Harrison Residence Timber Replacement
Hardscape Installer: Pickering Valley Landscape Inc
Location: East Bradford Twp, Chester County, Pa
Owner: Residential Homeowner
Timber wall construction prevailed in the 1970s and 80s as a cost effective way to create vertical grade changes. These walls were used to hold up driveways and swimming pools as well as hold back slopes to create useable flat spaces below.
"Our wall crews are well suited for residential wall replacement projects. Since most of our work is commercial we are always under the watchful eye of full-time inspectors onsite." Comments Ron Buchanan, Wall Superintendent for PVL. "Even though residential work only requires a few inspections over the entire job our men continue to adhere to the strictest of standards throughout the project with or without full time inspection."
As these walls start to show signs of aging, replacements of such structures can be can become a major investment for the homeowner. Pickering Valley Landscape, Inc. (PVL) was recommended to the homeowner in October of 2011 by a long time custom homebuilder client. During the budgeting phase PVL worked closely with with a civil engineering firm and wall designer to satsify the local municipalities requirements. Often when a property is 15-20 years old any proposed replacement structure will undergo the scrutiny of the township using the newest zoning and planning laws gone into effect since initial construction. Property line offsets and change in storm runoff calculations are all taken into account. At times the permitting and design phase can take 6-8 weeks and become 15-20% of the total cost of the proposed work.
PVL handled the following within their scope of work: Permitting and contractor license with local township, Utility Notification, Property line survey, Coordination of grading permit, wall design and permit, Tearout and Excavation, Safe removal of timber and onsite soil, new wall construction, township inspection scheduling, Split rail fence installation, final rake and seed, and asphalt paving with a curb. Project took a 4 man crew a total of 6 working days to complete including the late addition of a raised vegetable garden retaining wall . Company owned equipment included a KX080 Kubota excavator and TL150 skidsteer, both with rubber tracks to minimize collateral damage. PVL also used one of their dumpster can trucks to export timbers and excess fill while efficiently importing block and stone footing and backfill material on the backhaul.
