One hill from the shop
Ridge trees, slope trees, and the view you paid for
Reserve Township sits up on the hill above Millvale with the Allegheny laid out below it, and from the right stretch of Mount Troy Road you can see the whole downtown skyline. That view is the reason a lot of people bought up here. It is also the reason the phone rings, because the trees between the porch and the skyline keep growing whether anybody planned for it or not.
Triple T works out of 15223, close enough that a Reserve job is a short run up the hill instead of a scheduling problem. Chris has been in the trade twenty five years. Fully insured, military discount, and the same one-and-done standard whether the tree is at the curb or two hundred feet down the bank.
What we do in Reserve Township
Every service on the truck runs here weekly. The links go deep on each one.
Removal
Large tree removal · Tree removal · 24/7 emergency response · Storm damage cleanup
Care
Tree pruning · Tree trimming · Cabling · Bracing
Health
Tree health · Disease treatment · Arborist services
Groundwork
Land clearing · Lot clearing · Brush clearing · Forestry mulching · Stump grinding · Stump removal
Commercial
Everything here is either on the ridge or under it
Reserve is a township of edges. The streets follow the high ground because that is the only flat there is, the houses line up along them, and then the ground quits. Behind the mowed strip of back yard the hill drops away into woods that run all the way down toward Millvale and the river flats. Two completely different tree problems live on one property, and most owners only ever look at one of them.
Up top, a ridge tree has no neighbors to break the wind. It catches every gust that comes across the Allegheny and up the valley wall, from both directions, all winter. Trees that grow in that kind of exposure lean into the prevailing wind and thicken up on one side, and when a big one finally goes it usually goes fast and it usually goes toward the house, because the house is the thing sitting in the open next to it. The honest fix is almost never removal. It is weight reduction and deadwood removal on a schedule, which is ordinary trimming done with the exposure in mind.
Down the bank is the part nobody watches. A locust or a cherry forty feet below the yard line dies quietly, holds its bark for a couple of seasons, and gives no sign at all until the top starts drifting sideways. By then the lean is already pointed at whatever is downhill, which around here is often somebody else’s roof or a shared driveway. We walk the slope on any Reserve visit, not just the flat part, because the trees that cause real trouble up here are the ones you cannot see from the kitchen window.
Then there is the view work, which we do honestly. Plenty of outfits will happily top the trees between your deck and the skyline. That buys you two years of sightline and a lifetime of weak regrowth on a tree that will now die from the top down. What actually works is crown thinning and raising the canopy so the city shows through the trunks instead of over a butchered stump. It takes longer, it holds for years, and the tree stays alive. If somebody has already topped a tree on your property, we will tell you what can still be done with it and whether taking it out is the more honest answer.
The rest is hillside brush pushback. Left alone, the slope walks uphill about a yard a year until the fence line disappears into vine and scrub. We cut it back to the line, mulch what we cut, and leave the good trees standing. That is the same work we do across Allegheny County, it just happens on a steeper angle in Reserve.
“Chris and his team removed a very tall, old poplar tree from my yard in just a few hours. The cleanup was excellent, they left it spotless.”
Moldir I., Google reviewReserve Township questions
What people up on the hill ask before the saws come out. More of the work is in the gallery.
Can you open up my skyline view without topping the trees?
That is the only way we will do it. Topping gives you a clear look for a season or two, then the tree throws a mess of weak shoots that block the view worse than the original limbs did, and the trunk starts rotting from the cut. We thin the crown and lift the lower canopy instead, so you see downtown through the tree rather than over a stub. It holds for years and the tree keeps living.
My ridge-top tree leans hard from the wind. Is it about to come down?
A lean by itself is often just the shape a tree grew into from years of one-sided wind up on the hill, and plenty of those are perfectly sound. What matters is the root plate. If the soil on the uphill side is cracked or lifting, or if there is fresh movement at the base after a storm, that is a different conversation. Chris reads the base before he reads the lean, and he will say plainly which one you have.
There are dead trees down the hill behind my yard. Are those my problem?
Usually yes, if they are inside your line, and they are the ones worth dealing with early. A dead trunk below the yard leans out of sight for a couple of years and then lets go toward whatever sits downhill. We rope those off the slope in pieces and carry the wood up rather than dropping it toward the houses below. It is slower work and it is the reason we walk the whole bank on the first visit.
How quickly can you get up here from your shop?
Fast. Home base is 15223, which puts Reserve a few minutes up the hill instead of across the county. Routine jobs usually land within the week, and if something comes down overnight call (412) 526-2028 and we will get somebody there the same day. The truck is already on this side of the river most mornings.
What is tree work going to cost me in Reserve Township?
It depends on the tree, how far down the slope it sits, and what we have to carry it past on the way out, so we do not guess over the phone. Send photos or set up a walk-around and you get an up-front number in writing, usually inside a day or two. No pressure attached to it.
Something on the hill needs looking at?
Call or send photos. Chris climbs the bank, tells you what he sees, and gives you the number up front. Then the crew handles it in one visit. In sawdust we trust.