Rain sheets down the hill behind the house, the back wall stays dark for days, and the porch floor has a dip you step around without thinking. Plum's typical home went up in 1972, on terrain the borough's own plan calls steep. We trace the leak to its start, replace the soft framing, and give it a dry way out.
Plum Repairs
The borough's head count roughly doubled over the 1960s, the decade that built the most homes here, and the hills never flattened out. The repairs people ask about follow the water down the slope and into the framing.
Construction in Holiday Park began in 1959, and plenty of its houses still wear the original eaves. Owners notice gutters pulling loose, paint peeling along the roof edge, and soffit boards that sag where water got behind them.
We take the gutters down, replace rotted fascia, soffit and any softened rafter ends, and add a drip edge. Gutters go back pitched to their downspouts, and the new wood is primed before it's hung so it holds paint.
Trim, fascia and soffitsLogans Ferry Heights dates to the early 1920s, about 200 company homes put up for miners, and the families bought them in 1949. A century on, owners find sills, porch posts and lower siding that have simply worn through.
With the house supported, rotted sill and stud sections come out in short runs and close the wall with treated lumber held off the soil. Porch posts get new bases and footings so they stop wicking water.
Sills and low wallsA porch roof with a sagging beam or a floor that flexes underfoot is a common call here. The first question is whether a patch will do, and the borough names porches and porch roofs among the work that takes a permit.
If the framing is sound, we repair boards and trim in kind. If it isn't, we design the rebuild, file the borough permit, and frame the new porch on footings sized for its roof, with posts and beam replaced as a set.
Porch and stair structureMany Plum houses are cut into a slope, and the uphill wall takes whatever runs off the yard above. After a big storm, owners spot stained siding near the grade, swollen trim, or a sill that gives under a screwdriver.
We replace the damaged siding, sheathing and sill with treated lumber kept 8 inches or more off the ground, then flash and lap it so water sheds outward. We also show you where a swale or downspout extension could steer runoff around the house.
What the rot is hidingDEP shows confirmed mining beneath about 82% of Plum. Still, a tilted floor, a binding door or a stepped crack in block can also come from plain age, so the cause needs sorting out.
We start in the basement, looking over each beam, column and joist, and a level shows the amount of drift. Framing that has sagged gets sistered or new posts on footings. Where cracks point to ground movement, our photos and notes go to your insurer.
Sagging floors and joistsPlum issues an occupancy permit whenever a home changes owners or residents. Sellers and landlords often call when a porch, a set of steps or a railing looks rough enough to worry them before the borough visit.
We fix what's loose or rotted first: railings fastened into framing, soft treads and stringers replaced, exposed wood sealed and painted. If the borough's report names something specific, we work from that list and send you photos when it's done.
Plum permitsHousing ages: Census ACS 2020–2024 for the borough. Holiday Park and Logans Ferry Heights: Tribune-Review reporting. Permits: the borough's building permit page.
The rest of the job
How it runs, what it costs and who builds it are on our main exterior restoration & structural repairs page.
Repairs in Plum
Outside repairs in Plum turn on three things: which jobs need a borough permit, how hard the hills throw water at a house, and the coal beneath most of it.
Porch roofsOn Plum's building permit list
The borough requires a building permit for decks, porches, porch roofs and structural alterations, plus retaining walls over 4 feet. Board and trim swaps in kind are ordinary repair. Where to apply, and how the occupancy permit works, are on the Plum kitchen page.
Plum permits50+Stormwater problems, July 2019 storms
After the storms of July 21, 2019, Plum logged over 50 separate stormwater problems, and the borough's draft plan ties flooding to its steep terrain. Slides have closed Boda and Milltown roads. Our Plum basement page covers the water below grade.
Plum storms and slidesAbout 82%Of the borough over confirmed mining
Logans Ferry Heights was built for a mine, and DEP's layer marks old workings beneath four-fifths of Plum. Ordinary homeowners coverage excludes subsidence, so before blaming a beam for a crack, check your address. The Plum hub page explains more.
Coal under PlumRepair Questions
Plum homeowners raise these while we're checking the porch posts. Our service page follows a repair from inspection to the last coat.
Ask a QuestionWe can price it only after opening the damage to sound wood. Some fascia or a few siding courses make for a smaller bill; a porch rebuilt with a new roof, or a sill replaced along a whole wall, is the big end. You see the number in writing first.
Repair price rangesPlum's permit list names porches and porch roofs. Swapping a few boards or a railing in kind is usually ordinary repair, but rebuilding the framing or the roof is permit work. We confirm with Community Development before we start.
Plum permitsYes. PA One Call wants the 811 request made between three and ten working days ahead of digging, so buried gas, electric and water lines are marked. We make that call before any new post or step footing goes in.
Porch and stair structureStandard homeowners policies exclude it. Pennsylvania sells mine subsidence insurance on its own, and it needs to be in force before anything moves. With about 82% of Plum over mapped mining, many owners look into it.
Coal under PlumOften, yes. On a Logans Ferry Heights house from the 1920s, we probe the posts, floor framing and roof beam one by one. What's rotted is replaced, what's sound stays, and new trim is shaped to match the old so the repair doesn't stand out.
Porch and stair structureOther Services
Plum owners also bring us in for kitchen and bathroom remodels, attic and lower-level rooms, additions and new windows. Choose a page 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
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
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.
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529 Forest Ave
Trafford, PA 15085
