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Serving Mill Valley, CA and surrounding areas. (628) 257-3020
Custom Mill Valley Concrete & Masonry is a masonry contractor serving San Anselmo, CA, specializing in fireplace installation, retaining wall construction, and chimney repair for the town's older Craftsman bungalows, hillside properties, and flood-zone homes near San Anselmo Creek. We have served San Anselmo and Marin County since 2020, and we understand the drainage, foundation, and mortar challenges that come with pre-war construction and heavy winter rainfall.
San Anselmo's cool, damp winters and older housing stock create strong demand for fireplace installations - many of the town's pre-war Craftsman homes were never built with a fireplace, and homeowners who have lived through a few Marin winters often want one. We handle the masonry structure, hearth, and surround, and we are familiar with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District's rules that affect wood-burning options here. Learn about fireplace installation.
San Anselmo's hillside lots above the valley floor require retaining walls that can handle the soil pressure that builds up after a wet winter. We build walls with drainage designed for sloped lots, because a wall without a drainage system is just holding pressure until something gives - usually the first serious storm of the season.
A large share of San Anselmo's homes were built in the 1910s through 1940s and still have their original masonry chimneys. Decades of wet winters and ground movement have worked on mortar joints, chimney caps, and flashing - components that most homeowners never inspect until they notice a leak or smoke problem inside the house.
San Anselmo's valley location and flood history mean that foundations in lower parts of town deal with water intrusion and soil saturation in ways that foundations in other Marin towns do not. Hillside properties face a different challenge: soil shrinkage and movement as the ground dries out each summer, then re-saturates each winter. We find the cause before recommending a fix.
San Anselmo's pre-war homes near The Hub and along the older residential streets have original brickwork and stone details that deserve matched mortar repairs, not off-the-shelf cement patches. We match mortar color and composition to the existing material so restorations blend in rather than standing out as obvious repairs.
San Anselmo's wet winters are hard on mortar joints, especially on older homes where the original mortar has been in place for 50 to 80 years without repair. Tuckpointing and brick pointing restore the joint, stop water intrusion, and extend the life of the wall without the cost or disruption of a full rebuild - the right move when the bricks themselves are still in good shape.
San Anselmo sits in a valley in central Marin County, surrounded by hills and bisected by San Anselmo Creek. Most of the town's homes were built between the 1900s and 1950s - a housing stock that is 70 to 120 years old and, in many cases, has never had its original masonry reviewed by a professional. Craftsman bungalows, older Victorian-style homes, and mid-century ranch houses make up most of the residential fabric, and they all carry the same category of deferred maintenance issues: aging mortar joints, original foundations not designed for today's seismic standards, and older drainage systems that were adequate for the 1930s but are undersized for wet winters with higher peak rainfall events.
The flood history of downtown San Anselmo is well documented - major floods in 1982 and 2005 caused widespread property damage, and homes near San Anselmo Creek remain in a recognized flood zone. Foundation moisture, drainage failures, and post-flood concrete damage are recurring issues for homeowners in those areas. Hillside properties have a different set of challenges: sloped lots with drainage that runs toward neighbors when it fails, retaining walls that carry soil pressure through every wet season, and mature oak and redwood trees whose root systems crack driveways and walkways from below.
Our crew works throughout San Anselmo regularly, and we understand the local conditions that affect masonry work here. We pull permits from the Town of San Anselmo Building Department on structural projects and are familiar with the review process for the older home types common in this part of Marin. San Anselmo's neighborhoods vary from the flat streets near the downtown area and the creek to the hillside lots that climb above Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, and the masonry work each area calls for is different.
We have worked on pre-war Craftsman homes near The Hub - San Anselmo's walkable downtown stretch of shops and restaurants - and on hillside properties where sloped access requires more planning and equipment staging than a standard flat lot. The large oaks and redwoods in the hillside neighborhoods are a regular factor in concrete and masonry repairs here: root intrusion into flatwork and drainage lines is something we account for in every excavation.
We also work in the towns surrounding San Anselmo. If you are comparing contractors across the area, our team serves Fairfax to the west and Larkspur to the south, so a single contractor can handle work across adjacent properties or projects that span more than one town.
Reach us by phone or through the contact form with a brief description of what you need. We respond within 1 business day to set up a time to visit your San Anselmo property.
We visit your property to assess the project, note any drainage, access, or structural factors specific to your lot, and provide a written estimate. Cost is clear before any work begins - no changes after you have said yes.
For projects that require a permit, we handle the application with the Town of San Anselmo Building Department and keep you updated on review status. Our crew starts on the agreed date once approval is in hand.
When the job is complete, we clean the site and walk through the finished work with you. If a building inspection is required - as it is for fireplace installations and structural masonry - we schedule and attend it on your behalf.
We serve homeowners throughout San Anselmo - from the older Craftsman homes near The Hub to the hillside properties above Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. Call us or fill out the form and we will respond within 1 business day.
(628) 257-3020San Anselmo is a small Marin County town of about 12,000 residents, known for its walkable downtown area - locally called The Hub - lined with restaurants, antique shops, and independent stores along San Anselmo Avenue. The town sits in a valley formed by the hills surrounding it, with Sir Francis Drake Boulevard running through the center and connecting it to neighboring communities. Most of the housing stock is single-family detached homes built between the 1900s and 1950s, with a mix of Craftsman bungalows, early-1900s Victorians, and mid-century ranch houses. The owner-occupancy rate is high and residents tend to stay for many years, investing in their properties rather than selling and moving frequently.
The town divides naturally between the flat streets near the downtown and the creek, and the hillside neighborhoods that climb away from the valley floor toward the surrounding hills. San Anselmo Creek runs through the middle of town and is the source of the downtown's most serious weather risk - flooding. The creek has overflowed multiple times and the low-lying properties near it deal with flood-related maintenance needs that other Marin towns do not face as directly. San Anselmo borders Fairfax to the west and San Rafael to the east, placing it near the Marin Civic Center and easy access to Highway 101.
Install block foundation walls built to code and last decades.
Learn MoreBuild a durable masonry outdoor kitchen for year-round entertaining.
Learn MoreCall us or request a free estimate online. We respond within 1 business day and serve all of San Anselmo and the surrounding Marin County communities.