Trueline Roofers repairs and replaces roofs in Highspire, the Susquehanna riverbank borough laid out in 1814 along the Pennsylvania Canal system, where plank decking and old layers are part of the job.
Highspire has about 0.7 square miles of land and roughly 2,732 people. It sits about 6 miles southeast of downtown Harrisburg-Carlisle. We cover ZIP code 17034.
No completed roof in Highspire is logged in our job records yet.
Highspire sits on the northeast bank of the Susquehanna River at about 312 feet, in a borough of 0.7 square miles that touches Steelton. It was laid out in 1814 along the Pennsylvania Canal system and grew around milling, boat building and whiskey distilling. That age shows overhead. Of 1436 homes, 283 were built in 1939 or earlier, and houses from that era often have plank decking under several layers of shingles, and sometimes slate. When we climb onto one, the layer count is the first thing we check.
The rest of town is mostly mid-century. The median home was built in 1964, 265 homes went up between 1970 and 1979, 208 in the 1950s and 164 in the 1940s. Many of those roofs have been replaced at least once, so a second layer underneath is a real possibility. Highspire is also a renters' town: 61.2% (about 61%) of occupied homes are rented, and 161 homes sit in buildings of 5 to 9 units and 218 in buildings of 10 to 19. One roof there covers several households, and the owner makes the call.
Winter does the damage here. Snow piles up on the roof, melts from the warm side and refreezes at the eaves as ice dams. Summers are humid, and moss and algae streak the shaded slopes. Permits come from the Borough of Highspire Codes/Zoning Department, where Rachel Vega is the Codes & Zoning Officer. Applications go in person or by mail, faxed plans are not accepted, a Workers Compensation form goes with each one, and the borough asks for 15 business days of review, so set the start date after that window.
The postwar housing in Highspire is mostly simple to roof, which is why it gets done badly so often. Decking is usually 1x6 boards or early plywood, still sound but worth walking rather than assuming. The recurring problems are the low-slope sections — porch roofs, carport tie-ins, the flat bit over an addition — where a shingle was installed below its rated pitch and has been failing quietly ever since. Attic ventilation on houses of this era is also routinely short of what current shingle warranties require, and under-venting cooks a roof from underneath. We measure intake against exhaust before we quote rather than just nailing on a ridge vent and calling it solved.
The Census Bureau counts 1,436 homes in Highspire, with a median year built of 1964. 283 of them (20%) went up before 1940 — 24th of 37 places on this site for pre-1940 share — and 142 (10%) in 2000 or later. More of today's homes date from before 1940 than from any decade since. Across Dauphin County the pre-1940 share is 19%, so Highspire sits above it.
About 20 years is the service life that HUD's Residential Rehabilitation Inspection Guide gives for a roof's first layer. On that yardstick the 1,294 homes in Highspire built before 2000 (90%) have outlived at least one roof; 806 homes, 56% of the total, predate 1970, old enough for two replacements already. Homes from the 2000s (100 in Highspire) are reaching their first replacement, while the 42 built since 2010 are mostly still on the roof they were built with. On houses that old, the question worth asking is how many layers are up there: a roof laid over an old one hides the deck.
Detached single-family houses make up 35% (504); attached houses and townhouses 25% (363). 245 homes (17%) sit in two- to nine-unit buildings and 272 (19%) in buildings of ten units or more, where a resident rarely gets to choose the roofer. The count also takes in 52 mobile homes, which are a different kind of roof job. 39% of occupied homes are owner-occupied, 61% rented. On a housing mix like this, the work can include full tear-offs on houses past two roof lives, deck and flashing checks on pre-war board sheathing and flat and low-slope sections, which turn up more on attached and multi-unit buildings.
| Built | Homes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1940 | 283 | 20% | |
| 1940s | 164 | 11% | |
| 1950s | 208 | 14% | |
| 1960s | 151 | 11% | |
| 1970s | 265 | 18% | |
| 1980s | 88 | 6% | |
| 1990s | 135 | 9% | |
| 2000s | 100 | 7% | |
| 2010s | 42 | 3% | |
| 2020 or later | 0 | 0% |
Census ACS 2020–2024, tables B25034, B25035, B25024 and B25003: 1,436 homes, 1,340 occupied. Survey estimates.
NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center logged 2 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 5 miles of Highspire’s center from 2016 through 2025, on 2 different days. None was 1.75 inches or larger. The largest, 1 inch, came on June 16, 2022, about 2.4 miles southwest of the center. A report needs someone to see the hail and send it in, so the count is a floor, not a full tally.
If one of those storms crossed your street and nobody has been on the roof since, a storm inspection photographs what it did.
The borough says permits are required to repair, construct, enlarge, alter or demolish a building or structure. Property owners are asked to check with the Codes/Zoning Department before beginning any work. The person filing the application contacts the Code Enforcement Office to schedule all required inspections. A Workers Compensation form must be submitted with all permit applications.
Highspire does not publish the code edition it currently enforces. We confirm the edition with the building department before we write the scope.
We reach the permit desk at 717-939-3303 ext. 1103. The building official is Rachel Vega, Codes & Zoning Officer. We check the department’s own page for its current permit rules before a job.
Wind design is looked up by address across the Harrisburg-Carlisle, Pennsylvania metro: we build to the design wind speed set for the address; Township of Upper Allen’s published table gives 90 mph, and the building department can say which figure applies to a given address. See the roofing code guide for what it governs.
Highspire borders Steelton. Our pages for them:
Also in Dauphin County:
| City | Re-roof permit | Code | Median built |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highspire | Not published | Not published | 1964 |
| Steelton | Not published | Not published | 1949 |
| Colonial Park | Not published | UCC (2021 IRC) | 1969 |
| Unincorporated Dauphin County | Not published | UCC (2021 IRC) | — |
| Elizabethville | Not published | Not published | 1951 |
| Enhaut | Not published | UCC (2021 IRC) | 1950 |
| Harrisburg | Yes | Not published | 1947 |
Every Dauphin County city we cover, side by side →
Heat leaking into the attic melts snow from underneath, and the water refreezes at the cold eave. Highspire winters swing above and below freezing again and again, so the cycle repeats until the snow is gone, and thin attic insulation or blocked vents make it worse.
The owner does. About 61% of Highspire's occupied homes are rented, and many sit in buildings of 5 or more units. As a tenant, photograph stains and drips and report them to your landlord in writing.
The borough says permits are required to repair, construct, enlarge, alter or demolish a building or structure. Property owners are asked to check with the Codes/Zoning Department before beginning any work. The person filing the application contacts the Code Enforcement Office to schedule all required inspections. A Workers Compensation form must be submitted with all permit applications.
Median year built 1964, by the Census Bureau's 2020–2024 estimates. Of 1,436 homes, 1,294 were built before 2000 and 283 before 1940, so most roofs in Highspire are not the first one the house has had.
Yes. The most recent report of hail 1 inch or larger within 5 miles of Highspire's center was 1 inch on June 16, 2022, one of 2 such reports from 2016 through 2025.
The building official is Rachel Vega, Codes & Zoning Officer. We reach the permit desk at 717-939-3303 ext. 1103.
Not yet: no completed roof in Highspire is in our job records, so this page shows no job count.
Researched 2026-11-09; housing, Census ACS 2020–2024; hail, NOAA SPC. Sources: highspire.gov · highspire.gov · highspire.gov · highspire.gov · data.census.gov · data.census.gov · data.census.gov · www2.census.gov · www2.census.gov · data.census.gov · data.census.gov · en.wikipedia.org · www2.census.gov · www.spc.noaa.gov. Rules and staff change; check with the jurisdiction.