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Unilock Driveway & Pavers: The San Antonio Owner’s Guide
We stock and install Unilock-compatible driveway pavers and repair parts across San Antonio, with typical paver driveway installations running $7,000 – $18,000 depending on square footage, base condition, and access. Most paver failures we see aren’t the Unilock units themselves breaking – it’s the base shifting beneath them, edge restraints letting go, or joint sand washing out after a hard San Antonio gully-washer. You’ll notice it as a low spot that holds water after rain, a paver that rocks underfoot, or an edge row that’s started to drift into the lawn.
Before you tear anything apart, know this: Unilock pavers are engineered concrete units rated for decades of service. When a Unilock driveway fails in San Antonio, it’s almost always an installation or base-prep problem, not a product defect. Isaac Pruett has pulled up enough failed driveways across the city to tell you exactly what’s underneath the problem before we ever quote a repair.
Which Unilock Models This Applies To
Unilock runs several paver lines, and each has its own dimensional spec. The big three we work with in San Antonio are the Brussels Block series (the classic tumbled-look rectangle, usually 6 1/2″ x 9 1/2″ or 7 3/4″ x 9 1/2″), the Richcliff line (longer plank-style units, often 12″ to 24″ lengths), and the Umbriano series (a granite-look paver with a tighter joint). If you’re matching existing pavers, flip one over and look at the underside – Unilock stamps most units with a mold number or series name. That stamp is the single most reliable way to match a replacement paver, because color lot variations mean a Brussels Block from 2018 won’t perfectly match one poured in 2024, even if it’s the same color name.
On the OEM-versus-aftermarket question: for Unilock specifically, we recommend staying with genuine Unilock units for anything visible. Aftermarket “compatible” pavers rarely match the surface texture or color-stabilization process Unilock uses, and a mismatched repair looks worse than the original damage. For what’s underneath – the base gravel, the geotextile fabric, the edge restraints – quality commercial equivalents are fine and sometimes better suited to San Antonio’s clay soils, which expand and contract more aggressively than anything a paver manufacturer’s spec sheet assumes.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Unilock Driveway & Pavers Is Failing
- Water pooling in the same spot after rain. This means the base has settled or washed out beneath that section. In San Antonio’s flash-storm climate, water pooling against a paver surface is the earliest warning sign that the compacted base is eroding from underneath.
- A paver that rocks or clicks when stepped on. That’s a point load on a paver with no support beneath it. Every month it stays loose, it grinds a little more sand and fines out of the joint, and the problem widens in a cascade.
- Edge pavers drifting outward into the lawn or flower bed. Edge restraint is either missing, improperly pinned, or was never installed. Once the edge lets go, the entire field loses lateral compression and individual pavers start walking.
- Joint sand disappearing, with weeds or ants moving in. Joint sand locks the pavers together. When it washes out and gets replaced by organic matter, the whole surface loses structural interlock. Ant colonies under pavers are a sign the base is loose enough for them to tunnel, which means it’s loose enough to settle.
- Settling or a visible low spot over a utility trench or along a curb. San Antonio’s soil shifts with moisture, and any trench that was backfilled and compacted in a hurry will settle faster than the surrounding ground. A paver driveway will telegraph that settling as a linear dip.
See the difference
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After
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
A full paver driveway install in San Antonio runs $7,000 – $18,000. Smaller repair jobs – a 100-square-foot re-level and re-sand – typically fall in the $900 – $2,500 range depending on base repair needs. What drives the price: total square footage, how much of the old base has to be excavated and rebuilt, whether we’re matching a discontinued Unilock color (that can require sourcing from a salvage or overstock lot), and site access for a skid steer versus hand work.
Every Mason Remodeling Co San Antonio quote is a written, line-item price delivered before any work starts. You’ll see the paver cost, the base material cost, labor, and any disposal fees broken out separately. No verbal estimate that grows, no change order for “unforeseen conditions” unless you’ve specifically approved it in writing. The work is covered by our 365-Day Done Right Promise – if the repair is not right within a year of completion, we make it right at no cost to you. As an independent service provider, we’re not affiliated with Unilock – we simply stock and install their product because it’s the standard we’d put on our own homes.
DIY or Call Us?
Here’s the honest split. You can safely identify the problem: mark the low spots after a rain, check if edge restraints are visible or buried, and note which pavers rock. That diagnostic work helps us give you an accurate quote faster. What you shouldn’t do is start pulling pavers and re-laying them yourself unless you have a plate compactor and a real understanding of base gradation. A driveway that carries vehicle weight needs a properly compacted base, correct slope for drainage, and precise edge restraint – get any one of those wrong and you’ll be redoing the work in two years, which costs more than doing it right the first time.
The job isn’t dangerous in the way a garage spring is, but it is heavy, repetitive, and easy to get wrong. If you’d rather have it done once and done right, call (254) 269-5071 and we’ll come out and look at what you’ve got.
FAQs
The Unilock units themselves typically last 30 to 50 years, but the driveway as a system – base, edge restraint, and joint sand – usually needs meaningful repair every 10 to 15 years in San Antonio’s clay-heavy soil and flash-flood climate. The pavers rarely fail; it’s what’s underneath them that moves. Call (254) 269-5071 if you’re seeing settling >and want a straight answer before it gets worse.
Yes, in most cases. We can pull the pavers in the affected area, re-level and re-compact the base, then re-lay the same pavers with fresh joint sand. This is usually a fraction of full replacement cost. The exception is when the original base was never properly installed everywhere – if the whole field is failing, a full redo is the honest answer. We’ll tell you which one you’re looking at after we inspect it.
A typical repair of 100 to 300 square feet takes one to two days on site. A full driveway replacement in San Antonio typically runs three to five working days depending on size, demo, and weather. You’ll get a schedule in writing before we start, and we call if anything changes – no surprises.
We stock common Unilock series including Brussels Block, Richcliff, and Umbriano, plus base gravel, geotextile fabric, edge restraints, and joint sand on our trucks and in our yard. If we don’t have your specific discontinued color on hand, we’ll locate it and get you a firm delivery date before any work is scheduled. We also work with KraftMaid, Cambria, and Silestone products on our kitchen and bath projects, so if your home needs more than a driveway fix, we can handle it under one roof.
Written by Isaac Pruett, Owner, Mason Remodeling Co San Antonio at Mason Remodeling Co San Antonio, serving San Antonio and nearby areas.
Know who’s coming, know what it costs, know it’s covered – that’s the whole job before the job starts. Call (254) 269-5071 for a free estimate on your Unilock driveway or paver repair.
