From the sidewalk, the porch on the downhill side stands on tall piers, and one of them has started to lean out. Westinghouse planned Trafford in 1902 as a town on a sloping hillside, and one house in three here predates 1940. Our own shop sits inside the borough, so these repairs are close to home for us.
Trafford Repairs
Nine-tenths of Trafford's housing predates 1980, and the median house was finished in 1954. On streets that climb the hill, most of the calls we get begin at the porch or the downhill wall.
Where the street drops away, a front porch can sit several feet above the yard on piers or posts. Owners notice a pier leaning, a post soft at the base, or a porch floor that slopes away from the door.
We shore the porch, then rebuild failing piers or replace posts on new footings, and reframe the floor so it drains just enough. The borough's building application covers porches, so we apply for any structural part ahead of time.
Porch and stair structureRoughly 27% of local homes share a wall, either attached houses or halves of a double, and on some doubles one porch runs across both fronts. If your side is sagging, you want it fixed without a ridge or a mismatch where the halves meet.
After checking both sides, we reframe yours so the floor lines up level with next door's and the roofline stays continuous. If both owners are interested, you get one price per half and one for the full porch.
Beams, posts and headersThe National Weather Service's top rain total on June 6, 2025 was 3.96 inches, recorded in Trafford, and the creek has spilled onto low ground in other storms. In the days after, siding swells and the sill at the base of the wall goes soft.
We open the wet section, let it dry, and replace the rotted sill, sheathing and siding with treated lumber kept off the grade. For an insurance claim, we hand over dated photos and a written description of the damage.
Water and storm damageWhen a home sells or takes a new tenant, the borough wants a valid lateral inspection on file, and it counts a lateral that lets in extra water as a nuisance. A downspout disappearing into the ground can be the source.
Each downspout is traced; any that feeds the sewer gets capped and rerouted across the yard to open ground. With the gutters already off, we deal with any rotted fascia or soffit too.
Trafford sewer lateralsConcrete or wood, the front stoop on an older house can settle until stepping out the door feels like a drop. Often the stringers have rotted where they meet the ground and the railing has worked loose.
We rebuild the stoop on footings so the landing sits no more than 7-3/4 inches below the threshold, set every riser even, and fasten the railing into the framing. Then it's primed and painted to match the house.
Porch and stair structureUnlike many neighboring towns, Trafford has no confirmed workings inside its limits on the state map. So when a floor in a 1920s or 1950s house dips, the cause is more likely in the framing: an undersized girder, a cut joist or a post that's settled.
We look at the framing from the basement, measure the dip, and check for water damage or old plumbing cuts. Depending on what's found, joists get doubled, columns go onto new footings, or the girder is swapped out, with a permit filed for structural work.
Sagging floors and joistsHousing ages: Census ACS 2020–2024 for the borough. Founding: the state marker at the old Westinghouse foundry. Rainfall: Tribune-Review, June 2025. Sewer and occupancy: borough code Chapters 138 and 160.
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 Trafford
In Trafford, an outside repair answers to the borough's permit application, the sewer lateral rules that come with every permit and sale, and the water Brush Creek brings to the low ground.
24 hrsNotice before each inspection
The building application lists porches, patios and decks. It needs a site sketch, plans in duplicate and a copy of your deed, sewage verification comes due as the permit is issued, and inspectors want 24 hours' warning before each visit. Each step is spelled out on the Trafford kitchen page.
Trafford permits$20,000Job value that triggers a lateral test
Past a $20,000 job value, the borough tests the lateral for leaks before it signs off on the permit, and no buyer or new tenant gets an occupancy permit without a current lateral report. A big porch or framing job can pass that mark, so we flag it at the estimate.
Trafford sewer laterals3.96 inTrafford rainfall on June 6, 2025
Residents on the South Trafford side have taken creek flooding to council repeatedly, and water filled the underpass that June. Near the creek, we look at grade and drainage before replacing low framing. Our additions page covers the borough's flood clause.
Trafford floodingRepair Questions
Neighbors in the borough ask us these while we crawl under the porch. How a repair runs, start to finish, is on our service page.
Ask a QuestionOnce the rot is open and we've found solid framing around it. Swapping porch decking or trim costs the least; a hillside porch rebuilt on new piers, or a new basement girder, costs the most. Nothing gets torn out until that number is in your hands.
Repair price rangesOn DEP's mapping, no confirmed workings fall inside the borough, though one area lies a short distance past the line. That doesn't rule out every cause of a crack, but it means we look first at framing, water and settling.
About TraffordOnly when the permitted job tops $20,000; the lower $10,000 bar applies to work with plumbing fixtures, which porches lack. We'll say at the estimate whether yours is over, so the test never catches you off guard.
Trafford permitsThe owners decide that between themselves, and a deed sometimes addresses it. We'll quote your side alone and the full porch, so each owner can weigh both numbers.
Porch and stair structureWe're based at 529 Forest Avenue, minutes from any street in Trafford. Call or send the form, and we'll set a time to look at the damage, probe the wood and talk through what we find.
Schedule a repair inspectionOther Services
For work indoors or a bigger project, see our other Trafford pages, from kitchens and baths up to the attic and down to the basement, plus additions and windows.
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.
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
