Masonry Contractor in Hyde Park, Cincinnati

A masonry contractor for Hyde Park houses built a century ago

An older house in Hyde Park, Cincinnati can carry a lot of masonry: a tall brick chimney, stucco between half-timbers, limestone sills, porch piers and sometimes a stone wall holding up the front yard. Swiss Masonry is a masonry contractor and general contractor for Hyde Park and the 50-mile area around Cincinnati, including Northern Kentucky and southeast Indiana.

Hyde Park became a village in 1896 and joined Cincinnati in 1903. The city’s historic conservation office names it among the neighborhoods with a large number of Tudor Revival houses: brick, rubble stone and half-timbering under slate or tile roofs, with massive decorative brick chimneys. Early high-style Colonial Revival houses went up here.

The owner, Adriel Moore, looks at every job in person and prices it himself. Swiss Masonry has done masonry in Cincinnati since 1993. We are insured, with a certificate of insurance on request, and the work carries a one-year workmanship warranty.

Where a Hyde Park house usually lets water in

• Chimney tops. A cracked crown or open top joints let water run down inside the stack and stain the ceiling by the fireplace.
• Stucco panels. Hairline cracks along the half-timbering let water behind the stucco, where it loosens the base coat and rots the wood.
• Box gutters. When a built-in gutter lining splits, water soaks the cornice and the brick below before a drip shows.
• Porch piers and garden walls. Piers take rain on top and splash at the bottom. Stone walls on sloped yards push out when their drainage clogs.

Chimney repair in Hyde Park, from the crown down

On a Tudor Revival house the chimney is often tall and comes through a slate or tile roof. We protect the roofing around the stack and check the crown, cap, liner, top courses and flashing before pricing. Repairs fall into three levels.

1. Repair. A reinforced cast concrete crown with an overhang, drip groove and bond break at the flue liner, plus repointing.
2. Partial rebuild. Take the stack down to sound brick and relay it with matched or reclaimed brick under a new crown.
3. Full rebuild. When brick is loose below the roofline, rebuild it to the original shape and corbels.

See chimney repair and five signs a Cincinnati chimney needs repair.

Mortar, brick and stone that match the house

Old brick is often softer than modern brick, and the original mortar was rich in lime. A hard, cement-heavy repoint sends water out through the brick instead of the joints, and the faces pop off after a few winters. We never use masonry cement or portland-rich Type S on soft brick. On pre-1920 brick and soft stone we use lime-rich Type N or Type O mortar, chosen from a sample panel.

On a front wall or a historic-district house, a lab can analyze the old mortar for binder, sand and color, and you approve a trial repair first. Joints are raked by hand to about two and a half times their width, filled in lifts and tooled to the existing profile. More on tuckpointing and historic masonry restoration.

Historic review and permits in Hyde Park

Hyde Park is in the City of Cincinnati, so permits go through the Department of Buildings and Inspections. Gutter, soffit and fascia work on a one- to three-family house generally needs no city permit.

The Observatory Historic District, along Observatory Place and Avery Lane near the Cincinnati Observatory, is a city-designated district. There, construction or demolition needs a certificate of appropriateness from the Historic Conservation Board on top of the building permit. Its guidelines call for high-lime repointing mortar and rule out sandblasting. For a landmark or local district address, start with the city’s Historic Conservation Office; we can help with the application.

General contractor work in Hyde Park

As a general contractor in Hyde Park, Cincinnati, we run the job and bring in licensed trade partners where the work needs them:

• Relining box gutters with fully adhered 60-mil EPDM and rebuilding soffits and fascia (box gutters and soffits).
• Stucco repair matched to the existing texture.
• Porch and step repair, from brick piers to concrete treads.
• Kitchen and bathroom remodels, with licensed partners for electrical, plumbing and HVAC.

We also work in nearby Oakley, Mount Lookout and Mariemont. Every job is priced after the owner sees it. Common masonry ranges are on our pricing page.