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Techo-Bloc Driveway & Pavers: The San Francisco Owner’s Guide
We install and repair Techo-Bloc driveway pavers and paver patios throughout San Francisco. A full paver driveway installation in San Francisco typically runs $8,260 – $21,240 depending on square footage, base condition, and the specific Techo-Bloc product line. Most homeowners first notice a problem when a paver sinks, shifts, or a section of the driveway develops a low spot that collects water after rain. What they’re actually seeing is usually a base failure underneath the pavers, not the Techo-Bloc paver itself giving out.
Elmstead Remodeling San Francisco is an independent contractor and not affiliated with Techo-Bloc. We work with their product lines because the specs are consistent, replacement pieces are available, and the warranties are something a homeowner can actually verify. If a single paver is cracked or a section of your driveway has settled, we can match the exact Techo-Bloc series and color, pull the affected area, rebuild the base, and relay the pavers so the repair disappears into the rest of the surface.
Which Techo-Bloc Models This Applies To
Techo-Bloc makes several paver lines that show up regularly on San Francisco driveways: the Blu 60 and Blu 80 slabs for modern flat-surface driveways, the Industria and Hexa lines for residential driveways with a more traditional paver look, and the Mista and Victorien lines we see on older San Francisco homes where owners matched a historic facade. Each line has different dimensions, thicknesses, and joint spacing. The Blu 80 slab, for example, is a full 80mm thick and is approved for vehicular traffic when installed over a compacted aggregate base. The Blu 60 at 60mm is thinner and better suited to patios and walkways unless the base is built to a higher structural spec.
The fastest way to identify what you have is to look at the underside of a paver that is already loose or find a leftover piece from the original install. Techo-Bloc stamps their product name on most lines. If you cannot find a stamp, measure the paver thickness. That number, combined with the top dimensions and the surface texture, will usually tell us the series. For aftermarket pieces, there is no real aftermarket for Techo-Bloc pavers: it is a proprietary mold system, and anything that is not Techo-Bloc will not match the joint spacing, the chamfer, or the color blend. We order replacement pavers directly from Techo-Bloc distribution and check the dye lot so the repair section does not look like a patch.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Techo-Bloc Driveway & Pavers Are Failing
- A paver has cracked or spalled on the surface. This is usually impact damage from a dropped tool or a vehicle edge load, but in coastal San Francisco neighborhoods, salt air can accelerate surface wear on pavers that were sealed with the wrong product.
- A section of the driveway has settled or dipped. The pavers are fine; the base underneath has eroded or was never compacted properly. We see this in the Sunset District where sandy soil and drainage clay create uneven settling patterns within the first five years of an install.
- Weeds are pushing up through the joints. Not just a cosmetic problem. It means the joint sand has washed out or was never installed at the correct depth, and the pavers are starting to move independently of each other.
- Water ponds in a low area after rain. San Francisco’s wet winters expose base grading problems quickly. A proper Techo-Bloc driveway should drain to a planned edge or a channel drain, never hold standing water.
- Edge pavers are drifting outward toward a lawn or planting bed. The edge restraint has failed, and now the whole field is slowly spreading. This gets worse every time a car turns onto the driveway.
See the difference
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After
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
For a repair of a settled section or a cracked paver, San Francisco homeowners are typically looking at $850 – $3,500 depending on square footage and base work. A complete paver driveway installation runs $8,260 – $21,240. A paver patio runs $4,130 – $12,980. Those numbers include removal of the existing pavers, base excavation and replacement with compacted aggregate, the new Techo-Bloc pavers, edge restraints, polymeric joint sand, and a written price before any work starts.
What drives the range is square footage, access to the site, whether we are on a steep San Francisco grade that requires retaining edges, and whether the base needs full reconstruction or just spot repair. We do not charge for the estimate, and the price you approve is the price you pay. The 365-Day Done Right Promise applies to every paver job: if the driveway settles, shifts, or shows a defect after the work is complete, we make it right.
DIY or Call Us?
Pavers are one of the few exterior materials where a careful homeowner can do a small repair and have it turn out fine. If one paver is cracked and you have a spare from the original install, you can pull it with a flat pry bar and drop the new one in. If the joint sand has washed out, you can sweep new polymeric sand into the joints and mist it with water. Those are genuinely doable.
Where DIY goes wrong is when the base has failed. If the pavers have settled, lifting and resetting the surface without rebuilding the base underneath means the same dip comes back in six months. We also see homeowners buy a color that does not match the original dye lot and permanently change the look of the driveway. If you are not sure whether it is a surface issue or a base failure, call (831) 480-4497 and we will look at photos or come out. The estimate is free, and Graham Stein will write out what it needs before anything is ordered.
FAQs
Techo-Bloc pavers themselves are rated for 25 – 40 years of service, and in San Francisco’s climate the pavers often last the life of the home. What fails first is always the base underneath: the wet winters, clay soils in the western neighborhoods, and the freeze-thaw cycling in higher elevations near Twin Peaks mean a poorly compacted base will show settlement within three to five years. The paver does not wear out; the ground beneath it gives way. Call (831) 480-4497 for a free assessment of what is actually failing under your driveway.
No. Once a paver cracks, it has lost its structural integrity and will continue to break under load. The repair is to remove the cracked paver, check the base underneath it, replace the paver from the same Techo-Bloc series and dye lot, and re-sand the joints. That is a same-day job when we have the replacement piece on the truck.
A single-paver replacement or a small joint repair is usually done in one visit, about one to two hours. A settled section of driveway that needs base rebuilding can take one to two days. A full driveway installation runs three to five days depending on square footage and access.
We stock common repair sizes and colors for the Techo-Bloc lines we install most often in San Francisco, and we order specific dye lots from Techo-Bloc distribution for full driveway projects. If you have a leftover paver from your original installation, keep it. That piece is the fastest way for us to identify and match what is already in your driveway.
Written by Graham Stein, Owner, Elmstead Remodeling San Francisco at Elmstead Remodeling San Francisco, serving San Francisco and nearby areas.
