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Serving Hammond, IN and surrounding areas. (219) 666-0906
Hammond Masonry & Concrete is a masonry contractor serving Merrillville, IN homeowners with driveway pavers, tuckpointing, brick repair, and retaining walls. We have served Lake County properties since 2017 and respond to new inquiries within one business day.
Merrillville's postwar ranch and split-level homes typically have concrete driveways that are now 40 to 60 years old - cracked, heaved, and at the end of their service life. Replacing an aging slab with driveway pavers gives you a surface that handles freeze-thaw stress better than a monolithic slab and is repairable section by section if damage occurs.
Many Merrillville homes from the 1960s and 1970s were built with full or partial brick exteriors. After 40 to 50 winters, the original mortar joints on these homes are often recessed or crumbling. Tuckpointing removes the degraded mortar and replaces it with fresh material, stopping water infiltration before it can reach the interior wall.
Lake County's clay soil holds water and shifts with the seasons, which puts pressure on any wall trying to hold back a grade change. A properly built retaining wall with drainage behind it prevents erosion and keeps soil from washing onto lower parts of the property or into neighboring lots after a heavy rain.
Spalling or chipped bricks on Merrillville's older homes are usually a sign that water has been cycling in and out of the brick face through freeze-thaw winters. North-facing walls and chimneys are most commonly affected. Replacing damaged bricks early keeps the problem from spreading to the surrounding masonry.
Original concrete walkways on Merrillville's mid-century homes crack and heave for the same reasons driveways do - clay soil movement and freeze-thaw pressure. A new brick or paver walkway holds up better to the seasonal ground movement here and improves the front approach of the home considerably.
The clay-heavy soil under Merrillville properties expands when wet and contracts when dry, putting steady lateral and vertical pressure on basement walls and slabs. Cracks that open slowly over a few seasons tend to accelerate as water enters and freeze-thaw cycles widen them. Addressing foundation cracks early is far less expensive than waiting for structural movement to worsen.
Most of Merrillville's housing stock went up between the 1950s and the 1980s during the postwar suburban expansion out of Gary and Hammond. That means the bulk of homes in town are now 40 to 70 years old. Concrete driveways, brick fronts, and masonry chimneys that are original to these homes have been through 40 to 70 freeze-thaw winters. Lake-effect snow from Lake Michigan - about 30 miles to the north - adds to the seasonal load. The freeze-thaw cycle here is particularly damaging because temperatures regularly swing above and below freezing multiple times in a single week during late winter and early spring, which is when expansion and contraction stress on masonry and concrete is at its peak.
Merrillville sits on the same glacial clay that underlies most of Lake County. That soil absorbs water and swells when it rains, then contracts and pulls away from foundations and slabs as it dries. Over decades, that movement heaves sidewalks, tilts retaining walls, and opens cracks in basement walls. Homeowners in the older north-side neighborhoods closer to the Gary border tend to see more aggressive soil movement than those in the newer south-side subdivisions, but the underlying soil conditions affect the whole town. A masonry contractor working in Merrillville needs to account for that when planning any repair or installation.
Our crew works throughout Merrillville regularly, and we understand the local conditions that affect masonry work here. Merrillville is the largest town in Lake County, Indiana, and its housing stock reflects the full range of postwar suburban building - from 1950s ranches near the Gary border to 1990s subdivisions on the south and east sides of town. We see both ends of that spectrum regularly, and the repair needs are different depending on how old the home is and where it sits in the town.
Merrillville is oriented around US Route 30, the main commercial corridor that runs east-west through the north part of town past Southlake Mall and on toward Portage. Residential neighborhoods sit on both sides of US-30 and extend south into quieter subdivisions. We work in all of them. Lots here are standard suburban size - not as tight as Hammond or East Chicago - which generally makes access and staging easier, but clay soil conditions and the age of the homes create the same masonry demands.
We also serve Highland, IN, which sits just west of Merrillville and shares much of the same mid-century housing stock and Lake County soil conditions. Homeowners in both communities tend to deal with the same driveway, tuckpointing, and brick repair issues.
Reach us by phone at (219) 666-0906 or through the online form. We respond to every Merrillville inquiry within one business day - usually the same day.
We come to your Merrillville property, assess the work, and give you a written estimate at no charge. You will know the full cost before deciding - no pressure and no surprise add-ons after the job starts.
Once you approve the estimate, we schedule a start date and tell you exactly how many days the job will take. For permit-required work in Merrillville, we handle the application and do not start until approval is in hand.
When the work is done, we clean the site and walk through the completed job with you. If anything is not right, we make it right before we leave your property.
We serve homeowners throughout Merrillville and Lake County. Free estimates, honest pricing, no pressure.
(219) 666-0906Merrillville is the largest town in Lake County, Indiana, with a population of roughly 35,000 spread across about 33 square miles. The town grew rapidly after World War II as families moved out of nearby Gary and Hammond into new suburban subdivisions. Most of Merrillville's neighborhoods were developed between the 1950s and the 1990s, giving the town a mix of older established areas on the north and west sides and newer subdivisions further south and east. The US Route 30 corridor - home to Southlake Mall and a dense stretch of national retailers - runs through the north part of town and serves as the commercial center for much of Northwest Indiana. Residential streets sit just blocks off that corridor, quieter than the main road suggests.
Merrillville is known as one of the higher-income communities in Northwest Indiana, with a strong homeownership rate and residents who tend to invest in maintaining their properties. Homes range from modest brick ranches in older north-side neighborhoods to larger newer colonials and two-stories in the south-end subdivisions. The town borders Gary to the north and west and shares county services with all of Lake County. Nearby communities include Portage, IN to the northeast and Highland, IN to the west, both of which we serve regularly.
Install block foundations that provide lasting structural support.
Learn MoreFrom driveway pavers to tuckpointing and foundation repair, we handle the full range of masonry work in Merrillville. Call today for a free estimate - most projects can be scheduled within two weeks.