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Serving Airway Heights, WA and surrounding areas. (509) 418-0412
Airway Heights Concrete & Masonry handles foundation repair, tuckpointing, retaining wall construction, and concrete block work for homeowners in Cheney, WA. We have served the Cheney and Airway Heights area since 2018 and understand how the Palouse plateau winters affect masonry and concrete on homes of every age in town.
Cheney sits at roughly 2,400 feet on the Palouse plateau, and the harder winters here put real stress on block and poured foundations in older homes. Cracks that look minor in September are often significantly larger by April after a season of freeze-thaw cycles - our foundation repair work addresses existing damage and stabilizes the wall before the next freeze season begins.
Many of Cheney's mid-century homes have brick or block masonry features where the mortar joints have softened and crumbled over decades. Open mortar joints in Cheney's climate are a direct path for water to enter the wall cavity, freeze, and cause bigger structural damage. Replacing the worn mortar stops the damage cycle early.
Spring snowmelt in Cheney can be significant - when the snowpack melts while the ground is still frozen, water has nowhere to go and builds up pressure against any structure holding back soil. Retaining walls built without adequate drainage or deep enough footings in this climate fail early. We design for Cheney's specific conditions.
Whether you need a new garden wall, a property boundary wall, or a block structure for a rental property near the EWU campus, we build concrete block walls with footings set below Cheney's frost depth. This is a detail that gets skipped on lower-bid work and leads to walls that heave or tip after a single winter.
Older Cheney homes with brick chimneys, steps, or decorative features often show spalled or cracked brick after years of hard winters. Individual brick that has absorbed water and frozen can crack or pop off the face entirely. Replacing damaged brick with matching material protects the wall and restores the appearance at the same time.
Cheney homeowners looking to replace a heaved or cracked concrete driveway often consider pavers because individual units can be lifted and reset if freeze-thaw movement causes settling - unlike poured concrete, which cracks across a large section. Paver driveways in this climate hold up well when installed on a correctly prepared and compacted base.
Cheney is colder and snowier than many people outside the area realize. The city sits at about 2,400 feet on the Palouse plateau - higher and more exposed than Spokane itself - and averages 40 to 50 inches of snow per year with temperatures that regularly drop below 20 degrees Fahrenheit during cold snaps. Freeze-thaw cycles here are the primary reason masonry and concrete deteriorate faster than homeowners expect. A crack that seems minor in the fall is usually noticeably worse by spring because water gets in, freezes, expands the gap, and the cycle repeats every time temperatures swing through the freezing point. Foundation walls, mortar joints, driveways, and sidewalks all take on this damage every winter. A masonry contractor who sets footings at the right depth for Cheney's frost penetration and uses mortar mixes rated for this climate will produce work that holds up through the seasons.
The housing stock in Cheney skews older, with much of the city built between the 1940s and 1970s. Homes from that era have original masonry features - block foundations, brick chimneys, concrete steps - that are now 50 to 80 years old. Many of these homes are occupied by long-term owner-residents who want repairs done correctly, and some near the Eastern Washington University campus are rental properties where deferred maintenance has compounded over years. Both types of properties need a contractor who can correctly assess how much damage is structural versus cosmetic and recommend the right level of repair.
Our crew works throughout Cheney regularly, and we understand the local conditions that affect masonry work here. Cheney is about 16 miles west of Spokane along Interstate 90, and we make the drive regularly for assessments and project work. The city has its own permitting process, and when a project requires a permit, we work with the City of Cheney directly.
Cheney has a distinct character that sets it apart from other Spokane County communities. The EWU campus shapes the feel of the city center, and most of the older residential neighborhoods run north and south of the campus along First Street and surrounding blocks. On the edges of town, newer subdivisions from the 1990s and 2000s bring different masonry needs - block garden walls, concrete flatwork, and drainage structures for sites that are still settling. The Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge sits a few miles south of town and is a landmark most Cheney residents know well. We serve the full city, from the older in-town blocks to the newer neighborhoods on the outskirts.
We also regularly serve Medical Lake, which sits northeast of Cheney and faces similar Palouse-plateau winter conditions. If you have neighbors in Medical Lake who need masonry work, we cover that area as well. We are also accessible from Airway Heights, where our business is based, making the Cheney corridor a routine part of our service area.
Call us or submit the contact form and describe what you are dealing with - cracks in the foundation, mortar that is falling out, a wall that needs to be built, or a driveway that heaved last winter. We respond within one business day and can often schedule a Cheney visit within the week.
We assess the damage or scope of work in person and give you a written estimate before anything is agreed to. For foundation and structural work, we explain what is cosmetic, what is structural, and what the consequences are of waiting - so you can make an informed decision about timing without feeling pressured.
Once you approve the estimate, we schedule the work around your availability. Cheney winters can be harsh and unpredictable - we plan mortar and concrete work around the forecast so fresh material has the cure time it needs before temperatures drop below freezing.
We clean the site fully before leaving and walk you through the completed work so you can see exactly what was done. If a permit was pulled through the City of Cheney, we coordinate the required inspection before closing out the job.
We serve Cheney and nearby Palouse communities. Written estimates, no-pressure quotes, and we understand what Cheney winters do to foundations and masonry.
(509) 418-0412Cheney is a city of about 12,000 people in Spokane County, sitting roughly 16 miles west of Spokane along Interstate 90 on the edge of the Palouse region. Eastern Washington University has been in Cheney since 1882 and remains the city's defining institution - it shapes the local economy, the housing market, and the feel of the city center. The neighborhoods closest to campus are a mix of older single-family homes and rental properties serving the university population. Moving away from campus, the residential character shifts toward owner-occupied houses occupied by families and university employees who have put down long-term roots in the community. The Cheney Rodeo is a community tradition that reflects the rural and agricultural character of the surrounding Palouse, and Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge sits a few miles south of town, a well-known local destination for hiking and wildlife watching.
Most of Cheney's housing was built between the 1940s and 1970s, with some newer subdivisions on the outskirts developed in the 1990s and 2000s. The older homes tend to have original masonry features - block or brick foundations, concrete steps, and sometimes chimney stacks - that have been through 50 to 80 years of Palouse winters. The newer homes have different needs: fresh flatwork, new block walls, and drainage improvements for sites that have not yet fully settled. We serve the whole city, from the older blocks near the Airway Heights corridor to the newer growth on the edges of town. Neighboring Medical Lake is also a regular part of our service area and shares many of the same housing and climate characteristics as Cheney.
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Learn MoreFreeze-thaw damage in Cheney gets worse each season it goes unaddressed. Call us today or submit a request and we will respond within one business day.