Older houses. Repaired or taken down.
Hills and water shift houses here. Brick repair, pointing, foundations — or demolition when it is past saving.
- Owner-run by Clinton
- Brick repair & pointing
- Foundation repair
- Demolition & haul-off
Too small for some. Too tricky for the rest.
Plenty of Davis jobs are ones others turned down: a few feet of pointing, one set of steps, a wall on a steep lot.
- Brick repair and pointing on older houses
- Foundation repair where the ground has shifted
- Small jobs given the same care as big ones
- Demolition when it is past saving, debris hauled off
Davis job
Hills and water. The house follows the ground.
Older houses here sit on slopes and wet ground. When it moves, it shows up in one of these.
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01
The footing
On a hillside the ground creeps downhill, and an old footing goes with it.
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02
The foundation wall
Old block or stone, often with no drain behind. Water sits there and pushes.
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03
The brick or stone face
The house settles and the face cracks in steps along the joints.
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04
The joints and the cap
They let the water in first. Pointing them in time protects the wall behind.
Repair what can be saved. Demolish what can’t.
Brick repair, pointing, foundations and demolition for older properties. No new builds, no new-construction projects.
Repair
Brick repair & pointing
Failed joints cut out and repointed, cracked and spalled brick replaced to match what is already there.
Ask about this
Shifted ground
Foundation repair
Footings and foundation walls that have moved on a slope or wet ground, plus parging and slab repair.
Ask about this
Roofline
Chimney repair
Crowns, caps, loose brick and failed joints, and rebuilding the stack when repointing is past helping.
Ask about this
Hillside
Steps & retaining walls
Front steps, porch masonry and retaining walls on a hillside, repaired where they have heaved or leaned.
Ask about this
Past saving
Fire-damaged & condemned houses
Burned-out and condemned houses taken down, the lot cleared and every load hauled off.
Ask about this
Tear-out
Demolition, sheds & garages
Sheds, garages, chimneys, walls, slabs and interiors taken out, and the debris leaves with us.
Ask about this
Built on hillsides. Beside three rivers.
Slopes and water keep the ground under old houses moving. Cracked brick and a shifted foundation are how it shows.
Davis job
Five steps, and you hear about each one.
No mystery, no crew turning up and starting somewhere you did not expect.
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Look at it first
Photos or a visit. A crack that is still moving is a different job from one that has stopped.
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Say what it needs
Repair, rebuild, or leave it another year. You get told which, including when it is the last one.
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Protect what stays
Plants, windows, floors and the neighbour’s wall get covered before anything comes down.
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Out in order, back in order
Demolition is not swinging at it. New mortar is matched to what is already on the wall.
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Clean up and leave
Debris hauled off, the site swept. You should not be able to tell where the truck sat.
Repair it, or rebuild it?
Nobody should pay for a rebuild that a repair would have held. Here is the difference.
A repair usually holds when…
- The mortar has gone soft but the brick is sound
- Damage is in patches, not the whole elevation
- The wall is still plumb and sitting where it was built
- Whatever let the water in can be fixed at the same time
It wants rebuilding when…
- The face is bulging or leaning away from the house
- Brick faces have popped off across whole courses
- The footing has moved and the cracks are still opening
- It has been patched three times and keeps coming back
Real jobs, photographed on site.
Every photograph on this page is from a Davis job: chimneys rebuilt, steps and sills reset, lots cleared and framing set. Nothing here is stock.
Job 1 · Entry step and door sill
Same door, same brick. The broken step and sill were cut back, packed with new mortar and finished.
Job 2 · Chimney crown and parging
One chimney, same street behind it. A new crown was formed and poured, then the stack was parged.
More job photos
These are single shots from other jobs, with no matching before or after. Tap any picture to see it full size.
Pittsburgh brick, Pittsburgh weather.
Old housing stock, hillsides, and a freeze-thaw cycle that finds every open joint by March.
Say where the job is when you call and you get a straight yes or no on it.
Tell us the street
Davis Demolition and Masonry works out of Pittsburgh, PA.
- Pittsburgh
- City neighbourhoods
- Allegheny County
- Houses, sheds & garages
- Your street? Ask.
Questions people actually ask.
Do you do the demolition and the masonry, or only one of them?
Both. Some older houses need brick repair, pointing or foundation work to stay sound; some are past saving and need to come down. One call either way, and you are told honestly which yours is.
Is my job too small, or too complicated?
Probably not. A lot of Davis jobs are ones other contractors passed on — a few feet of pointing, one set of steps, a foundation wall on a steep lot. Call and describe it.
Do you take down fire-damaged or condemned houses?
Yes — that is a good part of the work. A burned-out or condemned house comes down in order, the lot gets cleared, and the debris is hauled off rather than left sitting. Send the address and photos.
How big a building will you take down?
Up through medium-size structures: sheds, garages, outbuildings and houses. Smaller tear-outs are just as welcome — a chimney, a set of steps, an interior stripped back to the studs.
Do you take on new-build construction?
No. Davis is demolition, tear-outs and masonry repair — not big new builds or new-construction projects. If that is what you need you want a different outfit, and you will be told so straight away.
My brick is crumbling in places. Repair or rebuild?
It depends how deep it goes and whether the wall is still moving. A spalled face can often be cut out brick by brick. A wall that is bulging usually wants rebuilding. Send photos and you will hear which yours looks like.
What is tuckpointing, and does my house need it?
Cutting the failed mortar out of the joints and packing new mortar in. The brick stays where it is. If you can scrape the mortar out with a key, the joints are done.
Do you haul the debris away?
Yes. What comes out leaves with us unless you want to keep it. Clean-up is part of the job, not a line you find out about afterwards.
Can masonry be done through a Pittsburgh winter?
Some of it. Work can be tented and heated so the mortar cures properly, and some repairs are better left for spring than rushed in the cold. Ask and you will be told which yours is.
What does a job cost?
There are no prices on this site because no two walls, chimneys or tear-outs are the same. Call Clinton, describe it or send photos, and you get a straight answer on yours.
Send a photo of it. That is usually enough.
The cracked wall, the leaning steps, the house past saving — Clinton will tell you what it needs first.
The phone is still fastest.
Especially if you can stand in front of it and describe what you are looking at.
Tell us about the job
Name and phone is enough. The rest just makes the call shorter.