Lance and Lasean Gardenhire were diligent about spending the money they earned by selling heroin.

They do-it-yourselfers used it to buy a home in Pittsburgh, then spent tens of thousands more dollars of their illicit cash to renovate it.

Now, a federal appeals court has ruled, they have to turn their fixer-upper over to the government.

The house is a solid target for forfeiture after both Gardenhires were convicted of drug-related crimes, Judge L. Felipe Restrepo found in an opinion by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit.

That decision, which upholds a ruling by a U.S. Western District judge, comes while Lance Gardenhire is serving a 20-year federal prison term for drug dealing. Lasean Gardenhire was sentenced to 8 months in prison, followed by 3 years of probation after pleading guilty to a conspiracy to launder money charge.

Investigators said Lance Gardenhire made a fortune buying heroin from a New Jersey supplier and reselling it in western Pennsylvania from 2012 to 2015. “Lance’s trafficking organization was responsible for the distribution and sale of thousands of bricks of heroin,” Restrepo wrote.

Lance gave that cash to wife. He and Lasean spent $22,000 of it to buy their Zara Street house, plus another $64,000 to renovate the property. All of those purchases were in cash, the appeals judge noted.

The house became a hub for Lance’s heroin operation, investigators said.

Lance, meanwhile, claimed he was making his money legitimately as a barber and an event promotor, although he provided no evidence to back that assertion, Restrepo wrote. Lasean was earning $23,000 a year as a customer service representative.

On appeal to the circuit court, Lasean claimed prosecutors hasd not established a sufficient link between the house and the drug operation and money laundering to merit the forfeiture of the property.

Evidence that the house was bought and repaired with drug money that Lasean laundered through her bank accounts, plus a co-defendant’s testimony that heroin was sold from the home, prove the forfeiture is warranted, Restrepo concluded.