Newport sits on the Juniata River, ringed by valley farmland and the Tuscarora mountain range, and many of its houses date from the late 1800s canal and railroad era. Those are the roofs our crew repairs and replaces.
Newport has about 0.3 square miles of land and roughly 1,621 people. It sits about 20 miles northwest of downtown Harrisburg-Carlisle. We cover ZIP code 17074.
No completed roof in Newport is logged in our job records yet.
Newport fits 641 homes into 0.3 square miles, and 501 of them were built in 1939 or earlier. Many went up in the late 1800s and carry the varied styles of that century, so roof lines change from one house to the next. Houses this old were decked before plywood came into common use, so boards usually sit under the shingles. Some still wear slate, and most others have had their roofs redone, sometimes with new shingles laid over old ones. Of the 641, 156 are attached houses that share a wall with the house next door. On one of those, our written scope marks where your roof stops and your neighbor's starts.
Fuel oil heats 299 of the 621 occupied homes, so a chimney still rises through many Newport roofs, and the flashing around it is a frequent source of leaks. Owners live in 41% of the occupied homes, so on many houses here a landlord, not the person sleeping under the roof, decides when it gets replaced. The Newport Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and on its 19th-century streets the shape and color of each roof are part of the look.
Newport winters bring freeze-thaw cycles and snow that piles on the roof, and where attic heat warms the deck, that snow melts and refreezes at the eave as an ice dam. Summers are humid, and moss and algae settle on slopes that stay shaded and damp. A gutter that spills over drops its water at the foundation, which is one way a roof problem becomes a wet basement. Hail reaches Perry County too, and the largest stone reported there from 2016 through 2025 measured 1.25 inches, on July 17, 2021.
Residences built during the 19th-century railroad era reflect varied architectural styles.
Houses of this age in Newport were sheathed with solid board decking rather than plywood, and boards move. Plank gaps open up, nails back out, and a shingle fastened into a gap has nothing holding it. We also expect original step and counter-flashing at chimneys and walls — often the real leak while the shingles look fine — and more than one house on a street like this has two or three roofs stacked on it because someone went over rather than tore off. That matters: layers hide the decking, add weight, and void most manufacturer warranties. If there is original slate or tile anywhere on the property, it wants a different conversation than an asphalt tear-off.
By the Census Bureau's estimate there are 641 homes in Newport, with a median year built of 1939 or earlier, the oldest band the survey reports. 501 of them (78%) went up before 1940 — the 1st-highest pre-1940 share of the 37 places on this site — and 3 (0%) in 2000 or later. More of today's homes date from before 1940 than from any decade since. On the pre-1940 share, Newport sits above Perry County's 21%.
About 20 years is the service life that HUD's Residential Rehabilitation Inspection Guide gives for a roof's first layer. That puts 638 homes in Newport, the 100% built before 2000, past at least one full roof life, and the 606 built before 1970 (95%) are usually on a third covering or later. The 3 homes from the 2000s are where first replacements come up now. At that age it pays to know whether the last roof was torn off or laid over the one before it, because a second layer hides the deck.
42% of homes in Newport are single-family detached houses (269) and 24% attached ones such as townhouses (156). 182 homes (28%) sit in two- to nine-unit buildings and 34 (5%) in buildings of ten units or more, where the roof is usually a landlord's or an association's decision. 41% of occupied homes are owner-occupied, 59% rented. When we look at houses like these, our 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 | 501 | 78% | |
| 1940s | 52 | 8% | |
| 1950s | 24 | 4% | |
| 1960s | 29 | 5% | |
| 1970s | 23 | 4% | |
| 1980s | 6 | 1% | |
| 1990s | 3 | 0% | |
| 2000s | 3 | 0% | |
| 2010s | 0 | 0% | |
| 2020 or later | 0 | 0% |
Census ACS 2020–2024, tables B25034, B25035, B25024 and B25003: 641 homes, 621 occupied. Survey estimates.
NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center logged no reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 5 miles of Newport’s center from 2016 through 2025. That is a gap in the reports rather than proof that no hail fell: reports come from spotters and the public.
Newport has not published an answer on re-roof permits. The building department gets the question from us before work starts, and any permit it wants is part of our job.
Newport does not publish the code edition it currently enforces. We confirm the edition with the building department before we write the scope.
The building official is Bruce Psaras, Code Enforcement Officer.
What goes into a new roof, layer by layerThe design wind speed a roof in Newport is built to depends on where the house stands: 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. The building department can confirm the figure, and the code guide explains what it governs.
| City | Re-roof permit | Code | Median built |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newport | Not published | Not published | 1939 or earlier |
| Bloomfield | Not published | Not published | 1943 |
| Duncannon | Not published | Not published | 1939 or earlier |
| Marysville | Not published | Not published | 1955 |
| Unincorporated Perry County | Not published | UCC (2021 IRC) | — |
Every Perry County city we cover, side by side →
A Department of Housing and Urban Development inspection guide gives a roof 20 years of service. In Newport, where 78% of homes were built in 1939 or earlier, most houses have long outlived their first roof, and the roof on one now may sit over an older layer. Shade, attic heat and snow all affect how long a given roof lasts.
Snow piles on roofs here, and freeze-thaw cycles run through the winter. In a house built long before today's attic insulation, warm air from the rooms below slips into the attic and melts the snow from underneath. The water runs down to the cold eave, freezes, and builds a ridge of ice that holds the next melt against the shingles until it backs up beneath them. Sealing and insulating the attic floor and venting the roof help keep the deck cold.
Newport publishes no rule on it. We ask the building department first and pull whatever it requires.
The Census Bureau's 2020–2024 estimates put the median year built at 1939 or earlier: 78% of Newport's 641 homes predate 1940 and 0% were built in 2000 or later. At the usual 20-year roof life, the 100% built before 2000 are past at least one full roof life.
The building official is Bruce Psaras, Code Enforcement Officer.
Not yet: no completed roof in Newport 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: newportboro.com · www.newportboro.com · data.census.gov · data.census.gov · data.census.gov · www2.census.gov · www2.census.gov · data.census.gov · data.census.gov · en.wikipedia.org · www.newportboro.com · www.spc.noaa.gov. Rules and staff change; check with the jurisdiction.