Professional Masonry Contractor in Rialto - Built to Last

The bulk of Rialto's housing stock was built between the 1950s and 1980s on concrete slabs over clay-heavy soil. That clay is the root cause of most masonry problems in this city. It swells when winter rain soaks in and shrinks back when the summer heat takes over - and that cycle repeats for decades, putting steady pressure on block fences, retaining walls, foundation perimeters, and any masonry structure sitting on or near grade. A contractor who does not understand clay soil movement will fix what is visible and leave the underlying cause alone, which means the same problem comes back in two or three years.

The climate here compounds the issue. Rialto regularly hits 100 degrees or hotter in summer, and those temperatures cause masonry materials to expand and contract at a rate the original builders did not always account for. Add in the Santa Ana winds that roll through every fall, the minor seismic activity from the San Andreas and San Jacinto fault systems nearby, and you have conditions that accelerate masonry deterioration faster than in cooler, more stable parts of California. Small cracks that would stay small in a milder climate get worked open here season after season until water finds its way in. Getting ahead of that cycle is what separates maintenance from a major repair bill.

Rialto is a city of about 103,000 people in San Bernardino County, sitting roughly 55 miles east of Los Angeles between Fontana to the west and San Bernardino to the east. The city is mostly flat, built on the valley floor at around 1,200 feet in elevation, with a grid street layout typical of Inland Empire cities that grew quickly in the postwar decades. The older neighborhoods near downtown are made up of single-story ranch homes and mid-century tract houses with wide lots and concrete driveways. The northern sections of the city, closer to the 210 Freeway and the base of the San Gabriel Mountains, have newer two-story homes from the 1990s and 2000s, some in master-planned communities with HOA requirements. Rialto Airport - also known as Miro Field - sits on the west side of the city and has been a local landmark since the mid-20th century.

Most of the city's housing was built between 1955 and 1990, which puts a large share of homes squarely in the age range where concrete driveways crack, block fences lean, and foundation perimeters start to show the effects of decades of clay soil movement. About 55 percent of housing units are owner-occupied, and those homeowners tend to invest in maintaining their property. We work throughout Rialto and into the surrounding communities, including Bloomington to the south and San Bernardino to the east. If you are a Rialto homeowner and you have been putting off a masonry repair, this is a good time to call.