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CGI Driveway & Pavers: The San Jose Owner’s Guide
If you own a CGI driveway or paver system in San Jose and a section has cracked, settled, or started separating, we stock and install CGI-compatible replacement pavers and can typically complete most paver driveway repairs for $826 – $2,950 depending on the damaged area. The parts are matched to your existing CGI color, size, and finish so the repair blends with the surrounding surface. Most San Jose homeowners discover a failing paver section after a winter storm, when water pools in a low spot, or when a delivery truck rolls over a corner and leaves a visible crack. Hairline cracks at the edges of individual pavers are often the first clue that the base underneath has shifted, not that the paver itself failed. Once the base moves, the CGI pavers on top start grinding against each other, and what started as a cosmetic line becomes a loose, rocking section that catches a toe or a tire.
Which CGI Models This Applies To
CGI pavers are manufactured in several product lines, and the replacement part has to match your specific series, not just the color. The most common CGI lines we see in San Jose driveways are the Holland Stone, the City Stone, and the Plaza Stone profiles, each with different edge treatments and dimensional tolerances. A Holland Stone paver will not seat correctly next to a City Stone paver even if the color looks identical under a wet towel. The quickest way to identify your series is to flip over a loose paver: CGI stamps the series name and the manufacturing date on the underside. If the stamp has worn smooth, measure the paver’s thickness with a tape measure. Holland Stone pavers run 60mm thick, while Plaza Stone pavers run 80mm, and that 20mm difference changes how the base course has to be prepped. For the OEM-versus-aftermarket decision: CGI pavers are still in production, so we order OEM replacements when the paver is still under warranty or when the color match has to be dead-on. For older jobs where the paver has been discontinued, we source quality aftermarket equivalents and do a side-by-side color match under daylight before we order. One compatibility gotcha: CGI’s color lot codes change every 18 to 24 months, so a paver ordered today in “Charcoal Sand” will be slightly lighter or darker than pavers laid three years ago. We factor that into the repair plan and often pull pavers from a less-visible section, like behind the garbage bins, and move them to the visible repair area, then put the new pavers in the hidden spot.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your CGI Driveway & Pavers Is Failing
- Rocking or wobbling pavers underfoot. A paver that shifts when you step on it means the sand bedding underneath has washed out. In San Jose, this usually follows a heavy rain year, when water finds a seam at the driveway edge and erodes the bedding from below.
- Crescent-shaped cracks at the paver corners. Corners crack when the pavers are rubbing against each other, which means the base has shifted and the pavers are no longer locked together by the edge restraint. Left alone, one cracked corner becomes three, then the whole section spreads.
- Standing water that used to drain. CGI pavers are laid with a slight slope, typically 1 to 2 percent, to shed water. When a section settles and water starts pooling, the base under that section is compacting unevenly. The pooling water then accelerates the freeze-thaw cycle we get in San Jose’s occasional cold snaps, and the damage speeds up.
- Fading beyond the normal patina. CGI pavers use an integral color system that holds up well in California sun, but when the surface starts showing chalky white spots or uneven fading, the sealer has failed and the paver face is oxidizing. That’s a maintenance repair, not a structural one, and we can usually restore it with a deep clean and reseal rather than full replacement.
- Gaps appearing between pavers that were tight for years. Sand joint loss is the quiet killer of paver driveways. When the joints lose their sand, each paver starts working independently, and the interlock that gives the driveway its strength disappears one rainstorm at a time.
See the difference
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
For a CGI driveway or paver repair in San Jose, our installed pricing generally runs:
- Small paver repairs (1 – 10 pavers replaced): $826 – $1,620
- Mid-size section repair (20 – 50 square feet): $1,620 – $2,475
- Large section rebuild with base recompaction: $2,475 – $2,950
Every quote includes the replacement pavers, sand or gravel base material, sand joint refill, compaction, and cleanup. What drives the price up: how deep the base has failed, whether we need to haul out old base material, and whether the damaged section is next to a retaining wall or other structure that requires hand work instead of machine work. We write the price on the quote before any work starts, so the number you approve is the number on the final invoice. If the repair fails within 365 days, we come back and fix it at no charge, covered in writing on every project.
DIY or Call Us?
You can safely inspect a paver driveway yourself. Walk the surface and feel for rocking pavers, check the joints for missing sand, and look at the edges to see if the perimeter restraint has shifted. What we caution against is lifting pavers and rebuilding a section without the right gear. Paver base compaction matters more than the pavers themselves: if the base is undercompacted, the new pavers will sink within a few months and you’ll be looking at the same crack again. A plate compactor is not a tool most homeowners keep in the garage, and the 60 to 80 pounds per square foot of compaction that CGI specs recommend requires one. The other issue is drainage: if the repair doesn’t restore the original slope, water will pool in the new section and the base will erode again. For anything beyond re-sanding a few joints, call us at (669) 274-2362 and we’ll come out, give you a written price, and tell you exactly what’s happening under the pavers before we touch anything. Give me the real problem and I’ll give you the real number.
FAQs
A properly installed CGI paver driveway with a sound base should last 25 to 40 years in San Jose’s mild climate, with joint re-sanding every 3 to 5 years. The pavers themselves rarely fail; it’s the sand base and the joint sand that need maintenance over time. If your pavers are cracking at the corners or rocking, the paver isn’t the weak point, the base underneath it is. Call (669) 274-2362 and we’ll tell you what’s actually going on.
Yes, individual CGI pavers can be replaced without redoing the entire driveway, and most San Jose repairs we do involve 10 pavers or fewer. The key is matching the series, color lot, and thickness, and we pull from less-visible sections of your own driveway when the color match has to be perfect. A full driveway replacement is only necessary when the base has failed across a large area, and we’ll always tell you if that’s the case before recommending the bigger job.
A small paver repair of 10 pavers or fewer typically takes 4 to 6 hours including base prep, compaction, and joint sanding. Larger section rebuilds of 20 to 50 square feet usually run a full day. We give you a defined arrival window before any work starts, and a real person answers the phone 24/7 if you need to reach us the day of the job.
We don’t keep large pallets of CGI pavers on hand because the series, color, and lot code have to match your existing driveway, and stocking every combination would mean a warehouse of inventory that sits in the sun. What we do is identify your series and color lot on the first visit, order the exact match, and schedule the repair once the pavers arrive. For common San Jose CGI profiles in standard colors, we can often have the pavers within 3 to 5 business days. If you’ve also got cabinetry or countertop work in the house, we install KraftMaid, Cambria, and Silestone as part of our full remodeling scope.
Written by Trevor Nash, Owner, Penhallow Remodeling San Jose at Penhallow Remodeling San Jose, serving San Jose and nearby areas.
