Loading...
Serving Cerritos, CA and surrounding areas. (562) 586-9264
Menu
Cerritos Concrete & Masonry is a masonry contractor serving Downey, CA, with experience in brick repair, concrete flatwork, and retaining walls on the city's 1950s and 1960s homes. We have been in business since 2018 and respond to every estimate request within one business day.
Downey homes from the 1950s and 1960s often have brick planters, entry columns, and garden walls where the mortar has eroded from decades of the wet-dry cycle and summer heat. Catching this before water gets behind the surface saves homeowners from a much larger job. Our brick repair work matches existing brick color and texture as closely as possible so repairs blend in rather than standing out.
The clay soils under Downey driveways expand and contract every year, and on properties where the original concrete has never been replaced, that decades-long movement shows up as heaved sections, deep cracks, and uneven edges near the curb. We demolish the old slab, prepare the subgrade properly, and pour new reinforced concrete with control joints to reduce future cracking.
Downey is a flat, fully built-out suburb, but sloped backyard sections and raised planter areas are common on postwar ranch lots where original owners modified the grade. Retaining walls in this area need adequate drainage designed in from the start - clay soil holds water, and pressure buildup behind an undrained wall is the most common reason walls lean and fail here.
Chimneys and brick accents on older Downey homes have mortar joints that have been through 60-plus years of thermal expansion and contraction. When those joints crack or erode, water enters the wall during winter rain events and causes damage that is not visible from the outside until it is already significant. Tuckpointing restores the seal before that happens.
The front and side walkways on Downey's postwar ranch homes frequently show the same tree-root heaving and soil-movement cracking as the driveways. A lifted or cracked walkway is also a trip hazard, which matters both for safety and liability. We repair or replace damaged sections and make sure the grade drains away from the house rather than toward it.
Downey homes built on concrete slab foundations in the 1950s and 1960s were poured before modern moisture barrier requirements, and the clay soil movement that affects everything above grade also affects the slab below it. We assess foundation cracking, identify whether it is cosmetic or structural, and repair it in a way that addresses the underlying cause rather than just the visible surface.
Downey was built out primarily in the 1950s and 1960s as part of the postwar suburban expansion of Los Angeles County. Most homes are now 60 to 70 years old, meaning original concrete driveways, patios, walkways, and any brick or masonry features were installed during the Eisenhower and Kennedy eras - well past their designed lifespan. The city sits between the 5 and 605 freeways in a fully developed stretch of the county, and property values in the $650,000 to $700,000 range give homeowners real financial motivation to maintain what they have. At the same time, that age of construction means deferred maintenance is common on properties that have changed hands infrequently.
Downey's clay-heavy soil is the main driver of concrete and masonry problems here. Like the rest of the Los Angeles Basin, this soil expands when it absorbs winter rain and contracts during the long dry summer. That seasonal movement does not stop after ten or twenty years - it continues indefinitely, which is why even repairs done correctly eventually need to be revisited on older Downey properties. A masonry contractor who understands this cycle builds drainage and movement accommodation into the work from the start, which is what separates a repair that lasts from one that fails at the same spot two years later. The California Department of Conservation maintains information on expansive soil hazards in California that helps explain why this is a persistent issue throughout the region.
Our crew works throughout Downey regularly, and we understand the local conditions that affect masonry work here. The single-story ranch homes along Lakewood Boulevard and the neighborhoods near the Columbia Memorial Space Center - built on the site where Space Shuttle orbiters were assembled at the old Rockwell plant - are representative of what we see across the city: stucco exteriors, concrete slab foundations, small backyard patios, and original concrete driveways that have never been replaced. We know what 60-year-old masonry looks like up close in this city, and that familiarity helps us give accurate estimates without surprises.
We pull permits from the City of Downey for structural masonry work and are familiar with what the city requires for retaining walls and concrete block construction. Downey is also surrounded by cities where we work actively - if you are near the Norwalk city line or close to the Paramount border, the same crew handles all of it.
We also serve homeowners in Paramount, CA and Bellflower, CA, both of which share Downey's housing age and soil conditions throughout the Southeast Los Angeles corridor.
Get in touch by phone or through our contact form. We follow up within one business day. Most Downey homeowners reach out about a visible problem - cracked brick, a heaved driveway, or a wall that is starting to lean - and that is enough for us to schedule a site visit.
We visit the property, look at what is going on, and give you a written estimate before any work is discussed. Cost is addressed at this stage - if a repair is the right move, we say so and give you the repair number; if the problem is past the point of patching, we explain that clearly.
Once you approve the estimate, we set a start date and confirm details with you in advance. Most residential jobs in Downey run one to three days. We let you know whether you need to be home during the work and what to expect on site.
When the job is finished, we walk through everything with you and address any questions before we pack up. Permit inspections, if required, are handled by us - they are not your responsibility to schedule or track down.
We serve Downey homeowners with no-obligation written quotes and respond within one business day. Call us or fill out the form to get started.
(562) 586-9264Downey is a mid-size city in Los Angeles County with about 113,000 residents spread across roughly 12.5 square miles. The city is almost entirely built out, with single-story ranch homes on modest lots making up the majority of the residential landscape. Most of that housing was developed in the 1950s and 1960s, giving Downey a consistent postwar character visible in its stucco exteriors, attached garages, and concrete driveways. The city is well known in Southern California for its aerospace history - the Columbia Memorial Space Center sits on the site where the Space Shuttle was built at the former Rockwell International plant, and many longtime families have connections to that industrial heritage. You can learn more about the history of Downey on Wikipedia.
About half of Downey households are owner-occupied, and median home values in the $650,000 to $700,000 range give homeowners a clear financial reason to stay on top of maintenance. The main commercial corridor along Downey Avenue runs through the heart of the city, and surrounding neighborhoods extend to the borders of Norwalk, Bellflower, Paramount, and Compton. We cover all of Downey and neighboring areas, including Norwalk, CA to the east and Compton, CA to the northwest, where the same building-age conditions drive similar masonry repair needs.
Restore structural integrity with expert foundation crack and settling repairs.
Learn MoreBuild strong retaining walls that control erosion and shape your landscape.
Learn MoreUpgrade your home's exterior with natural or manufactured stone veneer.
Learn MoreBuild lasting concrete block walls for privacy, security, and structure.
Learn MoreInstall solid block foundation walls built to support your structure for decades.
Learn MoreCreate the perfect outdoor cooking space with custom masonry construction.
Learn MoreDesign beautiful, durable walkways using quality stone, brick, or concrete.
Learn MoreConstruct classic brick walls that add beauty and lasting durability.
Learn MoreFree written estimates and one-business-day responses. We have been serving Downey homeowners from our Cerritos base since 2018 - call now or submit the contact form to get started.