Pavers in Encino, California

A licensed paver contractor. Pavers Encino connects you with one, and from the site visit on you deal with that contractor directly: they measure, quote in writing and install with their own crew, and the contract is between you and them. Before you sign anything you can look up any California contractor's license on the Contractors State License Board site. It takes a minute and it is worth doing for any job this size.

Most paver work here lands between $15 and $25 a square foot installed, with the base, the stone and the labor inside that number. Walkways and simple patios sit near the bottom, driveways and pool decks near the top, because they need a deeper base or a pricier stone. What pushes a quote past the range is rarely the paver itself. It is breaking out an old slab, grading a slope or running a drain line, and those show as separate lines so you can see where the money goes. The cost page breaks it down by surface.

Plan on three to seven working days for a typical driveway or patio once the crew starts. The first day usually goes to tearing out the old surface and digging, the next one or two to building and compacting the base, and the rest to laying, cutting and locking the joints. A big motor court takes longer simply because there is more of it. South of Ventura Boulevard, deliveries on the narrow canyon streets come in smaller loads, which can add a day.

Often not for the paving itself. The Los Angeles Building Code exempts "platforms, walks and driveways" no more than 30 inches above grade and not over a basement from a building permit (LAMC Sec. 91.106.2, item 5). Three things change the picture. Rebuilding the driveway apron in the public parkway, or cutting a new curb, needs an A-Permit from the city's Bureau of Engineering. Digging deeper than two feet, or moving more than 50 cubic yards of soil, can need a grading permit on any lot, and hillside jobs reach that point quickly. And work inside the drip line of a native oak falls under the protected tree rules. The contractor should tell you at the site visit which of these apply.

Encino takes its name from its oaks, and plenty of older lots still have big ones. Most of the roots that keep an oak alive run close to the surface and reach well past the edge of the canopy, which is exactly where a paver base wants to dig. A careful installer marks the trunk and the canopy line before anything is drawn, keeps excavation out of that zone, and routes the path around it or uses a shallower detail near it. Native oaks are protected trees in Los Angeles, and the city's definition of removing one includes damaging its roots or changing the grade inside the drip line (LAMC Sec. 46.00), so this is about more than the tree's health.

Yes, but on a slope the paving is the easy part. The base has to be benched into the hill instead of laid flat on it, water coming down from above needs a planned way out, and level areas are usually made with low retaining walls. Those items are what separate a hillside quote from a flat lot quote, and each should appear as its own line. Access counts too. A narrow street off Mulholland can mean a smaller truck and more trips.

Match the house, not the catalog. Ranch and Cape Cod homes on the flats tend to look right in tumbled or antiqued pavers in warm grays and tans, often with a darker border. Mediterranean houses take travertine well. Newer modern builds suit large format concrete or porcelain in one tone with tight joints. The design rendering is the cheapest way to settle it, because seeing your own front elevation with the stone in place ends most debates in a minute.

It is optional. Sealer does not hold a paver surface together; the compacted base, the edge restraint and the joint sand do that. What a sealer does is slow down staining, deepen the color a little and help keep the joint sand in place. It earns its keep on pale stone around a pool and on surfaces that see a lot of spills. If you seal, expect to redo it every few years.

Not from underneath, when the base is built properly and the joints are full. What does happen is that windblown seed and leaf litter settle into the top of the joints and sprout there, and under a big oak that is a steady supply. A sweep now and then keeps most of it away, and polymeric joint sand, which firms up once it is wetted, makes the joints much less welcoming. A stray weed pulls straight out, which is more than you can say for a crack in a slab.

Usually, and with the same stones. The low section is lifted out by hand, the base underneath is topped up and compacted, and the pavers go back in the same pattern. The better question is why it sank: a leaking irrigation line, a soft spot that was never compacted, or water getting in at an unrestrained edge. A good repair fixes the cause as well, or the dip comes back. Paver repair has its own page.

This is one of the quiet advantages of pavers. The crew lifts a section by hand and sets it aside, the trench gets dug, and once the pipe is fixed the base is rebuilt and the same stones go back down. No saw cuts, and no gray patch left in the middle of the drive. Ask for a few spare pavers from the original batch at the end of the job, since color shifts a little between production runs.

You can get a design rendering and a realistic price range from a photo. A fixed quote needs someone on site, because the contractor has to measure the real area, read the grade and see how a truck reaches the work. The visit is free, and nothing obliges you to go ahead afterwards.