Driveway pavers in Encino
A driveway built for a long approach and a heavy car.
On a set back Encino lot the driveway is the first thing anyone reads about the house. We connect you with a licensed contractor who builds it to stay flat for decades.
Three choices decide how a long drive looks
At forty feet of approach, small decisions start to show. These three matter more than the color.
Unit size
Large units give a calmer surface over distance. Small ones multiply the joint lines until they read as texture.
Pattern direction
A field running with the drive makes it look longer. Running across, it looks shorter and wider.
The border
A soldier course in a contrasting tone keeps the edge crisp against lawn and tires. Cheap detail, big effect.
A curve measures bigger than it looks
A circular drive is the signature job on the flat estate lots. It is also the one most often underestimated. Nine hundred square feet is a modest circle, and a motor court can double it.
The other trap is the turn. A tight inner circle pushes cars onto the lawn, so a good layout checks the swing of the longest car in the household before the curve is set. Ask for the measured area on the quote, not an estimate from the street.
What goes in under it
The stone is the last few hours of the job. Whether the drive is still flat in ten years is decided below it.
- Dig to depth. Deeper than a patio, planned for the soil on your lot.
- Fabric and gravel. Geotextile, then aggregate compacted in lifts.
- Set the fall. Water has to leave somewhere useful.
- Sand bed and stone. Then cuts at every edge.
- Lock it in. Edge restraint, compaction, joint sand.
- 1Pavers, with sand swept into the joints to lock them together
- 2Bedding sand, a thin screeded layer the pavers sit in
- 3Gravel base, compacted in layers, deeper under a driveway than a patio
- 4Geotextile fabric, keeps the gravel from sinking into the soil
- 5Subgrade, the native soil, compacted before anything goes on it
- 6Edge restraint, holds the edge so the paving cannot creep outward
- 7The fall, the surface slopes away from the house so water runs off
Below the reservoir, water is the job
South of the boulevard the ground is sandstone and shale bedrock. Digging is slower, and the base gets benched into the slope instead of laid flat on it.
On a canyon lot the runoff does not start at your property line. It arrives. Most hillside drives need a channel drain at the garage and a place for that water to go.
Hillside grading in Los Angeles is treated as engineered grading, and a dig past two feet deep or 50 cubic yards needs a permit from LADBS (LAMC Sec. 91.106.1.2). The contractor should say at the site visit whether yours does.
Out with the cracked concrete
Most Encino driveway jobs start by breaking out an old slab or asphalt. Removal is its own line on the quote, priced by area and thickness. Even a sound slab usually comes out, because pavers laid over it raise the surface at the garage and the street, and the slab keeps cracking underneath. Asphalt always comes out.
What a paver driveway costs in Encino
Area decides the total on an Encino lot. Removal, grading, retaining and drainage are separate lines so nothing hides in a rate.
| Driveway | Measured area | Installed |
|---|---|---|
| Straight two car approach | 400 to 600 sq ft | $6,400 to $15,000 |
| Long approach, set back house | 700 to 1,000 sq ft | $11,200 to $25,000 |
| Circular drive | 900 to 1,600 sq ft | $14,400 to $40,000 |
| Circular drive plus motor court | 1,600 to 2,600 sq ft | $25,600 to $65,000 |
Driveway questions
How much does a paver driveway cost in Encino?
About $16 to $25 a square foot installed. On an Encino lot the area moves the total far more than the stone does: a straight two car approach runs 400 to 600 square feet, a circular drive is commonly 900 to 1,600, and a motor court can push past 2,000. Breaking out an old slab, grading, and a drain at the garage are extra lines on top. The table above shows the usual ranges for each kind of driveway.
Are pavers or concrete better for a driveway?
For a long approach, pavers usually come out ahead over the years. A slab that size needs control joints and still tends to crack as the ground moves under it, while an interlocked paver surface flexes instead, and a section that settles can be lifted and reset. Concrete is cheaper to pour and a little easier to keep clean. When the budget is tight, some owners pave the part the street sees and keep plain concrete near the garage.
Can pavers take heavy vehicles?
Yes, when the base is built for them. A driveway base goes deeper than a patio base and is compacted in layers, and driveway pavers are usually thicker than patio units. The interlock spreads a wheel load across the stones around it rather than onto one spot. If you expect delivery trucks, an RV or a heavy pickup, say so at the site visit so the base depth is set for that load.
How long does a driveway take?
Three to seven working days for most drives. Removing the old surface takes about a day, the base one or two, and laying and cutting the rest. A circular drive with a motor court runs longer, and a hillside job longer again if there is retaining or a drain to put in. Plan on parking on the street for the week.
Do I need a permit for a driveway in Encino?
Replacing the driveway on your own lot at ground level is usually exempt from a building permit, since the city's code exempts driveways not more than 30 inches above grade (Sec. 91.106.2 of the LA code). The part at the street is different. The apron that crosses the parkway to the curb sits in the public right of way, and building, rebuilding or widening it needs an A-Permit from the Bureau of Engineering. In R1 and RE zones a residential apron has to be between 10 and 18 feet wide, and on a street classed as an Avenue or Boulevard, LADOT signs off first. Trimming the roots of a street tree needs its own StreetsLA permit.
Can I drive on it the same day?
Often, because nothing has to cure. Unlike concrete, a paver drive is ready once the joints are sanded and the surface is compacted. The exception is polymeric joint sand, which needs time to set after it is wetted, so many contractors ask you to keep cars off for a day or two. Ask which sand went in.
What about oil stains?
Catch them early. Fresh oil lifts out with an absorbent like cat litter followed by a degreaser, while old stains are much harder. A sealed surface resists them far better. And if a stain simply will not come out, that one paver can be lifted and swapped for a spare, which is the best reason to keep a few from the original batch.
Should the driveway be sealed?
On a driveway it is worth weighing. Tires, oil drips and leaf litter from mature trees all mark a surface that sees traffic every day, and a penetrating sealer makes cleaning a lot easier. It will not rescue a weak base. Let a new drive weather for a while before sealing so any white bloom on the surface has time to wash out, then plan to reapply every few years.
Get a fixed price on your driveway
Send a photo from the street. A design rendering comes back within 24 hours, then a licensed contractor measures and quotes it in writing.