Serving Morgantown
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Morgantown, WV
Basement seepage, failed sumps, and hydrostatic pressure against the foundation are extracted and dried, and the path from the ground is identified so the loss does not repeat. Groundwater and basement seepage are extracted and dried only after the path from the soil is identified — a wall, a slab, a drain, or a failed sump. Drying the interior without stopping that path returns the same water to the same floor.
Frequently asked questions
The retaining wall has started to lean out.
On slopes like these that is nearly always water rather than weight. Ground here loses strength as it wets and creeps downhill, so a wall built without a way to relieve what collects behind it ends up holding saturated material instead of soil. The drainage behind the wall is the part that decides the outcome; rebuilding the face without it buys a few years. Cracks appearing in a line above are worth measuring over a few weeks.
The driveway is cut into the hill and it acts like a stream.
On grades this steep a cut driveway is the deepest channel on the property, so everything coming down the slope above finds it and follows it to the bottom, which is usually a garage or the low corner of a house. That is a design consequence rather than a defect. A cross channel near the top of the drive, with somewhere for what it catches to go, intercepts the flow before it has picked up any speed.
Who is responsible for a wall between two properties?
It depends where the wall sits and what the deeds say, and on ground this steep it is frequently not obvious. A wall may be entirely on one lot while retaining the other, or it may straddle the line. That determines who pays for a repair that both need. Establishing it from the survey rather than from assumption is worth doing before a wall starts moving.
The Morgantown overview carries this FAQ with the city research.