Masonry and concrete work in Chester County, PA: new building, old villages and local rules
Updated · KeystoneProGuide editorial team
What should Chester County homeowners know about masonry work?
The county is adding new housing steadily while some of its municipalities protect historic buildings by ordinance. That gives masonry work two common settings: new homes, where the questions are paving, patios and stormwater, and older farmhouses and village buildings, where a municipality may have historic protections and the mortar question matters.
How much of the housing is new?
A good deal. The Census Bureau estimates that 10.7 percent of Chester County's 212,491 housing units were built since 2010, against 6.1 percent for the state. The Chester County Planning Commission says that in most years since 2010 about 1,500 new units have been added. Homes are large, too: the county's median owner-occupied value is $485,600.
Only 12.6 percent of its housing was first built in 1939 or earlier, about half the statewide share of 25.0 percent. Those older houses are the ones where the National Park Service's warning applies: hard mortars high in portland cement are less permeable than old brick and will often cause it to deteriorate faster.
Does your township protect historic buildings?
Possibly, and it is worth finding out before a mason starts. The Planning Commission explains that Pennsylvania municipalities can protect historic buildings under two laws. The Municipalities Planning Code lets them write protections into zoning and land development rules, often with advice from a local historical commission. The Historic District Act lets them create local historic districts, certified by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and reviewed by a Historic Architectural Review Board.
In Chester County, the commission says, several municipalities regulate historic resources in their ordinances, usually through zoning and subdivision provisions, and the Historic District Act has been used both for historic towns and villages and for rural historic districts. The rules differ from one municipality to the next, so the only reliable check is to ask your township or borough whether your property is in an inventory or district and whether repointing, cleaning or rebuilding a wall needs review.
If it does, a careful approach is the one federal preservation specifications describe for historic buildings: new mortar matched to the old in color, texture and strength, with test areas before the full job. The General Services Administration's repointing specification has a sample area repointed and cured before the rest of the wall is touched.
Can a new patio or driveway trigger stormwater rules?
Yes, depending on your municipality. Penn State Extension explains that built-up communities hold stormwater permits under the MS4 program (around 950 statewide in 2018, besides Philadelphia and Pittsburgh), and that each one's program includes post-construction stormwater management so that new building and paving do not create future problems. Each municipality's ordinance sets its own thresholds for how much new impervious surface triggers requirements, so in a county adding new homes, a large patio, a wider driveway or a pool deck is worth raising with the township first.
Penn State Extension notes that porous pavement and permeable pavers let water through, but only when installed over a carefully prepared base, and that they need regular cleaning to keep from clogging.
Who issues permits in Chester County?
Your municipality, in most cases. The Department of Labor and Industry says over 90 percent of Pennsylvania's municipalities enforce the building code locally, with their own staff or a certified third-party agency, and in municipalities that have opted out, owners hire a certified third-party agency for residential work. Ask which applies where you live.
How do you check a contractor here?
No county consumer protection office was found on Chester County's website, so the checks here are the state's. The Attorney General's contractor search can be filtered to Chester County and to masonry or concrete work. The state rules and how to complain are in what Pennsylvania requires, national prices are in the cost guide, and businesses serving the county are on the Chester County masonry contractors page.
Sources
- 2020-2024 ACS 5-Year Narrative Profile: Chester County, Pennsylvania, U.S. Census Bureau
- 2020-2024 ACS 5-Year Narrative Profile: Pennsylvania, U.S. Census Bureau
- Housing Report - Units By Type, Chester County Planning Commission
- eTools: Historic Resource Protection Standards, Chester County Planning Commission
- Common Problems with Brick Masonry, U.S. National Park Service
- Repointing historic masonry, U.S. General Services Administration
- What is an MS4?, Penn State Extension
- Roadside Guide to Clean Water: Porous and Permeable Paving Materials, Penn State Extension
- Uniform Construction Code, Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry
- Home Improvement Contractor Search, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General