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Serving Cerritos, CA and surrounding areas. (562) 586-9264
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Cerritos Concrete & Masonry is a masonry contractor serving La Mirada, CA, with hands-on experience in fireplace installation, concrete flatwork, and exterior masonry on the city's postwar ranch homes. We have been in business since 2018 and reply to every estimate request within one business day.
La Mirada ranch homes from the 1950s and 1960s were commonly built with a simple living room fireplace, and many of those original hearths are now in need of a rebuild, a surround upgrade, or a full masonry replacement. Long-term homeowners in La Mirada frequently choose to invest in their fireplace as a centerpiece of the main living space. Our fireplace installation work includes proper firebox sizing, draft design, and hearth materials that comply with current building codes.
Ranch homes in La Mirada almost universally came with an attached garage and a poured concrete driveway, and the ones that have never been replaced are now 50 to 60 years old. Clay soil movement and decades of tree root growth have left many of these slabs cracked, heaved, and uneven near the curb. We demolish the old concrete, address the subgrade properly, and pour a new reinforced slab with control joints to extend the life of the replacement.
La Mirada lots of 6,000 to 8,000 square feet often include sloped side yards or raised planter sections that need a properly built retaining wall to hold the grade. On clay soil, drainage behind the wall is not optional - it is what prevents the wall from leaning and failing within a few years. We design drainage into every retaining wall project from the start, not as an afterthought.
The original chimney on a La Mirada ranch home has been through 60-plus years of summer heat, Santa Ana winds, and wet winters - and the mortar joints show it. Deteriorated mortar lets water into the flue and the surrounding wall, causing interior damage that is expensive to trace and fix after the fact. We regrind failed joints and pack them with fresh mortar that matches the existing profile.
La Mirada homeowners who have lived in their ranch homes for many years often come to us when the original backyard patio or front walkway has cracked and settled to the point where it trips people. On a 6,000 square foot lot, a flat, well-drained patio makes the backyard genuinely more usable - not just cosmetically improved. We pour new flatwork level with the structure and grade it away from the house.
Long-term La Mirada homeowners invest in their properties, and adding a brick or stone veneer to a fireplace surround, front entry column, or garden wall is a common upgrade on homes that have appreciated significantly. We install veneer over properly prepared substrates so the finish material stays bonded over years of Southern California temperature swings - not just through the first summer.
La Mirada was developed almost entirely as a planned residential community starting in the late 1950s, and the city was incorporated in 1960. That means most homes here are between 55 and 70 years old, and the original concrete driveways, patios, stucco exteriors, and masonry features were installed at the same time. At that age, deferred maintenance is common - La Mirada has a high rate of owner-occupied households where long-term owners have lived in the same home for decades. When something finally does get called in, it has usually been wearing out quietly for years. The stakes are real: median home values in La Mirada are well above $600,000, and a compromised foundation, failed retaining wall, or deteriorating chimney can affect both safety and resale value.
The seasonal behavior of the clay soil under La Mirada properties is the root cause behind most of the concrete and masonry repairs we are called for here. This soil expands when it absorbs rain during the November-through-March wet season and shrinks back as it dries through summer - and that movement does not stop as a home ages, it continues year over year. Santa Ana winds in fall and winter accelerate wear on exterior masonry by pulling moisture out of mortar, loosening chimney caps, and stressing older surfaces that have already been through decades of thermal cycling. The National Weather Service Los Angeles office documents the seasonal pattern that drives so much of the exterior maintenance cycle in this part of Southern California.
Our crew works throughout La Mirada regularly, and we understand the local conditions that affect masonry work here. La Mirada is a city of single-story ranch homes on 6,000 to 8,000 square foot lots - stucco exteriors, attached garages, concrete driveways, and modest backyards are what we find at almost every address. We pull permits through the City of La Mirada for structural jobs and know which project types require one and which do not.
Most residents navigate by landmarks like the Biola University campus in the northern part of the city, La Mirada Regional Park near the center, and the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. The neighborhoods surrounding Biola and those near La Mirada Regional Park are typical of what we work on most - postwar ranch homes where the original owners or their successors have maintained the properties carefully but are now facing age-related masonry issues for the first time.
We also regularly serve nearby Buena Park, CA and Norwalk, CA, which sit just across the city line and share the same building era and soil profile as La Mirada.
Call us directly or use the contact form to describe what you are dealing with - a few photos of the problem area are helpful when you have them. We respond to every La Mirada inquiry within one business day and schedule an estimate visit at your convenience.
We inspect the job in person and give you a written estimate with itemized pricing before any work begins. We confirm at this stage whether a city permit is required and what that means for the schedule. You are not committed to anything until you sign off on the estimate.
Once you approve the estimate, we schedule the project and give you specific dates. Permit jobs are scheduled after approval is confirmed - no surprises on the timeline. Most exterior masonry work does not require you to be home, though we let you know when your presence helps.
When the job is finished, we clean the work area and walk through the completed work with you. For concrete pours, we go over the curing schedule and what to avoid while the slab sets. We answer every question before we leave the site.
No pressure and no commitment. We respond to every La Mirada request within one business day and put everything in writing before any work begins.
(562) 586-9264La Mirada is a mid-size residential city of about 48,000 people in the southeast corner of Los Angeles County, near the border with Orange County. The city was developed almost entirely as a planned residential community beginning in the late 1950s and was incorporated in 1960. Nearly every block consists of single-story California ranch homes on lots of 6,000 to 8,000 square feet, built quickly during the postwar suburban expansion of the LA region. About 60% of housing units in La Mirada are owner-occupied, which is high for a city this close to Los Angeles, and many residents have lived in the same home for decades. The city of La Mirada is home to Biola University, a well-known private university whose 95-acre campus anchors the northern part of the city and has been part of La Mirada since 1959.
La Mirada is surrounded by the 5, 91, and 605 freeways but has none running directly through it, which keeps residential streets quieter than you might expect at this location. The city is known for La Mirada Regional Park, which includes a golf course, amphitheater, and water park, and for the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts - a city-owned venue that has hosted touring Broadway productions for decades. Neighboring Buena Park, CA sits just to the south, and many homeowners in both cities have similar properties built during the same postwar era.
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 MoreCall us today or fill out the contact form - we respond within one business day and serve all of La Mirada and the surrounding cities with free written estimates.