Conodoguinet Creek cuts through the middle of Schlusser, 16 miles west of downtown Harrisburg, and on both sides of it we patch leaking roofs and replace worn-out ones, from detached houses to attached homes and mobile homes.
Schlusser has about 3.4 square miles of land and roughly 5,402 people. It sits about 16 miles west of downtown Harrisburg-Carlisle. We cover ZIP code 17013.
No completed roof in Schlusser is logged in our job records yet.
Schlusser sits at about 425 feet in eastern North Middleton and western Middlesex townships. Conodoguinet Creek, a tributary of the Susquehanna River, flows through its middle, and Blue Mountain lies to the northeast along Pennsylvania Route 34, the community's main road. Roofs close to the creek, and roofs under shade trees, can stay damp longer after a summer rain. In humid weather that gives moss and roof algae a hold on the slopes that get the least sun. Gutters and downspouts finish the job a roof starts by carrying that same rain away from basement walls.
The 1970s and 1980s built more of Schlusser than any other decades: 497 homes went up in the first and 462 in the second, against 156 from 1939 or earlier and 143 from 2010 to 2019. Detached houses make up 65% of its housing units, but Schlusser also has 414 attached homes and 183 mobile homes, and each asks something different of a roof. On an attached home, the roof usually runs straight into the neighbor's, so new shingles and flashing have to tie in cleanly at the shared wall. A mobile home often sits under a low-slope roof over lighter framing than a site-built house. That narrows the choice of materials and makes walking on it a careful job.
Houses built in these decades usually sit on plywood or OSB and were first roofed in three-tab shingles, but we check each one in Schlusser rather than assume. Trouble tends to be at the penetrations rather than across the field: the rubber collar on a pipe boot splits years before the shingles give out. Ridge vents were hit and miss in these decades, and OSB that stays damp for a season softens in a way plywood does not, something you feel underfoot rather than see from the yard.
The Census Bureau counts 2,339 homes in Schlusser, with a median year built of 1979. 156 of them (7%) went up before 1940 — one of the five lowest pre-1940 shares of the 37 places on this site — and 397 (17%) in 2000 or later. The 1970s were the busiest decade, adding 497 of today's homes (21%). On the pre-1940 share, Schlusser sits below Cumberland County's 15%.
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. By that measure, 83% of Schlusser's homes — the 1,942 built before 2000 — are past their first roof; 717 homes, 31% of the total, predate 1970, old enough for two replacements already. Homes from the 2000s (254 in Schlusser) are reaching their first replacement, while the 143 built since 2010 are mostly still on the roof they were built with. 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.
65% of homes in Schlusser are single-family detached houses (1,527) and 18% attached ones such as townhouses (414). 215 homes (9%) sit in two- to nine-unit buildings. The count also takes in 183 mobile homes, which are a different kind of roof job. Owners live in 82% of the 2,274 occupied homes. With houses like these, the jobs can include flat and low-slope sections, which turn up more on attached and multi-unit buildings.
| Built | Homes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1940 | 156 | 7% | |
| 1940s | 64 | 3% | |
| 1950s | 175 | 7% | |
| 1960s | 322 | 14% | |
| 1970s | 497 | 21% | |
| 1980s | 462 | 20% | |
| 1990s | 266 | 11% | |
| 2000s | 254 | 11% | |
| 2010s | 143 | 6% | |
| 2020 or later | 0 | 0% |
Census ACS 2020–2024, tables B25034, B25035, B25024 and B25003: 2,339 homes, 2,274 occupied. Survey estimates.
NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center logged no reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 5 miles of Schlusser’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.
Permits and inspections for Schlusser 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 Schlusser 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.
| City | Re-roof permit | Code | Median built |
|---|---|---|---|
| Schlusser | Not published | UCC (2021 IRC) | 1979 |
| 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 →
It gives the roof one more opening to keep tight. Wood heats 168 of Schlusser's occupied homes, and a stove's chimney or stovepipe has to rise past the roof somewhere. Snow piles up on the uphill side of it and melts against the warm masonry or pipe, so the flashing and shingles around it take more water than the open slope. On a roof like yours, we check that flashing from outside and the boards around the chimney from the attic.
Often not, and the roof edge and the attic settle it. Houses from those decades have already outlived the 20-year roof life listed in HUD's guide for inspecting homes before rehab. The shingles you see are commonly a replacement, and sometimes a newer layer was nailed straight over an older one. We count the layers and read the sheathing from underneath, and the tear-off is planned around what turns up.
Permits and inspections for Schlusser 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 1979: 7% of Schlusser's 2,339 homes predate 1940 and 17% were built in 2000 or later. At the usual 20-year roof life, the 83% built before 2000 are past at least one full roof life.
Not yet: no completed roof in Schlusser 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.