Newville grew from the lots the Big Spring Presbyterian church laid out and sold in 1790, and most of its homes date to 1939 or earlier; we repair and replace the roofs on its attached and detached houses alike.
Newville has about 0.4 square miles of land and roughly 1,283 people. It sits about 28 miles west of downtown Harrisburg-Carlisle. We cover ZIP code 17241.
No completed roof in Newville is logged in our job records yet.
Newville sits on the west side of Big Spring Creek, a tributary of Conodoguinet Creek, at an elevation of about 528 feet and 28 miles west of downtown Harrisburg. In 1874 the borough grew south to take in the homes and businesses that had built up along the Cumberland Valley Railroad line, and the Newville Historic District lies within its 0.4 square miles.
Of the 580 housing units, 416 date to 1939 or earlier and only 4 went up from 2000 to 2009, with none counted since; across Cumberland County, the median home was built in 1978. Roofs that old were usually first nailed to board sheathing, not plywood, and the boards, rafters and eave depth vary from one house to the next. Just 177 units are detached houses; 173 are single-family homes attached to a neighbor and 104 sit in two-unit buildings. On an attached house, one roof often runs straight into the next, and the seam at the party wall has to be tied in and sealed whenever either side is redone.
Winter snow piles on the borough's roofs and goes through freeze-thaw cycles, and on older houses with shallow, lightly insulated attics, heat from the rooms below melts snow higher on the slope so that it refreezes at the cold eave as an ice dam. Humid summers then bring moss and algae to slopes that stay shaded and damp. No hail an inch or larger appears in the Storm Prediction Center's reports within five miles of the borough from 2016 through 2025, so the damage to look for is the slow kind: lifted flashing, soft boards at the eaves and slipped or cracked slate. More of Newville's occupied homes are rented than owned, and if you own one of those rentals, you keep the photographs we take of each slope, the eaves and the attic.
On houses this old in Newville the deck is usually solid boards, not plywood, and boards shift: gaps open, nails work loose, and a shingle nailed over a gap holds on to nothing. Chimneys and wall joints often still carry their original step and counter-flashing, which is where many leaks really start while the shingles look fine. Two or three roofs piled on one another are common on streets like these; every extra layer hides the deck, adds weight and voids most manufacturer warranties. Any original slate or tile on the house calls for a different plan from an asphalt tear-off.
Newville has 580 homes in the Census Bureau's count and a median year built of 1939 or earlier, the oldest band the survey reports. 416 of them (72%) went up before 1940 — the 2nd-highest pre-1940 share of the 37 places on this site — and 4 (1%) in 2000 or later. More of today's homes date from before 1940 than from any decade since. (Cumberland County as a whole: 15% before 1940.)
A roof's first layer has a service life of about 20 years, according to HUD's Residential Rehabilitation Inspection Guide. That puts 576 homes in Newville, the 99% built before 2000, past at least one full roof life; 490 homes, 84% of the total, predate 1970, old enough for two replacements already. Homes from the 2000s (4 in Newville) are reaching their first replacement. Older houses are where a second layer laid over the first turns up, and that layer is what hides soft decking.
31% of homes in Newville are single-family detached houses (177) and 30% attached ones such as townhouses (173). 219 homes (38%) sit in two- to nine-unit buildings. 44% of occupied homes are owner-occupied, 56% rented. With houses like these, the jobs 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 | 416 | 72% | |
| 1940s | 36 | 6% | |
| 1950s | 38 | 7% | |
| 1960s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1970s | 37 | 6% | |
| 1980s | 10 | 2% | |
| 1990s | 39 | 7% | |
| 2000s | 4 | 1% | |
| 2010s | 0 | 0% | |
| 2020 or later | 0 | 0% |
Census ACS 2020–2024, tables B25034, B25035, B25024 and B25003: 580 homes, 509 occupied. Survey estimates.
NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center logged no reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 5 miles of Newville’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.
Newville 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.
Newville does not publish the code edition it currently enforces. We confirm the edition with the building department before we write the scope.
What goes into a new roof, layer by layerThe design wind speed a roof in Newville 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newville | Not published | Not published | 1939 or earlier |
| Boiling Springs | Not published | UCC (2021 IRC) | 1986 |
| Camp Hill | Not published | Not published | 1953 |
| Carlisle | Not published | Not published | 1953 |
| Unincorporated Cumberland County | Not published | UCC (2021 IRC) | — |
| Enola | Not published | UCC (2021 IRC) | 1969 |
| Lemoyne | Not published | Not published | 1949 |
Every Cumberland County city we cover, side by side →
The dark streaks are usually algae, and the green clumps are moss. Both thrive in the humid summers here on a slope that stays shaded and damp. Moss holds water against the shingles and can lift their edges, so it should come off gently, by hand or with a cleaner made for roofs, not with a pressure washer, which strips the granules. Zinc or copper strips near the ridge can slow the regrowth.
It should at least be checked then. Fuel oil heats 225 of the borough's occupied homes, so many roofs here still carry a chimney in use. Old step flashing and counterflashing usually come off with the old shingles, and a cracked crown or loose mortar lets water reach the attic framing. Fixing those while the roof is open saves pulling new shingles back up later.
Nothing published settles it for Newville, so the department gets the question before work starts and any permit it wants is pulled by us.
By the Census Bureau's estimates, 99% of Newville's homes were built before 2000 and 84% before 1970, with a median year built of 1939 or earlier (2020–2024 estimates). A roof usually lasts about 20 years, so the deck and the layers get checked before any quote.
Not yet: no completed roof in Newville 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: 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.spc.noaa.gov. Rules and staff change; check with the jurisdiction.