingdon Township.
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 Township
Three outside rules shape a finished basement here: the township permit with the authority's dye test at sale, what a flood policy will and won't pay for, and how the plumbing code guards against a sewer backup.
15 daysTownship permit review
A basement with new wiring or plumbing is permit work in the township. Plan on the township's review taking up to three weeks; you pay once it clears. Selling later? The sewer authority's dye test is due before closing. Our kitchen page for North Huntingdon has both.
North Huntingdon permits and the dye testFEMAWhat a flood policy pays for downstairs
Brush Creek has flooded the Route 993 stretch near Irwin several times since 2004. A federal flood policy covers a basement's furnace, water heater, sump pump and unfinished drywall, but not finished walls, flooring or furniture. Near the creek, we choose finishes that can dry out and set equipment up high.
FEMA: flood insurance in a basement (opens in a new tab)P3008.1Backwater valves, residential code
If a basement toilet or floor drain is lower than the nearest manhole cover uphill in the street, the plumbing code wants a backwater valve on the line, so a sewer backup can't rise through the floor drain or toilet. The authority's backup advice is on our bathroom page.
What to do in a backupBasement Questions
The questions township families bring us before their basement gets framed. The basement finishing page covers the full job.
Ask a QuestionMost of the cost follows what the room needs before it's pretty. Dry walls and decent headroom keep it low; walls that need drainage, a bath with a backwater valve or a theater with sound insulation add to it. The figure is written down after our walkthrough.
Basement pricingOne result in three logged by the state for North Huntingdon reached the state's action point of 4 picocuries. Run a test before framing; if it's high, the mitigation fan and pipe go in ahead of the framing, and the walls are built around them.
Radon in North HuntingdonUsually, at least in summer. Warm, humid air drifts down and meets cool foundation walls, and western Pennsylvania summers bring plenty of it. A dehumidifier set to hold the air near 50%, piped to a drain, plus insulated walls, keeps the new room from smelling like a basement.
Keeping a basement dryYes. Before drywall, we mark the main water shutoff, the sewer cleanout, the gas valve and any junction boxes, then leave each one behind an access panel or inside the utility room. Nothing a plumber or the sewer authority needs gets buried.
Mechanical accessTile and rigid vinyl plank ride out a wet day and come back with a mop and a fan; carpet and laminate usually don't. Near Brush Creek, we lean toward the first two, with area rugs for warmth, so a flood means cleanup, not a new floor.
Basement flooringOther Services
Basements are one job among many for our North Huntingdon crew, alongside kitchens, baths, attics and the decks off the back of these houses. 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
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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Written by the homeowners we've worked for across Westmoreland County. Every one verified on Google, every one pulled from the real feed.
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529 Forest Ave
Trafford, PA 15085
