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Techo-Bloc Home Additions & ADU: The Pasadena Owner’s Guide
If you’re planning a home addition or ADU in Pasadena and want Techo-Bloc pavers, wall systems, or slabs as part of the hardscape, you’re looking at an installed range of $45,000 – $130,000 depending on the size of the addition, the Techo-Bloc product line you select, and how much site prep your lot needs. Most owners call us after they’ve already picked a Techo-Bloc paver they love at a local supplier, but the original contractor left them with a foundation or sub-base that wasn’t built to hold it long-term. We see cracked paver seams, sinking of the base course, and drainage failures on Pasadena hillside lots more than most crews would admit. If the surface is shifting or water is pooling where it used to drain, the issue is rarely the Techo-Bloc product itself, it’s what’s underneath it.
A written price comes before any crew touches your property. That’s how Graham Stein runs every project at Elmstead Remodeling Pasadena. The price you see on paper is the price you pay at the end – no footnotes.
Which Techo-Bloc Models This Applies To
Techo-Bloc makes several paver and wall lines that show up frequently on Pasadena ADUs and additions. The Blu 60 slab, the Blu 80 paver, the Mista paver, and the Semma modular paver are the four we specify most often for driveways, patios, and walkways attached to new living space. For retaining walls and planter borders, the Mini-Creta wall system and the Raffinato wall series are common. Each of these lines uses different thickness specs. Blu 60 slabs run 60mm thick, Blu 80 pavers run 80mm, and Mista pavers are typically 60mm or 80mm depending on the application, vehicle load or pedestrian load. The compatibility gotcha most owners hit is that Techo-Bloc color batches shift slightly between production runs. If you’re adding onto an existing Techo-Bloc surface, we recommend ordering from a single production lot or pulling a sample from the supplier before we lay anything. The second gotcha is joint spacing. Techo-Bloc’s modular systems rely on specific gap widths to keep the pattern repeating without drift. A handyman who runs the joints too tight or too wide ends up with a surface that visually wanders off the original grid.
Elmstead Remodeling Pasadena is an independent service provider. We’re not affiliated with Techo-Bloc, and we don’t sell OEM part programs. We buy Techo-Bloc products through local Pasadena-area suppliers and install them according to the manufacturer’s base and joint specifications. If you’re repairing a section rather than building new, we’ll match the existing paver line and the existing color as closely as the current production runs allow, and we’ll tell you honestly if the match will be visible before you spend a dollar.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Techo-Bloc Home Additions & ADU Is Failing
- Pavers rocking underfoot. This is almost always a base-course failure, not a paver failure. In Pasadena’s clay-heavy soil, water expands the subgrade before it drains, and a base that was never compacted properly will shift. The pavers are fine; the support layer underneath them is not.
- Sand washing out of the joints after rain. Polymeric sand has a lifespan. In Pasadena’s wet winters, lower-quality joint sand breaks down in 2 to 5 years. Once the joints widen, the pavers start drifting and the pattern opens up.
- Standing water on the surface 24 hours after rain. Techo-Bloc pavers are permeable only if the base underneath is permeable. A properly sloped sub-base drains. If water pools, the slope was missed or the base course has settled into a depression.
- Edge courses separating from the border. The pavers along the outside edge of a patio or driveway carry the lateral load. Without a proper edge restraint system, they spread outward under pressure and the border pulls away.
- Efflorescence or white haze that keeps coming back. A light white dust is normal for new concrete pavers. A recurring haze that returns every season indicates moisture moving through the paver from below, usually trapped by a base that isn’t draining.
See the difference
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
For a Techo-Bloc home addition or ADU in Pasadena, the $45,000 – $130,000 range covers the full scope: demolition of the failing surface if needed, removal of the old base material, re-grading and compaction of the subgrade, new base course to spec, edge restraints, Techo-Bloc pavers or slabs, polymeric sand, and final compaction. Where the project falls in that range depends on square footage, the Techo-Bloc product line you choose, the condition of the existing sub-base, and whether retaining walls or drainage corrections are part of the work.
We don’t give verbal estimates that drift. You’ll get a written line-item price before any work starts, and the line items won’t change unless you change the scope. Every project carries the 365-Day Done Right Promise. If it’s not done right after the job is complete, we make it right. That promise covers the labor and the installed product. Techo-Bloc’s own product warranty travels with the materials independently, so if a paver fails due to a manufacturing defect, the manufacturer’s coverage applies separately from our workmanship warranty.
DIY or Call Us?
You can safely check a few things yourself before you call anyone. If pavers are rocking, lay a 4-foot level across the surface and see if it rocks with a gap underneath. If standing water is the issue, photograph it 24 hours after the next rain. Those two things tell us a lot. What we don’t recommend is pulling up pavers and re-compacting a base course by hand. The compaction spec matters. A hand tamper won’t reach what a plate compactor reaches, and a Pasadena addition or ADU pad that’s under-compacted will fail again within one rainy season. The same goes for mixing and applying polymeric sand incorrectly. Too much water at the wrong time and you’ve locked a haze into the joints that’s nearly impossible to remove cleanly.
If the surface is heaved, cracked at the edges, or the water isn’t draining, call (626) 714-2992. One of us will come out, walk the site with you, and tell you what’s actually under the pavers before anyone opens up the ground.
FAQs
The pavers themselves will last 30 to 50 years or more. What fails first in Pasadena is the base underneath and the joint sand. The base course typically needs resetting or replacing every 15 to 25 years depending on drainage and soil conditions. Call (626) 714-2992 for a site inspection if you suspect the base is moving.
Yes, if the failure is localized. We can pull up the affected section, correct the base, and relay the pavers. The honest caveat is color matching. Techo-Bloc batches shift, so a repair may show a subtle seam where the old pavers meet the new ones. We’ll tell you what to expect before we start. Call (626) 714-2992 and we’ll walk the site together.
Most Pasadena addition and ADU hardscape corrections take 5 to 10 working days from demolition through final compaction, depending on square footage and how much of the old base has to come out. Rain can extend the schedule. We schedule around the family’s quiet hours where possible and leave the site clean each day. Call (626) 714-2992 for a written timeline.
We don’t warehouse Techo-Bloc on site. We order through local Pasadena-area suppliers as part of your written scope, which means the product arrives fresh from the production lot and hasn’t been sitting in a yard. We also work with KraftMaid, Cambria, and Silestone when your addition includes kitchen or bath finishes. Call (626) 714-2992 to discuss the full project.
If you want a written price before any work starts, a crew that wears shoe covers and lays down drop cloths inside your Pasadena home, and a photo of the clean-up before we leave, call (626) 714-2992. We’ll schedule a walkthrough and give you the number before anyone swings a hammer.
Written by Graham Stein, Owner, Elmstead Remodeling Pasadena at Elmstead Remodeling Pasadena, serving Pasadena and nearby areas.
