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Unilock Driveway & Pavers: The Long Beach Owner’s Guide
Unilock paver driveway installation in Long Beach typically runs $7,000 – $18,000, and most full driveways are completed in 5 – 10 working days depending on excavation depth, base preparation, and paver pattern. If you’re reading this because a section of your Unilock driveway has settled, cracked, or started separating at the edge, you’re in the right place. Homeowners usually discover paver failure after a rainstorm, when water pools where it never used to, or when a specific paver rocks underfoot and the sand joint has washed out around it. We stock Unilock-compatible materials through our supplier network and can match most Long Beach installations within the week.
Elmstead Remodeling Long Beach is an independent contractor, not affiliated with Unilock. That means we’re free to tell you the truth about which repairs make sense and which don’t.
Which Unilock Products This Applies To
Unilock makes roughly a dozen paver lines commonly installed across Long Beach, and the most frequent ones we see on driveways are Brussels Block, Courtstone, Hollandstone, Richcliff, and U-Cara Multi-Face. The bulk of the driveways we repair in neighborhoods like Bixby Knolls, Naples, and Belmont Shore use Brussels Block or Courtstone in a 60mm or 80mm thickness. That difference matters: 60mm pavers are fine for foot traffic and light vehicles, but a driveway that sees a heavy SUV or a contractor’s truck every day should have 80mm pavers or a reinforced base below them. When we walk a failing driveway, one of the first things we check is whether the original installer used the thinner product to save money.
Identifying your exact paver is easier than most people expect. Flip one over and look for the Unilock name embossed on the back or side. If it’s worn off, measure it. Brussels Block runs roughly 9.5″ x 4.75″. Courtstone is modular and comes in three sizes that interlock. Where we see the OEM-versus-aftermarket decision come up is with edge restraints and polymeric sand, not the pavers themselves. We use Unilock-manufactured pavers when we need a color and shape match, and we’re particular about the polymeric sand brand because the wrong sand with the wrong joint width is the single most common cause of repeat failure on Long Beach driveways.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Unilock Driveway Is Failing
- Settling or a sunken bowl in the middle of the driveway. Almost always caused by an inadequately compacted base or water eroding the sub-base below. We see this most in Long Beach neighborhoods with clay-heavy soil, like the area around Recreation Park, where the ground shifts seasonally.
- Pavers rocking or shifting underfoot. The edge restraint has likely failed or was never installed properly. Once the edge opens up, the entire interlock system loses its tension, and individual pavers start migrating outward.
- Polymeric sand washing out of the joints after rain. The sand was installed when the joints were too wet, too wide, or the wrong product was used. Joint sand that washes out quickly means water now has a direct path under the pavers.
- White haze on the paver surface. This is efflorescence, common on concrete pavers within the first year or two. It’s cosmetic and not a structural issue, but it should still be cleaned and sealed, because untreated efflorescence can etch into the surface over time in Long Beach’s coastal air.
- A visible crack running across multiple pavers in a straight line. One cracked paver is a paver problem. A crack that continues through ten pavers in a line is a base problem, and no amount of paver replacement will fix it until the base is addressed.
See the difference
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included in Long Beach
A full Unilock paver driveway replacement in Long Beach runs in the $7,000 – $18,000 range, with most two-car driveways landing between $9,000 and $14,000. A paver patio project runs $3,500 – $11,000. What drives the range is mostly what’s below the surface: excavation depth, whether the old base can be compacted and reused, and how much new crushed stone or decomposed granite needs to come in. The pavers themselves are part of that range, but they’re rarely the difference between a $9,000 job and a $14,000 one. Labor and base work are.
Every estimate we write in Long Beach includes the excavation, base installation, compaction, edge restraint, paver installation, polymeric sand, and final compaction, followed by a walk-through and a photo of the clean-up before the crew leaves. The price we write down on day one is the price on the invoice when we’re done. If a section is repaired and fails within 365 days, our Done Right Promise means we come back and make it right.
DIY or Call Us?
Replacing a single cracked paver is something a careful homeowner can do with a pry bar, a rubber mallet, and a bag of paver sand, though we’d still tell you to order an extra paver or two because color lots shift slightly between production runs. What we would not recommend DIY-ing is anything involving the base or the edge. Once you start pulling up pavers in a settled area, you’re into excavation, compaction, and re-setting the edge restraint, and if the base is the problem, a cosmetic fix will fail again within a season or two in Long Beach’s clay soil. There’s no serious shock hazard or tension risk with pavers the way there is with a garage door spring, but the failure mode is quiet: you’ll do the work, it’ll look fine for six months, and then the same dip comes back.
If you can see the base material through the joints or the pavers have shifted more than a half-inch at the edge, call us at (562) 512-7086. We’ll come out, look at it, and tell you honestly whether it’s a one-paver fix or a base rebuild.
FAQs
A properly installed Unilock driveway on a properly compacted base should last 25 – 30 years in Long Beach, with the pavers themselves typically outlasting the base by a decade. The sand joints and any sealer will need attention every 3 – 5 years, but the structural life is long. If yours failed in under 10 years, the base or the edge restraint was the weak point. Call (562) 512-7086 and we’ll confirm what’s actually happening.
Yes, if the settling is localized and the base below is still sound. We lift the affected pavers, add and re-compact base material, re-set the pavers, and re-sand the joints. If the base has failed across most of the driveway, repair becomes a patch on a patch, and a full re-do is the honest answer. The estimate is free.
A localized repair usually takes one day from start to finished sand joint. A full driveway replacement in Long Beach typically runs 5 – 10 working days, depending on the size, the depth of excavation needed, and whether we’re matching into an existing walkway or patio. We’ll give you the timeline in writing before we start.
We keep common Brussels Block and Hollandstone pavers available through our supplier network in Long Beach, which means most single-paver matches can happen within a week. Less common lines like Richcliff or U-Cara may need to be ordered in. If you’re not sure what you have, text us a photo along with the measurement and we’ll identify it before we ever schedule a visit. Our phones are answered by a live person 24/7, so you won’t reach a voicemail box.
Whether you need a single paver matched, a section re-leveled, or a full driveway re-done, the first step is the same. Call Elmstead Remodeling Long Beach at (562) 512-7086 and we’ll schedule a time to walk the driveway with you. You’ll get a written price before any work starts, the crew will protect the surrounding landscape and walkways the same way we protect the inside of a home, and Graham Stein will be the one making sure the base is done right the first time.
Written by Graham Stein, Owner, Elmstead Remodeling Long Beach at Elmstead Remodeling Long Beach, serving Long Beach and nearby areas.
