Free Resources
Homeowner Guides
Sixteen practical, plain-English guides for keeping a Pittsburgh house healthy — and for the money-and-paperwork side nobody explains: assessment appeals, insurance, radon, sewer laterals. Written by a company that owns, maintains, and renovates houses here for a living. No email required, no strings, nothing for sale on these pages.
Start Here
Your property assessment may be costing you every year
Allegheny County will not lower an over-assessment on its own — you have to file an appeal, and the window closes on an annual deadline that has fallen in early September. The county's common level ratio dropped again for 2026, which makes appeals unusually worth running right now. This guide walks the whole thing, including the risk of appealing when you shouldn't.
Seasonal
A Year of Pittsburgh Home Maintenance
The season-by-season checklist — what to do each spring, summer, fall, and winter so small jobs never become big ones.
Winterize Like You Mean It
Pipes, furnace, gutters, spigots — the deep version of winter prep for houses that face real Pittsburgh winters.
Cut Heating Bills Without Freezing
Air sealing beats gadgets, insulation beats both — and the free stuff is worth real money every winter.
Water, Roof & Structure
Keep Water Out of Your Basement
Pittsburgh's most common house problem — grading, downspouts, sump pumps, and the difference between damp and dangerous.
Dye Tests & Sewer Laterals
The line from your house to the street is yours — and many municipalities require a test before you can sell. Don't learn that three weeks before closing.
Your Roof: Repair or Replace?
Read your roof from the ground, fix small things fast, and plan the real replacement on your schedule — not the roof's.
Emergencies & Records
Know Your House: Shut-Offs & Systems
Where your water main, gas valve, and breaker panel live, and the five-minute labeling job that pays off in every emergency.
The First 24 Hours After Storm Damage
Safety, photos, tarps, insurer — in that order. And what to say to the strangers knocking an hour after the wind stops.
The Homeowner's Paper Trail
The house file you build in one rainy afternoon — and cash in at every claim, warranty call, and eventual sale.
Health & Safety
Radon: Pennsylvania's Invisible Problem
Pennsylvania has some of the highest indoor radon in the country. A test kit costs about as much as a pizza, and the fix is routine.
Lead Paint, Lead Lines & Your Water
If your house predates 1978, assume there's lead under the newer coats — and know why boiling water makes lead worse, not better.
Money & Ownership
Appeal Your Property Assessment
Allegheny County won't fix an over-assessment for you. What the common level ratio means, how to file, and when appealing backfires.
Homeowners Insurance: What's Actually Covered
Sewer backup, percentage deductibles, replacement cost vs. actual cash value — the lines people discover on the worst day of the year.
Caring for a House Nobody Lives In
Empty houses fail faster — and most policies quietly stop covering them. The routine that keeps a vacant house from becoming a crisis.
Working With Pros
DIY or Call a Pro? An Honest Line
What's genuinely fine to do yourself, what isn't — and the three categories where "I'll try it" gets people hurt or broke.
Hiring a Contractor Without Getting Burned
Quotes, deposits, PA's contractor registration lookup, and the red flags — from people who are contractors.
When a Guide Says "Call a Pro"
Our sister company does this work
IREG shares roots with Integrated Contracting & Renovations, a Pittsburgh renovation contractor — kitchens, baths, exteriors, and the unglamorous repairs these guides talk about. No obligation to use them; every guide here works with any registered, insured contractor. But if you want a local set of eyes, they're real and they're here.
Why free? Because it costs us nothing to share what we already know, and a well-kept Pittsburgh housing stock is good for everyone — including us.
The only pitch you'll find here: if a house ever becomes more than you want to fix, we buy houses as-is. Otherwise — enjoy the guides.