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Serving Redwood City, CA and surrounding areas. (650) 587-4252
Redwood City Masonry & Concrete is the masonry contractor Palo Alto homeowners call for fireplace installation, foundation repair, and chimney work on homes ranging from century-old bungalows to newer infill construction. We have worked throughout this city since 2017, and we reply to every inquiry within one business day.
Palo Alto homes - especially the older Craftsman bungalows in Professorville and Old Palo Alto - were built with fireplaces as a central feature, and many homeowners adding additions or ADUs want that same character in a new space. Our fireplace installation service handles everything from the foundation footing through the flue, and we match the masonry style to whatever the home already has.
Many Palo Alto homes in Professorville, Crescent Park, and Barron Park were built before 1960, and their foundations predate modern seismic and soil standards. The expansive clay soils throughout the city push and pull at those older foundations with every wet and dry season, creating the cracking and settling that homeowners notice first in sticking doors and diagonal wall cracks.
Palo Alto sits near the San Andreas Fault, and even minor seismic movement can widen small chimney cracks into water pathways that the next rainy season turns into interior leaks. Older chimneys on homes near University Avenue or in Midtown often have deteriorated crowns and spalling brick faces that have been absorbing Peninsula winters for decades.
Palo Alto's early-1900s homes in historic neighborhoods like Professorville were built with lime mortar, which breaks down differently than cement-based products and requires a matching repair mix to avoid damaging the original bricks. Tuckpointing those joints with the right material keeps water out without compromising the masonry units themselves.
Properties near Foothill Expressway and the hillside neighborhoods above Palo Alto face soil movement that undersized or aging retaining walls cannot absorb. Clay soils that saturate during winter storms add significant lateral pressure to any wall without proper drainage channels built into the base.
Spalling brick faces and cracked units are common on older Palo Alto homes that have weathered decades of the Bay Area wet-dry cycle. Matching brick color and texture matters in neighborhoods where the city tracks historic resources - a repair that looks wrong draws attention, while a well-matched repair is invisible.
A meaningful share of Palo Alto's housing stock was built before 1960, particularly in neighborhoods like Professorville, Old Palo Alto, and Barron Park. These homes have original masonry chimneys, brick fireplaces, and foundations that have been working for 60 to 100 years without significant structural updates. The Craftsman bungalows and Spanish Colonial Revival homes common in those neighborhoods used lime-based mortar and soft brick that behave very differently from modern construction materials. A contractor who uses current Portland cement formulations on historic masonry can cause more damage than the original problem.
Palo Alto also sits in seismic country. The San Andreas Fault runs a short distance to the west, and the Santa Clara Valley's expansive clay soils add seasonal stress on top of seismic risk. Homes in lower-lying areas near the Baylands face added drainage pressure during wet winters. The city has active flood management programs - see the City of Palo Alto - and structural masonry permits require inspections that independently verify the work meets current seismic and drainage standards. Getting that sign-off matters when values are this high and sales scrutiny is this close.
Our crew works throughout Palo Alto regularly, and we understand the local conditions that affect masonry work here. The mix of very old and relatively new construction side by side - original bungalows next to infill additions, ranch homes next to new ADUs - means we see a wide range of material types and structural configurations on the same block. We assess each job based on what is actually there, which matters a great deal when the original masonry on one part of a house is lime-based and a 1990s addition right next to it uses cement.
Palo Alto is compact but varied. Whether a home is near University Avenue in the heart of downtown, in a quieter street off Embarcadero Road, or in Midtown south of Oregon Expressway, we know the neighborhoods and the typical property conditions in each. The city is small enough - roughly 26 square miles - that our crew can reach any neighborhood quickly.
We serve neighboring communities regularly and cover the same conditions across this part of the Peninsula. Just to the north, we work in Menlo Park where many of the same older housing types and clay soil patterns appear. And to the east, our crew handles jobs throughout East Palo Alto as well.
Reach us by phone or through the contact form and describe what you are seeing. We reply within one business day and can usually schedule a site visit within the same week.
We walk the property, look at the full scope - not just the visible damage - and give you a written estimate that covers what the work actually involves. There is no charge for the assessment, and no pressure to decide on the spot.
For structural work requiring a City of Palo Alto permit, we submit the application and coordinate the review. We schedule the start date once approval is in hand so there are no surprises on-site.
We complete the job, pass the city inspection if required, and leave the site clean. You get documentation of the work for your records, which is useful for insurance purposes and resale.
We serve all of Palo Alto - from Professorville to Midtown to Barron Park. Free estimates, written quotes, no pressure.
(650) 587-4252Palo Alto is a city of roughly 65,000 people on the San Francisco Peninsula, best known as the home of Stanford University and as a center of Silicon Valley. The city covers about 26 square miles, with most residential neighborhoods packed between Highway 101 to the east and the foothills to the west. The older neighborhoods close to downtown - Professorville, Old Palo Alto, and Crescent Park - contain some of the most architecturally significant homes on the Peninsula, including early Craftsman bungalows and Spanish Colonial Revival houses built in the first half of the 20th century. On the other side of El Camino Real, neighborhoods like Midtown and South Palo Alto have a mix of postwar ranch homes and newer infill construction built as owners have added square footage or replaced older structures entirely.
Stanford University sits at the western edge of the city and is one of the largest landowners in the area, shaping everything from the local population mix to the pace of new construction. University Avenue is the main commercial corridor, and the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve on the eastern edge gives the city a notable open-space boundary along the bay. Home values here are among the highest in the country, and owner-occupants invest steadily in maintaining and upgrading their properties. We serve homeowners across Palo Alto and also cover neighboring East Palo Alto and Menlo Park to the north.
Restore structural integrity with expert foundation crack and settlement repairs.
Learn MoreBuild lasting retaining walls that control erosion and define your landscape.
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Learn MoreAdd warmth and character with a custom masonry fireplace installation.
Learn MoreTransform any surface with natural or manufactured stone veneer cladding.
Learn MoreBuild strong, durable concrete block walls for any residential application.
Learn MoreInstall solid block wall foundations that support your home for decades.
Learn MoreCreate a stunning outdoor kitchen built to last with expert masonry work.
Learn MoreDesign and build beautiful, safe walkways using brick, stone, or pavers.
Learn MoreCall us today or submit a free estimate request - we serve all of Palo Alto and reply within one business day.