The Ground Has Been Worked Under Here
Nowhere in the region is the undermining question more live. These valleys sat above and beside the coal that the mills ran on, and historic workings are extensive.
Mine subsidence is excluded from standard homeowners insurance, which is why the Commonwealth has operated a separate fund for it since 1961, administered by the Department of Environmental Protection with mapping showing where properties sit relative to old and abandoned workings.
Why Does That Surface After a Fire?
The full position is on our page covering the six-month clock.
Check It Before You Need To
The department publishes mine mapping and uses it, with geographic information systems, to identify coverage areas. Checking is free and takes very little time.
An owner who has the answer in hand can hand it to every buyer and remove the question from their diligence entirely. An owner who does not is waiting for somebody else to raise it, at a point where raising it is worth money to them.
Does Being Undermined Stop a Sale?
We publish no subsidence risk determinations or mine map readings for individual Mon Valley properties. The department holds the mapping for your address and the check costs nothing.
Every Borough Is Its Own System
McKeesport, Duquesne, Braddock, Clairton and the surrounding boroughs are separate municipalities from the City of Pittsburgh, each with its own code enforcement, permitting and fees.
A contractor who works constantly in the city may never have filed in any of them, and the process differs enough to matter. It is a fair question to put to anyone quoting.
The catastrophic loss provision, by contrast, is a county provision and applies across all of them equally, with the same six-month window from the date of the loss.
Mill-Era Housing After a Fire
The stock here was built quickly and for workers, which means modest dimensions and, often, dimensional framing that chars rather than failing at connections. Repair is a live option more often than the exterior suggests.
Against that, decades of varied maintenance mean condition is unpredictable and era is a poor guide to it. An inspection is worth more here than in neighbourhoods with uniform stock.
The Mon Valley in Context
Where comparable modest stock sits inside the city, see our page about Hazelwood and the Hilltop. Where the municipal question dominates entirely, see our page for the Allegheny County boroughs.
The Numbers Under and Over These Valleys
More than 1 million Pennsylvania buildings sit above abandoned mines. The Commonwealth's subsidence fund was created in 1961 under 52 P.S. section 3219, has paid over $47 million in homeowner claims, and offers cover from $5,000 to $1,000,000, with $150,000 of residential cover costing about $41.25 a year.
The county assessment provision is unchanged out here: 50 per cent or greater diminution, six months from the date of loss or the remainder of the calendar year, and 30 days to appeal a determination.
West End and Mon Valley Questions
How Do I Check If I Am Undermined?
The Department of Environmental Protection publishes the mapping and uses it to identify coverage areas for its subsidence programme. Free, and worth doing before you take offers.
My Foundation Is Cracked. Is That the Fire?
Possibly, and possibly settlement or subsidence. An engineer distinguishes them and the distinction determines who pays, so it is worth establishing rather than assuming.
Will You Buy in the Boroughs?
Yes, across the valley. The borough affects the permitting and therefore the figure, and it does not stop us buying.