Demolition Contractor
Houses, garages, sheds and commercial spaces taken down or gutted, with the debris hauled off and the site left clean. Demolition is the main line of our work.
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Service Area
Washington is the county seat of Washington County, where I-70 and I-79 meet. Census figures put the median year built in the city at 1942. Close to half its housing went up in 1939 or earlier. Old frame and block garages, plaster walls, brick chimneys and stone foundations come with a town that age.
Davis Demolition and Masonry is based in Pittsburgh and comes south on I-79 to work Washington. Demolition is the main line here: house demolition, garages, sheds, interior gut-outs, concrete and commercial strip-outs. Masonry is the second line, from brick pointing to chimneys, stucco and foundation work. Call or text (412) 720-1866 and we will price the job before any work starts.
Tell us about the job. We will call or text you back.
The City of Washington issues the permit, and it runs building permits through a third-party agency, Municipal Consulting Services. Zoning and planning go through a separate outside agency. Every building permit needs a zoning letter first. Zoning in the city and in neighboring East Washington runs under one multi-municipal ordinance.
The city publishes its fees. A residential demolition permit is listed at 250 dollars. A commercial one is listed at 8 dollars per 1,000 dollars of construction value. The city also lists a construction dumpster permit, which matters on the narrow blocks near the courthouse.
Paperwork is not the whole job. Utilities come out before a machine touches the building. A licensed electrician handles the electric service, and the gas and water get cut and capped. When we quote the job we go over what the city wants and who handles each step.
Census figures count 6,976 housing units in the city. About 3,337 of them were built in 1939 or earlier. Close to a thousand sit empty. A house that old was built before plywood, before drywall and before modern wiring.
Behind a lot of those houses is a detached garage on the alley. Frame garages lean when the sills rot out, and block garages crack when the footer moves. Garage demolition here is hand work plus the excavator. The lots are narrow and the alleys are tight.
Inside, the work is plaster and lath, not drywall. Old knob and tube wiring, cast iron drain stacks and layers of flooring turn up in gut-outs. We know how buildings go together, so interior demolition leaves what has to stay. Load bearing walls, joists and the plumbing stack get looked at first.
Washington County set aside 12 million dollars of federal American Rescue Plan money for a blight mitigation and demolition fund. The county runs it with the Redevelopment Authority of the County of Washington and the Washington County Land Bank. The county created that land bank on March 3, 2016.
The county's own blight study named the City of Washington as a place where tax delinquency clusters. The same study found 26 percent of homes in the county are 80 years or older. Public demolition money moves slowly and goes to condemned and priority properties first.
An owner who wants a building down on their own schedule hires it out. Davis Demolition and Masonry has been in the demolition business since 2001. We work for homeowners, landlords, investors and small commercial owners. The debris gets hauled off and the site gets left clean.
Washington County sits in old coal country. PA DEP calls mine subsidence the ground surface moving when an old mine collapses. The state says your homeowner's insurance usually does not cover that damage. DEP has mapped this county's underground mines and runs a risk map you can search by address.
That matters when a foundation wall or a chimney starts to crack. Cause comes first. A structural engineer should look at a bowing wall or a settling house before anyone patches it. We do the masonry and waterproofing the repair calls for, and we say so when a job needs an engineer.
Brick in an old Washington house is soft, and so is the lime mortar around it. Hard modern mortar packed into those joints pushes the damage into the brick face. Freeze and thaw does the rest. Retaining walls fall under city rules too. The code office treats a wall under 4 feet one way, and a taller wall another way.
Communities and areas we serve around Washington: Downtown Washington, Tylerdale, East Washington, Franklin Farms, Gabby Heights, North Main Street, South Main Street, East Beau Street, West Chestnut Street, Jefferson Avenue, Henderson Avenue, Murtland Avenue.
Washington ZIP codes served: 15301.
We look at the job and give you a price before any work starts, throughout Washington County and the surrounding area.
(412) 720-1866 Houses, garages, sheds and commercial spaces taken down or gutted, with the debris hauled off and the site left clean. Demolition is the main line of our work.
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Whole house teardowns in Pittsburgh and about 40 miles around. We take the house down with the excavator, break out the basement, haul the debris off and grade the lot.
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We take down detached and attached garages built of block, brick and frame, across Pittsburgh and about 40 miles around. The debris goes with us and the area is left clean.
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Interior demolition for contractors, investors and homeowners around Pittsburgh. We gut houses down to the studs, and on selective jobs we take out only what has to go.
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We tear down wood, metal and vinyl sheds in Pittsburgh and haul them away. Decks, porches, old exterior stairs and above ground pools come down the same way.
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Concrete removal around Pittsburgh for driveways, patios, sidewalks, slabs, steps and old footings. We break the concrete out with air jackhammers and machines, haul it off and leave the ground graded.
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We strip commercial interiors back to the shell and take out boilers, furnaces and other mechanicals. Small commercial structures come down whole, with the debris hauled off and the space left clean.
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We load and haul construction and demolition debris across Pittsburgh and about 40 miles around. Houses, garages and basements get cleared out, and clean fill gets hauled.
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We do brick, block and stone work across Pittsburgh and about 40 miles around. Brick pointing and brick repair are the core, along with chimneys, stucco, retaining walls, small concrete work and foundation walls.
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Brick pointing for houses, garages and chimneys around Pittsburgh. We cut the failed mortar out of the joints and repoint them with mortar matched to the wall.
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Brick repair on houses, garages and small commercial buildings around Pittsburgh. We cut out spalled, cracked and loose brick, set matching brick in its place, and rebuild wall sections, piers and steps.
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We do the masonry side of chimney work: repointing, rebuilds from the roofline up, new crowns and chimney removal. Sweeping, liners and flue inspections stay with a certified chimney sweep.
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We repair traditional cement stucco on houses and small commercial buildings around Pittsburgh. That covers patching cracks and hollow spots, re-stuccoing a wall that is past patching, and parging block and stone.
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We build and rebuild retaining walls in block, brick, stone, poured concrete and timber, including railroad ties. When a wall has failed, the tear out and the rebuild stay with one company.
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We do small concrete work: sidewalks, walks, patios, small pads and slabs. The old concrete comes out and the new slab goes in under one company.
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We repoint, parge and rebuild stone, brick and block foundation walls across Pittsburgh. Exterior waterproofing means digging the wall out, coating it and backfilling with drainage stone.
Learn MoreReal reviews from real demolition and masonry jobs, 12 reviews on Google.
Clinton came quickly after we called him for estimates and ideas on tearing down our huge garage. He gave us a very fair estimate, and upon us signing the contract, the job was started and completed faster than we expected. It was extremely hot through the whole job! Also did a great cleanup/hallway job, topsoil and seeded, done! Would highly recommend. Thank you so much for a job well done, Clinton!Thank your helper for us as well!
We hired Davis Demo to clear out our demo debris and then later hired to repoint our interior masonry and make sure it stayed structurally sound. Shorty was great to work with. He was able to get in and start quickly both times, communicated really well, and we are happy with his work! They even mopped the floor when they were done! Would definitely hire again.
Davis Demolition preformed selective interior demolition on a residential home I was remodeling. Their pricing was fair and they worked quickly to get the job done. They were responsive to addressing added scopes of work and easy to work with. I’ll continue using Davis Demo for future demolition needs.
Hired davis demolition to tear down and remove a large shed. They did the job quickly and left the site clean. Also great communication. Would definitely reccomend.
Received a fair quote over the phone, when arrived price did increase slightly due to additional work needed for structure removal. Very easy to work with and extremely helpful. Additionally, Clinton removed some debris unrelated to structure. Left the worksite clean after job. Thank you for your hard work. Definitely would recommend.
Clint has done work for me on multiple occasions. Always goes above and beyond. He is my first call for any work on any of my projects on my personal property or any of my rental properties. Appreciate his dedication to his craft!
A few of the questions we hear most around Washington. If yours is not here, call and ask.
Tell us what is coming down, what it is built of and where it sits. Call or text (412) 720-1866, or send the form with what you need taken down.
Tell us about the job. We will call or text you back.