Scranton Quality Roofing handles roofing in Plains Township, where two kinds of house rarely share a ladder: manufactured homes with light, low roofs, and attached houses whose roof runs straight across to the neighbor. We have worked through the Lackawanna and Wyoming valleys for more than twenty years, and we treat those two jobs as different trades rather than one price sheet with a new address on top.
That starts with what the roof is actually doing. A leak on a manufactured home often shows up far from where the water enters, and a leak on an attached house can begin on the roof next door. We look in the attic or the ceiling cavity as well as on the roof, find the real entry point, and only then put a number on paper.
You also get a plain answer about repair before anyone says the word replacement. When a roof does need to come off, our written scope breaks tear-off, decking, underlayment, flashing, ventilation and gutters into separate lines, so you can hold our estimate beside anyone else’s and compare them line by line.
Manufactured Homes on the Mountain Side of Plains Township
A larger share than most people expect
The 2024 American Community Survey counts 356 mobile homes across Plains Township, which is 7.3% of the township’s 4,909 housing units. Of those, 299 are occupied by their owners and 31 are rented. That is a real block of homeowners making their own roofing decisions, not a handful of trailers at the edge of the map.
It also means the township’s roofing needs are not one-size. A crew that only knows shingled two-story houses will price a manufactured home the same way, and that is where mistakes start. We ask what kind of home it is before we schedule anything, because the answer changes the materials, the crew size and how we walk the roof.
East Mountain Ridge on Jumper Road
Luzerne County keeps a Mobile Home Parks Records list that names parks by municipality, and under Plains Township it lists one: East Mountain Ridge Mobile Homes. A park directory places it at 740 Jumper Road, with a Wilkes-Barre mailing address. The list names that one park and nothing more; it does not say how many of the township’s mobile homes stand inside it.
The county list does not describe the homes or give a lot count, so we don’t assume anything about a roof before we see it. When we get a call from the park or from anywhere else in the township, the first visit is an inspection, and the quote follows what that inspection finds rather than what a neighbor’s job cost.
From the river to Wyoming Mountain
Plains Township runs from the Susquehanna River in the northwest up to the north slope of Wyoming Mountain in the southeast. The populous villages sit low, near the river, while the south and east are mostly forest, with Mill Creek running down toward the Susquehanna and Seven Tubs Recreation Area tucked off PA 115.
That split matters for roofs. Homes up the mountain side see more tree cover, more debris on low roofs and longer stretches of shade where snow lingers. A low-slope manufactured-home roof holding wet leaves and slow-melting snow wears differently than a steep shingled roof in the valley, and we plan the work around that exposure.
Looking for roofing closer to Swoyersville? See Roofing in Swoyersville.
How a Manufactured-Home Roof Differs From a Shingled House
Lighter framing and a lower pitch
Most manufactured homes are built with lighter roof framing and a shallower pitch than a site-built house. Some carry a metal roof that was installed at the factory, and others carry shingles over thin decking. Either way, the structure was not designed to carry the weight of several roof layers or a heavy crew standing in one spot.
So we walk these roofs differently, spread our load, and keep material staging off the roof wherever we can. Before proposing any covering, we check the decking and the framing from inside and out, because a new roof is only as sound as what it is fastened to.
Membranes, coatings and metal
A low-slope manufactured-home roof often does better under a continuous membrane than under shingles that need pitch to shed water. Depending on the home, that can mean EPDM rubber, a TPO single-ply sheet, or a standing seam metal roof with its seams up off the water line.
We explain the trade-offs in plain terms: weight, how each material handles ponding, how it ties into the walls and vents, and what upkeep it needs. If the existing metal roof is sound and only the seams and fasteners are failing, we say so, and a repair goes on the table first.
Where leaks start on a manufactured home
On these homes, the usual trouble spots are the roof-to-wall joint, plumbing vents, skylights and the seams where sections of the home were joined. Water can travel along a ceiling panel a long way before it shows, so a stain over the hallway may come from a vent near the kitchen.
That is why we look inside the ceiling cavity as well as on top. Pipe boots get replaced rather than caulked over, drip edge goes back on at every eave, and any flashing we disturb is replaced with the new work instead of reused under it.
Attached Houses Across the Valley Villages
A roof line shared with the house next door
Plains Township also counts 973 single-family attached homes, close to one in five of its housing units. The survey counts them township-wide and does not say which of the villages, from Hudson and Plainsville to Midvale, holds the most of them.
The survey also does not say how these houses are joined, only that they are attached. It does date 1,574 of the township’s 4,909 housing units to 1939 or earlier, close to a third of the stock. What we can say is that a roof meeting a neighbor’s roof is a different job from a freestanding one. The joint, the parapet or the shared ridge has to be detailed so your new roof does not throw water onto the next house, or take it from there.
Working at the party wall
Where your roof meets the neighbor’s, we look at both sides of the line before we start. Old patches at the joint, mismatched layers and failing counter flashing are common causes of a leak that keeps coming back no matter how many shingles get replaced.
We tie the new roof into the existing one with proper step and counter flashing, and we talk with you about letting the neighbor know when work is scheduled. A shared roof line goes more smoothly when both households know a crew will be up there and what they will be doing.
Owners and landlords alike
Of those attached homes, 417 are owner-occupied and 398 are rented, so we hear from homeowners and landlords in about equal measure. A landlord often wants a dependable repair that keeps a tenant dry, while an owner may be weighing a full replacement with an eye on the next twenty years.
Both get the same honest read of the roof and the same itemized scope. If decking turns out to be damaged once the old roof is off, we photograph it and show you before replacing it, at the per-sheet price already written in the contract.
Permits and Code Enforcement in Plains Township
BHW Construction Consultation Services
Plains Township has contracted BHW Construction Consultation Services, a state certified third-party inspection agency, to handle building permits and inspections. The township lists Jason Humenanski for building and Mark Bienias for plumbing and HVAC. The township opted into the Uniform Construction Code on June 10, 2004, with amendments of its own.
Because every municipality in our service area sets its own re-roof permit rule, we check the requirement for your property in Plains Township before the job is priced. Plains has not published a re-roof stance of its own, so we confirm with the township and its inspection agency rather than guessing, and the answer goes into your scope.
What the 2025 permit application asks
The township’s 2025 Building Permit Application asks the contractor for a PA HIC number, and it asks whether the site sits in an identified flood-prone area under the Pennsylvania Flood Plain Management Act. It also asks whether the property is in a historic district. The form has no separate roofing checkbox, which is one more reason we confirm the requirement directly. For the flood question, FEMA lists Plains Township as flood insurance community 420621, with its current flood map effective June 20, 2024.
The form states that permit fees are non-refundable, so it pays to get the application right the first time. When a permit applies, we handle the paperwork and keep a copy with your contract.
The 2019 International Property Maintenance Code
Plains Township has adopted the 2019 International Property Maintenance Code, which lets the Code Enforcement Officer require repairs to a property’s exterior, roof included. After a certified notice, an owner has twenty days to correct the problem or appeal before a citation goes to the District Magistrate.
If you have received a notice about a roof, call us early in that window. We can inspect, tell you whether a repair will resolve the issue, and give you a written scope you can show the township while the work is scheduled.
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