Demolition Contractor in Monta Loma, Mountain View

Eichler and Mackay Homes in Monta Loma

Monta Loma, in north Mountain View near Rengstorff Avenue and the Central Expressway, was built out in the 1950s with Eichler and Mackay tract homes. The Eichlers have post-and-beam frames, exposed ceiling beams, walls of glass facing the backyard and concrete slab floors with radiant heat tubing inside. The Mackay homes are simpler, but many share the slab foundation.

Owners here tend to keep the house and modernize it: new kitchens and baths, new flooring over the slab, upgraded roofs and insulation, and sometimes additions. That makes careful interior demolition the most common job in Monta Loma, with full teardowns less frequent.

Interior Tear-Outs Over Radiant Heat Slabs

The radiant tubing in an Eichler slab sits close to the surface. Heavy hammering, aggressive grinding or careless saw cuts can puncture it. Old systems used steel or copper tubing that may already be fragile. A leak means tracking it down and cutting into the slab to fix it.

So we remove floor finishes gently: scraping, lifting tile with hand tools and stopping at the slab surface. If the plans call for cutting the slab for new plumbing, the tubing has to be located first, usually with thermal imaging by a specialist, and cuts are kept to the marked paths.

Exposed beams, tongue-and-groove ceilings and large glass panels get covered before work starts, and we keep ladders, carts and debris away from the glass walls.

Asbestos in Eichler Materials Before Monta Loma Demolition

Houses from this era commonly have asbestos in vinyl floor tile and mastic, drywall joint compound, some roofing materials, and flue pipes for the boiler or water heater. Before any interior demolition, the materials that will be disturbed are tested. A certified abatement contractor removes positive materials before our crew begins. We schedule that work but do not perform it.

Eichler roofs, often tar and gravel or foam over the wood deck, may also need testing if roofing is coming off. We confirm the full scope with you so nothing is missed in the survey.

Monta Loma Permits and Tract Neighbors

Monta Loma is inside the City of Mountain View, so the Building Division handles permits. Interior demolition is covered under the remodel permit, while a full teardown or a garage removal needs a demolition permit with the survey, air district notice and utility shutoff confirmation.

Tract lots here are modest and the houses sit close together, with carports or garages facing the street. Trucks load from the driveway, debris goes out the front, and work stays inside the city's allowed hours to keep things reasonable for neighbors.

Carports and garages are the other common Monta Loma demolition job. Owners take out an old carport or a single garage to make room for an addition, an ADU or a bigger garage. Those structures sit on their own slabs, which come out completely unless the new plans reuse them, and any shared roofline with the house is cut cleanly and closed up for the next trade.