Project Overview & Homeowner Objectives in Sewickley & Franklin Park

The steep, wooded hillsides of Blackburn Road, Sewickley Village, and the rolling estates of Old Orchard and Nicholson Road in Sewickley and Franklin Park, PA feature some of the most distinguished masonry architecture in Greater Pittsburgh. However, Western Pennsylvania’s notorious clay slopes and winter freeze-thaw cycles take a heavy toll on exterior stonework and brick chimneys. On this estate property, a failing 5.5-foot railroad-tie driveway retaining wall was bowing outward under saturated hillside pressure, while the home’s 1920s brick chimney suffered from crumbling mortar joints and a cracked concrete wash crown that leaked water into the living room fireplace.

Property Profile & Pre-Renovation Challenges

Replacing a structural retaining wall over four feet tall in Franklin Park or Sewickley requires engineered soil reinforcement and municipal permitting, while tuckpointing historic brick with overly hard Portland cement mortar causes the softer vintage brick faces to pop and spall during winter freezes.

Scope of Work & Turnkey Trade Coordination

• Excavation of the failing timber wall and construction of a geogrid-reinforced structural stone retaining wall and hillside drainage system.
• Historic brick chimney tuckpointing, custom concrete drip-edge crown pour, and step/counter-flashing replacement.
• In-house stormwater drain piping and low-voltage landscape lighting integration under the stone wall caps.

Hillside Retaining Wall Engineering, Geogrid Stabilization & Hydrostatic Drainage

Compacted Leveling Pad, Biaxial Geogrid & Washed Stone Backfill

Water—not soil weight alone—is what topples hillside walls in Western PA. Our crew excavated deep into the hillside bench, compacted a 12-inch deep x 24-inch wide crushed limestone leveling trench below frost depth, and set the embedded base course below grade. As we stacked the architectural split-face stone courses with a 7-degree structural setback, we embedded 6-foot-deep layers of high-tensile Mirafi biaxial geogrid mesh into the compacted backfill every two courses, locking the wall and the hillside together into a single monolithic gravity mass. Directly behind the blocks, our plumbing and excavation crew installed an 18-inch vertical column of washed #57 limestone and a 4-inch perforated SDR-35 French drain wrapped in geotextile fabric to bleed off hydrostatic pressure before it ever pushes against the wall.

In-House Hardscape Lighting Integration

Before adhering the natural cut limestone capstones, our in-house electricians routed underground low-voltage cable and recessed warm 2700K brass LED hardscape under-cap lights along the entire 65-foot driveway wall and staircase, controlled by an astronomical timer.

Historic Chimney Restoration & Sewickley / Franklin Park Code Compliance

Breathable Type N Mortar Grinding & Overhanging Concrete Crown

Erecting OSHA-compliant scaffolding around the three-story chimney, our masons diamond-ground deteriorating mortar joints to a uniform 3/4-inch depth under EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm dust-control standards. Rather than using brittle high-strength Type S mortar that cracks vintage brick, we repointed the chimney with a breathable, color-matched Type N lime mortar concave-tooled to shed water. At the top, we formed and poured a reinforced 4-inch thick concrete crown with a 2-inch overhang and bottom drip kerf, sealed the flue tile expansion gap, installed new copper step and counter-flashing into the roof reglet, and applied a breathable Siloxane water repellent that shields against freeze-thaw spalling while letting interior moisture vapor escape.

Dependable Home Solutions | PO Box 23, Worthington, PA 16262 | (724) 243-2553 | https://www.dependablehomesolutions.net | PA HIC #PA212478 | EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm | Hours: Mon–Fri 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM