Murrysville families often keep one house for decades, and the house has to keep up: a bedroom downstairs for the later years, a room for a parent, a sunroom looking into the woods. Our carpenters read the slope and the yard lines, then build onto the house so it looks like it was always there.
Murrysville Additions
The municipality's own plan says residents often keep a house 35 to 40 years, on lots larger than most suburbs offer. When the family changes in that time, adding on can make more sense than moving.
About one Murrysville homeowner in six is 75 or older. For couples who plan to stay, the hard part is the stairs, so they ask for a bedroom with its bath at ground level before either of them needs it.
A one-story wing off the living space with a curbless shower, a wide door and a closet you can walk into. Floors meet the house at the same level, and the hallway to it stays straight and well lit at night.
Primary suite additionsClose to half the households here have a member who is 65-plus. Some are grown children bringing a parent home, and they want a suite with a private bath and sitting room, private but still part of the family's day.
We plan the suite as rooms of the main house, reached through a connecting hall or a shared front door, with grab-bar blocking, lever handles and lights you can find in the dark. Any kitchenette gets cleared with the municipality before design.
In-law suitesOver half the land Murrysville counts as hard to build on is steep slope. Owners whose yard drops away behind the house ask whether there's anywhere for an addition to go.
Often there is, on stepped footings or a walkout level below the new room. We measure the grade, keep the work clear of the steepest ground, and bring in a soils engineer where the municipality's slope rule calls for one.
Foundations and tie-insWooded hillsides and valleys are part of why people choose Murrysville. Owners who spend summer on the deck looking into them ask for a glass room where they can sit with that view in October and February too.
Insulated walls with tall windows on three sides, a roof framed for our snow, and heat brought in from the house. Every window gets flashed into the framing, and the floor sits on footings below frost, not on deck posts.
SunroomsRoughly one owner in six is 35 to 44, often with kids on the way or in school. A three-bedroom house that felt roomy at closing can come up a bedroom short, and some owners would rather build than sell.
A two-story wing with a bedroom on each level, or a bedroom suite stacked over a new family room, framed and roofed to match the house. On septic, we check what the system was sized for before an added bedroom goes on the drawings.
Room additionsTwo cars, a tractor for the big lawn, the kids' bikes: on Murrysville lots the garage fills up fast. Owners ask for a new garage with workshop space, attached to the house or standing on its own.
A detached building over 500 square feet needs a building permit and its own setbacks, so we site it with both in mind. The slab is poured for weight, with outlets on dedicated circuits for the saw and a door wide enough for the mower.
Garage buildsHouseholds and owners: Census Bureau, ACS 2020–2024, Murrysville. Lengths of stay and slopes: Murrysville's 2015 plan, "Within Sight."
The rest of the job
How it runs, what it costs and who builds it are on our main additions & adus page.
Adding On in Murrysville
In Murrysville an addition answers to three rules: the municipal building permit, the generous yards of the large-lot districts, and the zoning ordinance's limits on building near steep ground.
AdditionsAlways a building permit
Every addition, and any accessory building over 500 square feet, takes a building permit from Community Development on Sardis Road, and loud work keeps to weekday hours. The Murrysville kitchen page covers both rules. Plans and paperwork are ours to prepare.
Murrysville rules, explained40 ftLeast side yard, Rural Residential
In the Rural Residential district each side yard is at least 40 feet and the rear 50; in Low Density, 25 feet a side and 50 at the rear. A bay window or the eaves can intrude just 18 inches, and corner lots keep a front yard on both streets. We map yours before design.
Murrysville Community Development (opens in a new tab)25%Slope where engineering review starts
Murrysville treats a 25% grade as steep. Building on or within 50 feet of a 25 to 40% slope needs conditional use approval, backed by a soils engineer's study with test borings. On 40% or steeper, the ordinance permits nothing. We find those lines on your lot first.
Foundations and tie-insAddition Questions
Owners across Murrysville bring us these questions before any digging starts. For the full build, see the main additions page.
Ask a QuestionThe size, the foundation and the slope drive it. A one-story room on level ground is the plainer job; stepped footings on a grade, an engineer's slope study, building up a floor, or a suite with a full bath raise it. Your written price comes once we've walked the lot.
Addition price rangesMurrysville's zoning doesn't define an accessory apartment or in-law unit, so a separate second unit would be a two-family dwelling with its own rules. A suite that stays part of one household's home is the simpler path. We ask the municipality before drawings begin.
Murrysville Community Development (opens in a new tab)Not always. An open deck may reach three feet into a side yard, but once it has a roof or walls, the room has to meet the house's full yard setbacks. On a tight side of the lot, that can mean a smaller footprint or a different spot.
SunroomsIt can. State rules size a septic system by bedrooms: 400 gallons a day covers up to three, and each bedroom beyond that adds 100. Our Murrysville attic page explains it. We check your system's design before a bedroom addition is drawn.
Bedrooms and septicYes, it takes a minute. DEP's map marks confirmed mining inside Murrysville's borders, and standard homeowner's coverage excludes subsidence. Search your address before the foundation is designed, and price the state's separate subsidence insurance.
Mining in MurrysvilleOther Services
The same carpenters rebuild Murrysville kitchens and baths, finish attics and walkout basements, and frame decks for sloping yards. Pick a service below.
Kitchen RemodelingNew layouts, new cabinets, new counters: framed, built, and installed by the same crew.View Service
Bathroom RemodelingFull gut renovations with proper waterproofing, new framing, and tile set by hand.View Service
Attic FinishingUnused attics framed into bedrooms and offices: subfloor, insulation, drywall, and a proper stair.View Service
Basement FinishingUnfinished basements turned into real rooms: framed, insulated, drywalled, and finished by our crew.View Service
Windows & Exterior DoorsWindows and exterior doors set, flashed, and trimmed so water stays out of the wall.View Service
Exterior Restoration & Structural RepairsRotted trim and siding, sagging joists, failed sills: opened up and repaired to solid wood.View Service
Decks & Covered PatiosDecks, covered patios and three-season rooms, flashed to the house and built for Westmoreland winters.View ServiceVerified Google Reviews
5.0 out of 5 · 17 reviews
Written by the homeowners we've worked for across Westmoreland County. Every one verified on Google, every one pulled from the real feed.
Get in Touch
Tell us about the project in the form or give us a call. Either way, estimates are free and the number is the number — priced to the actual work, written down before anyone swings a hammer.
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Trafford, PA 15085
