On both sides of Allentown Boulevard in Paxtonia, the unincorporated community at the center of Lower Paxton Township with Interstate 81 along its northern edge, our crew inspects, repairs and replaces roofs.
Paxtonia has about 2.3 square miles of land and roughly 4,074 people. It sits about 6 miles northeast of downtown Harrisburg-Carlisle. We cover ZIP code 17112.
No completed roof in Paxtonia is logged in our job records yet.
More of Paxtonia's homes went up in the 1970s than in any other decade, 444 of them, followed by 335 from the 1950s and 329 from the 1990s, while only 166 date to 1939 or earlier. Each of those decades tends to put a different deck under the shingles. A 1950s house often has board sheathing, and where those boards have spread or cupped, the deck needs a solid surface before new asphalt shingles go down. A 1970s house typically has plywood, which can delaminate along the eaves after winters of ice and overflowing gutters. A house from the 1990s is more likely to have OSB, which swells where water sits.
In Paxtonia, 65% of housing units are single-family detached houses, and another 158 are attached homes, where a roof meets the neighbor's at the shared wall and a re-roof has to end there cleanly. Heating fuel matters on the roof too. Here 817 homes heat with electricity and 514 with fuel oil. An oil-fired furnace or boiler generally still vents through a chimney, and the flashing where that chimney meets the shingles is a frequent spot for a slow leak; an all-electric house may have no chimney through the roof at all.
Paxtonia gets hail. On June 3, 2023, hail of 1.5 inches was reported 1.5 miles northwest and 1.6 miles north of the community, and stones that size can bruise shingles and dent gutters and vent caps without causing a leak right away. That damage can sit unnoticed through a winter of snow and freeze-thaw until meltwater finds the bruised spots. We will come out at no cost to you and check that soft metal and the shingle surface for hail marks.
Route 22 (Allentown Boulevard) runs through its center, making it a developed suburban area on the northeast side of Harrisburg.
The postwar housing in Paxtonia 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.
By the Census Bureau's estimate there are 1,896 homes in Paxtonia, with a median year built of 1975. 166 of them (9%) went up before 1940 — one of the five lowest pre-1940 shares of the 37 places on this site — and 156 (8%) in 2000 or later. The 1970s were the busiest decade, adding 444 of today's homes (23%). Across Dauphin County the pre-1940 share is 19%, so Paxtonia sits below it.
The Residential Rehabilitation Inspection Guide from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development puts the service life of a roof's first layer at about 20 years. On that yardstick the 1,740 homes in Paxtonia built before 2000 (92%) have outlived at least one roof; 716 homes, 38% of the total, predate 1970, old enough for two replacements already. The 53 homes from the 2000s are where first replacements come up now, while the 103 built since 2010 are mostly still on the roof they were built with. Older houses are where a second layer laid over the first turns up, and that layer is what hides soft decking.
Detached single-family houses make up 65% (1,237); attached houses and townhouses 8% (158). 113 homes (6%) sit in two- to nine-unit buildings and 376 (20%) in buildings of ten units or more, where the roof is usually a landlord's or an association's decision. 66% of occupied homes are owner-occupied, 34% rented. When we look at houses like these, our work can include replacements on roofs from the 1970s to the 1990s.
| Built | Homes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1940 | 166 | 9% | |
| 1940s | 105 | 6% | |
| 1950s | 335 | 18% | |
| 1960s | 110 | 6% | |
| 1970s | 444 | 23% | |
| 1980s | 251 | 13% | |
| 1990s | 329 | 17% | |
| 2000s | 53 | 3% | |
| 2010s | 89 | 5% | |
| 2020 or later | 14 | 1% |
Census ACS 2020–2024, tables B25034, B25035, B25024 and B25003: 1,896 homes, 1,828 occupied. Survey estimates.
Between 2016 and 2025 there were 5 reports of 1-inch-plus hail within 5 miles of Paxtonia’s center in the records of NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center, on 2 separate days. None was 1.75 inches or larger. The largest, 1.5 inches, came on June 3, 2023, about 1.6 miles north of the center. These are reports, not a full record: they come from spotters and the public, so busier areas log more.
| Latest reports | Size | From center |
|---|---|---|
| June 3, 2023 | 1 inch | 5 mi SW |
| June 3, 2023 | 1.25 inches | 5 mi SW |
| June 3, 2023 | 1.5 inches | 1.5 mi NW |
| June 3, 2023 | 1.5 inches | 1.6 mi N |
| June 10, 2020 | 1 inch | 4.7 mi SE |
Hail damage rarely shows from the ground; a storm inspection photographs each slope so you know either way.
Permits and inspections for Paxtonia run through the municipality that enforces Pennsylvania's Uniform Construction Code there, or through a third-party agency or the Department of Labor and Industry where it does not. Before a re-roof we ask the office that covers the address whether a permit is needed, and where one is, we pull it.
The code that applies in Paxtonia is Pennsylvania's Uniform Construction Code, which adopts the 2021 International Residential Code for the whole state (34 Pa. Code 403.21). We build to it and to the manufacturer's instructions.
What goes into a new roof, layer by layerWind 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.
Paxtonia borders Linglestown and Colonial Park. Our pages for them:
Also in Dauphin County:
| City | Re-roof permit | Code | Median built |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paxtonia | Not published | UCC (2021 IRC) | 1975 |
| Linglestown | Not published | UCC (2021 IRC) | 1969 |
| 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 →
Paxtonia's humid summers feed both. Algae shows up as dark streaks running down asphalt shingles and is mostly cosmetic. Moss is the bigger problem: it takes hold on slopes that stay shaded and damp, holds water against the shingles and can lift their edges as it grows. A gentle wash rather than a pressure washer keeps the granules on, and zinc or copper strips along the ridge slow the return.
Paxtonia's winters pile snow on roofs and swing between freezing and thawing. Heat escaping into the attic warms the deck and melts the snow on it. The water runs down to the eave, which hangs past the heated walls and stays cold, and freezes there. Meltwater then backs up under the shingles. Better attic insulation and soffit-to-ridge airflow cut down the melting, and an ice barrier membrane at the eaves helps keep that water out of the house.
Permits and inspections for Paxtonia run through the municipality that enforces Pennsylvania's Uniform Construction Code there, or through a third-party agency or the Department of Labor and Industry where it does not. Before a re-roof we ask the office that covers the address whether a permit is needed, and where one is, we pull it.
The Census Bureau's 2020–2024 estimates put the median year built at 1975: 9% of Paxtonia's 1,896 homes predate 1940 and 8% were built in 2000 or later. At the usual 20-year roof life, the 92% built before 2000 are past at least one full roof life.
Yes. The most recent report of hail 1 inch or larger within 5 miles of Paxtonia's center was 1 inch on June 3, 2023, one of 5 such reports from 2016 through 2025.
Not yet: no completed roof in Paxtonia 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.