Wooded lots and long slopes in Murrysville
Just over the Westmoreland County line, Murrysville homes tend to sit on bigger, wooded, sloping lots. The trees and the slope both have a say in how the foundation behaves.
Murrysville is home to about 20,000 people, on larger lots than most Allegheny County suburbs, often wooded and sloped, with homes from the 1970s through today. That setting brings two foundation pressures the denser suburbs see less of.
The first is water from uphill. A long wooded slope above a house can send a lot of groundwater toward it after a storm or a thaw, more than any downspout. The second is trees. Large trees close to the house draw moisture from the clay in summer, and clay that dries out shrinks. Remove the tree, and the soil around its old roots can swell again or settle as the roots decay. Either change can show up as cracks or a corner that moves.
Fixes here often start outside: a curtain or French drain to intercept water before it reaches the house, gutters and downspouts carried well downhill, and then an interior drain and sump with backup where water still gets through.
What we see most in Murrysville
Groundwater from uphill
Long slopes sending storm and thaw water toward the house.
Tree effects
Large trees drying the clay, or removed trees letting it shift.
Long sump runs
Pumps working hard in spring with discharge needing a long route.
Walkout basements
The exposed side fine, the buried side wet or bowing.
Parts of Murrysville we cover
- Route 22 corridor
- Sardis Road
- School Road
- Pleasant Valley Road
- Murrysville Road
- Old William Penn Highway
- Wolf Run area
- Hills Church Road
Services for Murrysville homes
- Crack repair, bowing walls and settling, with piers where the footing needs firmer ground
- Basement waterproofing, interior drains and sump pumps
- Crawl space repair, slab leveling and a free foundation inspection
Murrysville questions
A big tree near my house was removed and now a crack appeared. Related?
Possibly. The soil that was dried by the roots can swell or settle afterwards. It is worth having the crack watched over a season.
Can you stop water coming down the hill?
An exterior curtain or French drain across the slope can catch it before it reaches the foundation, and often pairs with an interior drain for anything that gets through.
Is Murrysville in your service area even though it is in Westmoreland County?
Yes. We cover Murrysville and the nearby communities along Route 22.
Nearby: Monroeville · Plum · Penn Hills · all areas