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Cambria Driveway & Pavers: The Riverside Owner’s Guide
Cambria-compatible driveway and paver installation in Riverside typically runs $7,000 – $18,000 for a full paver driveway, with partial repairs and section replacements starting around $1,500. We match your existing Cambria paver profile, color, and pattern on the truck, so most replacements are done in one or two visits. The usual discovery goes like this: a corner settles after a heavy rain, a paver cracks under the weight of a parked car, or a section starts wobbling because the sand base (the layer beneath the pavers that keeps them locked together) washed out over time. You’ll notice it first as a low spot that collects water, or a clicking sound when you walk across a section that used to be solid.
Which Cambria Models This Applies To
Cambria makes pavers in a few distinct lines that turn up all over Riverside driveways: the 60mm driveway-grade pavers (often sold as a 3-piece system with a large rectangle, a square, and a half-size unit) and the 80mm commercial-grade slabs some builders use for heavier traffic.
Here’s the compatibility gotcha most homeowners hit: Cambria’s 60mm pavers and 80mm pavers are not interchangeable. If your original driveway was built with 60mm units and you (or a well-meaning handyman) drop in an 80mm paver, it sits proud of the surrounding surface by a full 20mm. You’ll feel it every time you step onto it, and it will catch the edge of a snow shovel or a lawn mower wheel. Conversely, an 80mm driveway patched with 60mm units leaves a shallow depression that freezes differently in winter and collects grit year-round.
The fastest way to identify what you have: lift one paver and check its thickness with a tape measure. 60mm is just under 2-3/8 inches; 80mm is just over 3-1/8 inches. The color and face finish matter too. Cambria offers tumbled, smooth, and a chamfered edge on some series, and matching the finish matters as much as the color in direct sunlight. We explain the OEM versus aftermarket decision plainly at every estimate: genuine Cambria pavers match perfectly and cost more; quality aftermarket units from Belgard or Unilock can save 20 – 30% but will never match a weathered original exactly. If you’re replacing a whole section and re-compacting the base anyway, aftermarket is a reasonable choice. If you’re doing a spot repair on a visible stretch, buy the genuine unit.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Cambria Driveway & Pavers Is Failing
- Low spots that hold water after rain. This means the aggregate base (crushed rock compacted beneath the sand) has settled or washed out in that area. The pavers themselves are almost never the problem; the base is. Riverside’s clay-heavy soil expands and contracts with moisture, which is why local driveways see more settlement than inland communities built on sandier ground.
- Wobbling or “clicking” pavers. When the sand joint filler erodes, pavers lose their interlock and start moving against each other. You’ll hear it when you walk across them. Left alone, the movement widens the joints and accelerates the failure.
- Cracked or chipped paver faces. A single cracked paver under a car tire is usually impact damage or a void in the sand below. If several pavers in a line are cracked, it’s a stress point, which usually means a base problem, not a product problem.
- Weeds or moss growing through the joints. This is your early warning that the joint sand is gone. Once organic material takes root, it pushes pavers apart and holds moisture against the edges, which leads to freeze-thaw spalling in winter.
- Edge pavers drifting outward. Driveway edges need a solid restraint (concrete or paver edging) to hold the whole field in compression. When the restraint fails, the outer pavers start to migrate, and the middle of the driveway will eventually follow.
Replacement Cost & What’s Included
For a full paver driveway replacement in Riverside, budget $7,000 – $18,000 depending on square footage, paver selection, and how much base reconstruction is required. A partial repair, where we remove a settled or cracked section, re-compact the base, and re-lay the pavers with fresh sand joints, typically lands between $750 and $2,500. Here’s the line-item breakdown we hand every homeowner at the estimate, before any work starts:
- Demo and haul-away of existing pavers: $1.50 – $4 per square foot.
- Base excavation, compaction, and fresh aggregate: $2 – $6 per square foot, depending on depth required and access.
- Cambria paver material: $4 – $9 per square foot for the pavers themselves.
- Sand bedding and joint filler: $0.50 – $1.50 per square foot.
- Edge restraint and finish grading: $1 – $3 per linear foot of perimeter.
Every job gets a written price before we start, not a verbal ballpark. The number on day one is the number on the invoice. And every paver installation is covered by our 365-Day Done Right Promise: if the work fails inside the guarantee period, we come back and fix it at no charge, covered in writing on every project.
See the difference
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AfterDIY or Call Us?
A paver driveway is one of the safer driveway repairs to take on yourself, but that does not mean it’s easy. Replacing a single cracked paver is a legitimate weekend job: pry it out with two flat bars, add a little sand, drop in the new unit, and sweep joint sand into the gaps. That’s the extent of what we’d recommend an owner try at home.
Where DIY goes wrong is anything involving the base. If your pavers have settled or drifted, lifting a section and adding sand on top of a failed base gives you a temporary fix that looks fine for six months and fails again after the next winter rain. Proper base repair means excavating to the right depth, running a plate compactor in lifts (compacting the rock in layers, not all at once), and re-establishing the edge restraint. Homeowners rarely own a plate compactor, and a hand tamper will not get the density required for a driveway that holds car weight. If your issue is settlement, cracking, or edge drift, call us at (341) 895-1170. We’ll give you a number before we pick up a tool, that’s just how this works.
FAQs
A properly installed paver driveway with a compacted aggregate base should last 25 – 40 years in Riverside’s climate, with the pavers themselves outlasting the base. What shortens that lifespan in our area is the clay-heavy soil underneath: poor drainage and repeated wet-dry cycles settle the base faster than freeze-thaw would in colder markets. Call (341) 895-1170 to have us look at your base during a free estimate.
Yes, in most cases. If the problem is isolated settlement, a few cracked pavers, or failed edge restraint, we can remove the affected area, rebuild the base, and re-lay the original pavers or matched replacements. A full replacement is only necessary when settlement is widespread or the base was never built to driveway standards in the first place.
A small section repair is usually completed in one day. A full driveway replacement in Riverside typically takes 3 – 5 working days from demo to final compaction and sanding, depending on access and weather. You’ll get a defined arrival window and a completion date in writing before we start.
We maintain working relationships with Cambria, Belgard, and Unilock distributors across the Inland Empire, and we can have the correct profile, color, and finish delivered to your Riverside home before the install date. You never have to source materials yourself. Call (341) 895-1170 for an exact quote on your driveway, estimates are always free.
Contact Penhallow Remodeling Riverside for Cambria Driveway & Pavers
If your driveway has a low spot, a wobble, or a paver that cracked under the car, call us at (341) 895-1170. We’ll schedule a time to look at the base, give you a written price before any work starts, and stand behind the repair with our 365-Day Done Right Promise. Trevor Nash and the crew have put real hours into Riverside driveways, including older homes in the Arlington neighborhood where the clay soil keeps you honest about what’s underneath. Penhallow Remodeling Riverside is an independent service provider, not affiliated with Cambria, and we also stock compatible parts for KraftMaid, Silestone, and Kohler projects. Expect a real person on the phone, a background-checked technician in uniform at the door, and a number you can hold us to.
Written by Trevor Nash, Owner, Penhallow Remodeling Riverside at Penhallow Remodeling Riverside, serving Riverside and nearby areas.
