Holiday Park broke ground in 1959, and Plum kept building through the seventies. Many of those houses now hold families bigger, or older, than the ones they were drawn for. Our carpenters read the borough's setbacks and the slope of your lot, then add the room the house is missing.
Plum Additions
The borough's houses date to 1972 at the median, and the sixties built more of them than any other decade. Three-quarters count three bedrooms or four, in a borough where steep ground is common.
Owners in Plum's sixties neighborhoods often have one living room for everyone. They want a den or family room big enough for a sectional, a TV wall and the whole family at once.
The room goes behind the kitchen or off the living room on its own footings, with the floor running through without a step, and carry the opened wall's load on a new beam. The roof slope and siding follow the original house.
Room additionsAcross the borough, 38% of owned homes have a householder 65 or over. When stairs start to hurt, they want to sleep and bathe on the entry floor and leave every other room as it is.
A single-level wing with a walk-in shower you can roll into, a seat built into the wall, solid blocking for rails, and a short, bright path to the kitchen. Any kitchenette for a parent goes past the borough first.
Primary suite additionsEvery second house in the borough is a three-bedroom, and children live in 30% of its households. When a third child shares a room with a teenager, parents start asking what it takes to add a fourth.
A bedroom wing with a closet and a second bath, or a bedroom set above a new den. If the bath is new plumbing, Allegheny County approves its plan before we start, and we prepare that drawing too.
Room additionsSlides closed Boda Road in 2018, and four Plum roads were shut for slide repairs in 2023. Owners on sloping lots want more room but ask, reasonably, whether their ground can take a new foundation.
We study the grade, where water arrives from uphill and where it drains away, and call an engineer in when the slope is steep. Footings step with the ground, and drainage around the new wall is part of the plan, not an afterthought.
What we check firstA concrete patio or an open porch out back is fine until July sun or a summer storm. Owners want it roofed, or screened and glazed into a three-season room.
Plum puts porches and porch roofs on its building permit list, so we file first. Then posts on proper footings, a roof framed into the house and flashed at the wall, with screens or glass added if you'd like it enclosed.
SunroomsSome borough lots have a one-car garage under the house or none at all. Owners want a freestanding garage for two cars and the mower, and wonder how near the property line it may go.
A detached garage over 400 square feet stays at least 7.5 feet from every property line, and the borough allows one per lot. We pour the slab, frame it and wire it, and count it against your lot coverage first.
Garage buildsHomes and households: Census Bureau, ACS 2020–2024, Plum Borough. Setbacks and garages: Plum's zoning quick reference guide (Ord. 916-17).
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 Plum
An addition in Plum answers to the borough and, if it has plumbing, to Allegheny County. The zoning district sets how close to the lines it can go, and steep ground gets its own scrutiny.
Porch roofsOn the borough's permit list
Additions, porches and porch roofs need a Plum building permit, while a new bath or laundry adds a county plumbing review, with plans approved first. Plum's kitchen remodeling page shows how the two fit together. Both sets of paperwork are ours.
Plum's two approvals7.5 ftSide setback, Suburban Residential
Suburban Residential lots keep 30 feet in front and back, 7.5 at each side, and 25% coverage. Rural Residential is roomier: 50 feet front and rear, 30 at the sides, 20% coverage. Houses top out at 35 feet in both. We check which applies first.
Plum zoning quick reference (PDF) (opens in a new tab)25%Slope Plum's zoning flags as critical
Plum's zoning ordinance treats slopes steeper than 25% as critical areas, and old coal workings lie under most of Plum as well. On a lot like that, we have the ground looked at by an engineer and keep the new footings off the worst of it.
Mining and slides in PlumAddition Questions
Plum owners usually bring these up at the first visit. Everything else about the build lives on the additions and ADUs page.
Ask a QuestionMostly the ground and the plumbing. A dry, gently sloped lot and a room with no water lines is the easier case; a hillside foundation, an engineer's report, a new bath under county review or a second floor push it higher. A written number follows our first look at the site.
Addition price rangesIt does. Plum counts accessory buildings and impervious surfaces, paving included, toward the district's coverage limit, along with the house. On a lot near 25% already, a new room may mean trimming a patio or a parking pad. We total it up before you commit.
Plum zoning quick reference (PDF) (opens in a new tab)Yes, one of each. The borough allows no more than one accessory structure of each type on a lot, so a second shed or second garage is out. Under 200 square feet, a building takes a zoning certificate; at 200 or more, a full building permit.
Garage buildsYes. Allegheny County approves each new plumbing plan in the borough before pipe goes in, then inspects as it's installed, apart from the borough's own permit. Fees and steps are on Plum's bathroom remodeling page, and we take care of the filing.
County plumbing in PlumIt can be, with the right checks. Old workings lie under roughly four-fifths of the borough on the state's records, and homeowner's policies exclude subsidence. Check your parcel, consider a state-backed subsidence policy, and the footings get designed around what the dig turns up.
Mining in PlumOther Services
Besides additions, our crew redoes Plum's sixties kitchens and baths, builds out attic rooms and finishes basements on hillside lots. Choose 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
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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529 Forest Ave
Trafford, PA 15085
