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Serving Upland, CA and surrounding areas. (909) 755-8985
Upland Concrete & Masonry is Claremont's masonry contractor for stone veneer, brick repair, and retaining walls on craftsman and Spanish Colonial homes. We have been serving the foothill communities of the Pomona Valley since 2017 with same-week scheduling available on most projects.
Claremont's older craftsman and Spanish Colonial homes often have plain stucco sections that look unfinished next to the original stonework or tile details nearby. Adding stone veneer to a chimney face, a garden wall, or the base of a home can restore the visual weight these houses were designed to have - without the cost and weight of full-depth stone construction.
Many Claremont homes near the Claremont Colleges were built in the 1920s through 1950s and still have their original brick chimneys and garden walls. After seven or eight decades of Inland Empire heat and Santa Ana wind exposure, mortar joints on these structures are often hollow or crumbling. Tuckpointing stops water infiltration before it gets behind the brick and damages the structure underneath.
Claremont's older brick chimneys, planters, and boundary walls see spalling and surface cracking from decades of UV exposure and mild winter frost. On homes near The Village and the Claremont Colleges, matching the original brick color and joint profile is not optional - a patch that looks like a patch lowers the appeal of a home that is otherwise well maintained.
The northern parts of Claremont slope toward the San Gabriel Mountains, and sloped lots in those neighborhoods need retaining walls to manage grade changes and keep soil from washing downhill during winter rains. A properly permitted and built masonry retaining wall is a long-term solution that also adds usable flat space to a sloped yard.
Claremont has one of the highest concentrations of pre-1960 homes in the Pomona Valley, and many of those homes have original masonry surfaces - chimneys, garden walls, porch columns - that have been weathering for decades. Restoration rather than replacement preserves the character and value of homes that Claremont homeowners have invested in for years.
Claremont's mature street trees - particularly the large specimens along residential streets near The Village - have root systems that crack and lift standard concrete walkways over time. A stone or brick paver walkway can be repositioned around root intrusion without tearing out the entire path, making it a more practical solution for homes with established trees.
Claremont's housing stock skews older than most of the Inland Empire. A large share of homes near the Claremont Colleges and The Village were built between the 1920s and 1960s, which means original brick chimneys, stucco exteriors, and clay tile details that have been weathering for generations. The Inland Empire heat - regularly above 90°F from June through September - dries out mortar and stucco year after year. Santa Ana wind events, which can gust past 50 mph in Claremont's foothill location, strip moisture from mortar and occasionally crack chimney caps or knock sections of older garden walls loose. All of this adds up to consistent maintenance demand on homes that were built to last but are now showing their age.
The northern neighborhoods near the San Gabriel Mountains face an additional factor: they sit in or near high fire hazard severity zones designated by CAL FIRE. Non-combustible masonry materials are not just an aesthetic choice in those areas - they are a practical one. Stone veneer, concrete block, and brick construction offer genuine fire resistance that wood-framed or vinyl-clad exterior elements do not. Homeowners in the foothills who are thinking about hardscaping, garden walls, or exterior cladding often choose masonry specifically because it holds up better in a fire hazard environment.
Our crew works throughout Claremont regularly, and we understand the local conditions that affect masonry work here. The mix of craftsman bungalows, Spanish Colonial Revival houses, and newer stucco homes in the foothills means we encounter a wider range of materials and techniques on Claremont jobs than almost anywhere else in the area. Matching the original mortar color and joint profile on a 1930s craftsman chimney is a different skill set than pouring footings for a retaining wall on a sloped North Claremont lot, and our team handles both.
Claremont is a city where homeowners stay for decades - the owner-occupancy rate here is notably high, and most of the people we talk to have been in their homes long enough to have a real relationship with the property. The Claremont Colleges anchor the central neighborhoods and keep the surrounding residential areas stable and well-maintained. The Village, Claremont's walkable downtown along Indian Hill Boulevard, draws residents and visitors alike, and the homes closest to it tend to be the oldest and most character-rich in the city.
We also serve homeowners in neighboring La Verne, which sits just east of Claremont along Foothill Boulevard and shares much of the same housing stock and climate conditions. Whether your home is steps from Thompson Creek Trail or in one of the quiet residential streets closer to the foothills, we know this area and can be on site quickly.
Reach us by phone or through our online form. We respond to every inquiry within one business day - usually same day for calls - and we schedule around your availability, not ours.
We visit your Claremont property, look at the masonry, and give you a written estimate covering materials and labor. There is no charge for the visit, and we explain exactly what we see and why we are recommending what we are - no pressure to commit on the spot.
For projects that require a permit through the City of Claremont, we handle the application. We also source materials that match your existing masonry - this step matters on older homes where off-the-shelf brick or stone would look mismatched.
We complete the work on the agreed schedule and clean the site each day. Once the job is done, we walk through it with you before we leave - if anything is not right, we fix it before closing out the project.
We serve Claremont homeowners with same-week scheduling on most jobs. No pressure estimates, no surprise costs.
(909) 755-8985Claremont is a city of roughly 36,000 people at the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, pressed up against the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. It is best known for the Claremont Colleges, a group of seven nationally recognized institutions that anchor the city's center and define its character as much as any neighborhood does. The homes surrounding the colleges - craftsman bungalows, Spanish Colonial Revivals, and early-twentieth-century Tudor styles - are among the oldest and most distinctive in the Inland Empire. Many are still owner-occupied by long-term residents who bought decades ago and have no intention of leaving.
The Village, Claremont's walkable downtown along Indian Hill Boulevard and the streets around it, is a tree-shaded commercial district that most residents visit regularly. North of the colleges, the terrain rises toward the foothills, and the neighborhoods there shift to larger homes on bigger lots, many built in the 1980s and 1990s. Those northern neighborhoods are close to Thompson Creek Trail and the Angeles National Forest, giving residents easy access to outdoor recreation - but also placing them in fire hazard proximity to the mountain terrain. Neighboring Upland borders Claremont to the east, and many homeowners in both cities deal with similar clay soil conditions and heat-driven masonry maintenance needs. Homeowners in nearby Montclair to the south also find us for masonry work when they need a contractor familiar with foothill-area properties.
Build strong retaining walls that control erosion and grade changes.
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Learn MoreWe serve Claremont homeowners with same-week availability on most jobs - older homes welcome. The longer you wait on failing mortar or cracked masonry, the more expensive the fix becomes.