Masonry Contractor in South Milwaukee, WI

How Old Are the Homes in South Milwaukee?

The Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 survey counts about 8,900 homes in this Milwaukee County city. About a quarter were built before 1940, and about 42 percent from 1940 to 1969. The median home dates to 1958, and about three in four were built before 1980. New building is rare: Census permit counts show nine new homes authorized from 2023 through 2025.

The city grew up around the Bucyrus plant, which opened in 1893 and made machines there until 2016. From 1912 to 1927, the company bought land around the plant, then sold lots to workers at cost. The city's history says population grew slowly until 1950, then jumped by 1960.

Historic Grant Park, where the city was born, has older homes on smaller lots on its west side. The city's 2035 plan counts 178 buildings identified as historic, and 138 of them are in that neighborhood. Lakeview has mid-century homes, and Blakewood holds the largest group of newer ones. On any of these streets, a repair starts with matching the brick and mortar already there.

Cream City Brick and the Milwaukee Avenue Storefronts

The city's history says the first of two Cream City brickyards opened here in 1856. It stood where the Seven Bridges area of Grant Park, Milwaukee County's first park, is today. In 1870, a brickyard at the mouth of Oak Creek turned clay from the Lake Michigan bluffs into cream-colored brick. In 1893, the new village built a 120-foot water tower of Cream City brick.

Two brick landmarks stand on the National Register of Historic Places. The 1893 passenger depot on Milwaukee Avenue is brick in the Romanesque Revival style, with wide round arches. The post office on 10th Avenue, built in the early 1930s, is cream brick on a limestone foundation. The Wisconsin Historical Society's inventory lists two- and three-story brick commercial buildings on Milwaukee Avenue from about 1915 to 1930.

South Milwaukee adopted Commercial Facade Design Guidelines in November 2022. They cover street-facing commercial facades downtown and in the city's commercial districts. Unpainted brick and stone are to stay unpainted, and sandblasting is prohibited. Defective mortar is to be replaced with mortar that matches the original in color, style, texture and strength.

Staff review the form with no fee, and routine maintenance is exempt. The city's Facade Improvement Grant lists tuckpointing and masonry repair among its qualified improvements. Owners and tenants apply through the city's economic development staff. Brick repair on storefronts is part of our commercial masonry work.

Do You Need a Permit for Masonry Work in South Milwaukee?

Building permits come from the Inspection Department at City Hall on 15th Avenue. The city's permit list names all new construction and foundation repair, among other jobs. Plans or a survey may be required, and a review can take two weeks. Fees triple if work starts before approval.

The city code says footings go at least four feet below finish grade. Wisconsin's Uniform Dwelling Code generally sets house footings below the frost line or 48 inches down, whichever is deeper. The city inspects the footing before it is poured and the foundation walls before any backfill. Once the footing passes, we lay the concrete block foundation for a new garage or addition.

Tuckpointing and chimney repair are not on the city's permit list. The code still requires a permit to alter any building or structure. So ask the Inspection Department about your job, and the permit is sorted out before work starts.

Clay Soil and Freeze-Thaw in South Milwaukee

The USDA soil survey maps about half of South Milwaukee as Ozaukee silt loam. It formed in a thin layer of wind-blown silt over dense silty clay loam till. Water moves through it slowly. Most years, it holds a perched water table 2 to 3.5 feet down for a month or more.

The survey rates frost action moderate on about three quarters of the city and high on about a fifth. That means the ground heaves as ice forms in it. NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals for the nearby Milwaukee airport count about 123 days a year with a freezing low. On about 70 of them, the high climbs back above freezing.

Each freeze-thaw cycle works on wet mortar joints and brick. On a masonry retaining wall, stone backfill goes behind the wall to let water drain, as the city code asks. On steps and stoops, the footing goes below frost before any brick or block goes on top.