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Unilock Home Additions & ADU: The Los Angeles Owner’s Guide
Unilock home additions and ADU projects across Los Angeles typically run from $53,100 to $153,400 depending on square footage, foundation work, and finish level. We install Unilock paver systems as part of these builds, so if you’ve got a failing patio, walkway, or retaining wall tied into your addition, we can handle it. Most owners discover the problem when pavers start sinking or separating at the seam where the addition meets the original hardscape.
Los Angeles soil is the quiet culprit here. The clay-heavy ground in neighborhoods like Sherman Oaks and Woodland Hills expands and contracts through our wet-dry cycles, and over a decade or two that movement chews through edge restraints and base layers. The pavers themselves rarely fail first. What fails is what’s underneath them.
Which Unilock Models This Applies To
The pavers most common in Los Angeles additions are Unilock’s Thornbury, Brussels Block, and Richcliff lines. Each has different joint widths and base requirements, and mixing them without adjusting the bedding layer causes the exact settling problems we see on job sites every month. Thornbury runs a 3mm joint and needs a sharper bedding sand, while Brussels Block’s 6mm joint forgives more base movement. If your addition has a mix of both from a previous contractor, that’s your problem right there.
We’re an independent Los Angeles contractor, not affiliated with Unilock, but we install their full hardscape line. We can match existing pavers by color code, not just by eye. Unilock stamps a lot number on the pallet, but after a few California summers, the UV fade means a fresh pallet of the same color won’t match what’s been in the ground. We account for that before we quote, not after the first pallet shows up.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Unilock Home Additions & ADU Is Failing
- Edge pavers pulling away from the addition’s foundation – the edge restraint failed or was never installed correctly, and the whole field is slowly walking outward.
- Low spots holding water after rain – base material has washed out beneath the pavers, and in Los Angeles’ winter rain bursts, that erosion accelerates fast.
- Visible sand loss between joints – polymeric sand breaks down under UV exposure here faster than in coastal climates; if you can see gaps, water’s already working on the base.
- Pavers rocking when you step on them – the bedding layer has unevenly settled, usually from improper compaction or tree roots from mature Los Angeles landscaping.
- Cracks running through multiple pavers in a line – structural movement below the surface, not a single broken stone; that’s a base or drainage problem, not a materials problem.
See the difference
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
A paver hardscape replacement attached to a Los Angeles home addition or ADU runs $4,130 to $12,980 for typical patio scope. If the failure has damaged the addition’s foundation or the ADU’s slab, you’re looking at the full addition range of $53,100 to $153,400. What drives cost: depth of excavation, whether the old base is salvageable, drainage corrections, and paver style.
Every quote from us is written and line-itemed before work starts. That’s our standard, not an upgrade you negotiate. It includes excavation, base material, bedding sand, pavers, edge restraints, compaction, and cleanup. We state exactly what our 365-Day Done Right Promise covers: if the installation isn’t right within a year of completion, we fix it at no cost to you.
DIY or Call Us?
You can safely check your own pavers: walk the perimeter, look for separation at the edges, note any rocking stones, and mark low spots after rain. That information helps us quote accurately over the phone. What you shouldn’t do is attempt to lift and reset a failed section yourself. Without re-compacting the base and re-establishing the edge restraint, you’ll be back in the same spot within two seasons, and now you’ve spent your weekends on it.
Paver work isn’t a high-tension safety risk like garage springs, but it is a back-injury risk. A 60mm Richcliff paver weighs about 30 pounds, and you’re moving hundreds of them. We send a uniformed, background-checked crew, and you’ll get each technician’s name and photo before they arrive. Call (213) 632-5711 and we’ll come out and tell you what’s actually wrong.
FAQs
Unilock pavers installed correctly in Los Angeles typically hold up 25 to 40 years, though the polymeric sand joints usually need re-sanding every 5 to 8 years because of UV breakdown. The pavers themselves outlast the base if the base was ever done wrong, which is what most replacement work actually addresses. Call (213) 632-5711 for a free estimate on what your project needs.
Yes, if the base is still sound and the failure is limited to edge restraint or isolated settling, we can spot-repair and re-level without doing a full tear-out. If the base has washed out or the failure spans the whole field, replacement is the honest answer and costs less over ten years than patching repeatedly. An on-site look tells us which situation you have.
A typical patio or walkway replacement next to a Los Angeles addition takes 3 to 5 working days from excavation to final compaction. Larger projects tied into a full home addition or ADU build run on the schedule of the whole project, and we’ll give you a calendar before we start, not a guess.
We keep common colors of Brussels Block and Thornbury on hand for match-and-repair jobs, but full replacement pallets are ordered to spec for your project. We also work with KraftMaid, Cambria, and Silestone for interior finishes on the same addition, so you’re not juggling three contractors for one project.
Written by Isaac Pruett, Owner, Mason Remodeling Co at Mason Remodeling Co Los Angeles, serving Los Angeles and nearby areas.
