Brick wall installation in San Jose CA - a wall planned from the footing up
Planning a brick garden wall or fence? We work out the footing, the wall type and any permit first, so the wall suits your yard.
What goes into building a brick wall in San Jose?
Brick wall installation in San Jose means building a garden wall or brick fence from brick, a baked clay product, laid on a brick or concrete footing. Done well, it gives you a solid boundary that marks your lot and controls who comes and goes around the yard.
Most people who call us want a clear line around the yard, a fence with more weight than wood, or a low wall to finish off a garden or patio. The price mostly follows the wall's size and type and what has to go under it, and the schedule mostly follows whether the wall needs a permit. At the estimate I walk the job, take measurements and photos, and write up what I found and what we'd build. We're based in San Jose and work across the city and the cities around it.
How we handle brick wall installation
We start by helping you pick a wall type that suits your yard and how the ground runs, because the wrong type on uneven ground is hard to fix later. A brick wall starts with its footing, so before anyone lays a brick I work out where the wall sits on your lot and how the footing is reinforced. Our crew lays out the line, digs the trench and pours the footing, then our own masons lay the courses, tool the joints and set the cap. I check the wall as it goes up, because a course that's off is easy to correct at the third row and a real problem at the tenth.
Some walls call for more than brick. If you want a stone base or stone piers mixed in, that's stone masonry, and we handle it on the same job. If you already have a brick wall that stands straight but is losing mortar from its joints, brick pointing may be all it needs, and I'll tell you so before you pay for a new wall.
Pier and panel wall
Thin brick panels run between brick piers set at intervals along the wall, and the piers do the bracing. It suits long boundary walls and yards where the ground rises and falls.
Solid garden wall
A full-thickness wall with no piers, usually two layers of brick tied together. It suits shorter runs and low walls around a patio or garden bed, where you want a heavier look you can sit on.
Brick wall installation rules in San Jose
In San Jose, the height of your wall decides the paperwork. The city requires both a building permit and a planning permit for a fence higher than 3 feet in a front yard or 7 feet in side and rear yards. On a corner lot the limit is 3 feet in the front and side yards along the street, and rear and side fences have to stay low enough that someone backing out of a driveway can still see the street. Those are the city's fence rules, so if your wall is a garden wall that doesn't mark a boundary, ask the city's permit office how it treats yours. When a wall might need a permit, we check with that office before we dig. It matters, because the city points out that state law makes sellers disclose unpermitted work, and insurance generally won't cover damage tied to it.
Regional earthquake maps of the valley show areas where strongly shaken wet sand can flow and crack the ground, but they're drawn at a regional scale, and borings are what settle the question for one lot. So I don't guess about your ground from a map, and I'll tell you plainly if a wall's height or what it holds means the site needs a closer look. We work through the same questions on wall jobs in Santa Clara and Campbell.
Brick walls and garden fences
Why call us for a brick wall
I measure every wall myself
I come out to look at the job and take the measurements, and our own masons build the wall while I check it as it goes up. You deal with the person who measured it from the first visit to the last course.
Building in San Jose since 2013
We've been in business since 2013, and I learned the trade under an experienced mason here in San Jose, starting with mixing mortar and cleaning out joints. I'd rather check a detail twice and tell you what I don't know yet than guess and find out later.
Licensed and fully insured contractor
California's contractor license board puts brick walls and fences, built with or without mortar, under its masonry contractor class. We're licensed and fully insured, and it's worth confirming that of anyone you hire before work starts.
A brick wall is only as sound as the footing under it, so that's where our planning starts, and our work is backed by our satisfaction guarantee. Send us the wall's planned height, where it sits on your lot and whether it holds soil, and I'll come out to measure.
(669) 234-3391Get your brick wall measured and written up
We reply within one business day to set a time. I come out, walk the job, take measurements and photos, and write up what I found and what we'd build. The estimate is free, on site and comes with no pressure to book.
Brick wall questions from San Jose homeowners
Does a brick retaining wall need a permit in San Jose?
Yes, once it's more than 2 feet tall from existing grade, the city requires a building permit and a planning permit. A retaining wall that measures 4 feet or more from the bottom of its footing to its top also needs a grading permit from the city's Public Works department. Tell us early whether your wall holds soil, because it changes both the paperwork and the build.
What is the best way to build a brick wall on sloping ground?
A pier and panel wall is usually the best fit, because its thin panels between piers adapt easily to ground that changes along the run. Brick industry guidance also calls it relatively easy to build and economical, since the panels are thinner than a solid wall. I'll look at how your ground falls at the estimate and tell you which type I'd pick.
How deep should the footing for a brick garden wall be?
Brick industry guidance puts garden wall foundations in undisturbed earth below the frost line, reinforced where active soil, the kind that swells and shrinks with moisture, could move it. How the footing is placed and whether it needs reinforcing are fair questions to ask any mason. They're the first things we settle on your wall.
Who should apply for a fence or wall permit in San Jose?
The city recommends a licensed contractor, because whoever signs the application is responsible and potentially liable for all the work under that permit. When your wall needs one, we apply as the licensed contractor and meet the inspector on site, so that responsibility sits with us.
What causes white bloom on a new brick wall?
On a new wall it's usually new building bloom, a white efflorescence that tends to show up shortly after construction as the brickwork dries. If it keeps coming back after that first stretch, water is likely getting into the wall and staying there. That's worth a call, because the fix is finding where the water gets in.
How much does a brick wall cost in San Jose?
There's no fair figure until I've measured, because the price comes from the wall's length and height, the type of wall, the footing it needs and how your ground runs. A solid wall uses more brick than a pier and panel wall, and tight access, an old wall to remove or a permit all add to it. The written estimate lays out what we'd build so you can compare.
Plan your brick wall, footing and permit with us
Call (669) 234-3391, answered until 10 PM on weekdays and 9 PM on weekends, so you can reach us after your own workday.
