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PGT Driveway & Pavers: The Dallas Owner’s Guide
A PGT paver driveway in Dallas typically costs $7,000 to $18,000 installed, depending on square footage, the specific PGT paver line, and how much of the existing base can be salvaged. We stock PGT-compatible pavers and edge restraints on our trucks, and we can usually have a crew out within a few days of your call to (432) 302-8761. Most Dallas homeowners discover a problem the hard way: a paver shifts under a tire, a corner of the driveway sinks after a hard rain, or the edge restraint finally gives out along the lawn line and pavers start wandering into the grass.
What surprises people is that pavers themselves rarely fail. It’s almost always the base underneath or the edge holding everything in place. In Dallas, the heavy clay soil swells and contracts with our wet springs and dry summers, and over five to ten years that movement works pavers loose in a way you’d never see in, say, sandy Houston soil. We see it every week in neighborhoods from Lake Highlands to Kessler Park.
Which PGT Models This Applies To
PGT is better known for impact windows and doors, but their Unilock-manufactured paver and hardscape lines are what you’ll find underfoot on a lot of Dallas driveways built in the last decade. The paver side of PGT includes tumbled concrete pavers, paver slabs in 16×16 and 24×24 formats, and permeable pavers designed for Dallas stormwater rules. If you’re not sure what you have, flip a loose paver and look at the underside. PGT pavers carry a molded-in stamp with the series code, usually a letter prefix followed by four digits. The two we match most often in Dallas are the Artline slab series and the Town Hall tumbled paver.
Here’s the compatibility gotcha Dallas owners hit constantly: PGT switched their edge restraint profile about six years ago. The older restraint was a 6-inch aluminum L-edge. The newer is an 8-inch composite restraint that locks into the paver with a different lip. They do not interchange. If your driveway was installed before roughly 2019, you need the aluminum profile, and if you try to force the composite on, the outer course of pavers will pop loose within a season. We keep both on the truck, because guessing wrong on a Dallas driveway means a callback nobody wants.
On the OEM-versus-aftermarket question: for a PGT driveway, we almost always recommend OEM-compatible pavers if the driveway is newer and the existing pavers still have good color. Aftermarket generics from the big box stores will look close in the catalog and wrong in your driveway sun. After about eight years of Texas sun, however, original pavers have faded enough that a quality aftermarket match from a Texas hardscape supplier can actually blend better than factory-fresh OEM stock. We’ll show you samples against your existing driveway before we order anything.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your PGT Driveway & Pavers Is Failing
- Sinking or dipping around the edges: This means the gravel base at the perimeter has eroded or was undercompacted from day one. In Dallas clay, water runs under the edge and the outer two or three courses drop. Left alone, it gets worse every wet season.
- A paver that rocks when you step on it: Usually a washed-out sand joint or a broken edge restraint. One rocking paver is easy to reset. A band of them rocking along one line means the restraint has let go underneath and the whole edge needs to be relaid.
- Gaps opening between pavers after rain: Joint sand is doing its job poorly, usually because the wrong sand was used, or ants have tunneled through it. In Dallas, we recommend polymeric sand, which sets firm and resists both ants and washout far better than plain masonry sand.
- Pavers shifted sideways toward the lawn: This is a failed edge restraint, plain and simple. The pavers aren’t the problem; the thing holding them is gone. We see it constantly where driveways meet St. Augustine grass and the mower has been nicking the edge for years.
- White hazy film on the paver surface: That’s efflorescence, salt and minerals working up through the concrete paver. It’s cosmetic, but it tells you water is moving through the base in ways it shouldn’t. It also tends to get worse in Dallas because our water is hard and our summers bake the moisture out fast.
See the difference
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
A full PGT driveway replacement in Dallas runs $7,000 to $18,000, which covers removal of the old pavers and broken base, recompaction, new bedding sand, the pavers themselves, edge restraint, and polymeric joint sand. Partial repairs, like resetting a failed edge on one side or swapping out 20 or 30 damaged pavers, usually come in between $800 and $2,500 depending on how much base work the spot needs. The big price driver is what’s under the pavers. If the original contractor skimped on base and the clay has shifted, you’re paying for dig-out and proper recompaction, not just paver swapping.
Every PGT driveway job we quote gets a written price before any work starts. That price includes the parts, the labor, the haul-off, and the base work. It does not change mid-job unless we find something structural that no reasonable contractor could have seen before opening the ground, and if we do, we stop and bring it to you in writing before touching anything else. The work is covered by our 365-Day Done Right Promise. If a paver shifts or the edge fails within a year of completion, we come back and make it right at no charge.
What we don’t cover is what nobody can: tree roots that grow after installation and push a paver up, or a car that catches an edge at 15 miles an hour. We state exclusions plainly on every written guarantee, because you should know exactly what you’re getting before you sign anything.
DIY or Call Us?
Replacing a single cracked paver is a reasonable Saturday project if you can lift it without breaking the adjacent pavers, and you match the color. Rebuilding an edge or fixing a sunken section is not. The work requires cutting and resetting the restraint, recompacting the base in lifts, and releveling a string line across the affected area. Do it wrong and the pavers will look fine for about six weeks, until the first Dallas downpour finds the weak spot and everything shifts again. We’ve fixed a lot of DIY edge repairs in Preston Hollow where the homeowner did the hard part and then missed the base work that actually mattered.
Pavers themselves aren’t dangerous to handle, but wresting a 60-pound concrete slab out of a tight driveway absolutely can strain a back or crush a finger. If you’re not sure what you’re looking at, call (432) 302-8761 and describe it. We’ll tell you honestly whether it’s a $400 repair or one you can handle yourself with a pry bar and an afternoon. You should know who is coming, what it costs, and what happens if something goes wrong before we ever pick up a tool.
FAQs
A properly installed PGT paver driveway lasts 20 to 30 years in Dallas, with the pavers themselves often outliving the base underneath them. The weak link in our climate is the base material and edge restraint, not the paver. Plan on edge work around year 10 to 12 and a possible base repair around year 15. Call (432) 302-8761 for a free estimate if your driveway is showing its age.
Yes, most failures are repairable. A failed edge restraint, a sunken corner, or a band of rocking pavers can all be addressed without tearing out the whole driveway. Full replacement is only necessary when the base itself has failed across a large area or when you have dozens of cracked pavers scattered throughout. The best way to know is a free site visit, where we’ll tell you what we’d repair, what we’d replace, and why.
A single-course edge repair takes one day. A sunken-section rebuild with base recompaction takes two to three days, including time for the base to settle before we lay pavers back. A full driveway replacement in Dallas usually runs five to seven working days depending on size, access, and weather. We’ll give you a schedule in writing with your estimate.
We stock the two most common PGT paver profiles on our Dallas trucks: the Artline slab and the Town Hall tumbled paver, along with both edge restraint profiles. If you have a less common series or a color we don’t carry, we order from our Texas hardscape suppliers, which usually adds three to five days. Call (432) 302-8761 and we’ll check stock while you’re on the phone.
If your PGT driveway is shifting, sinking, or slowly coming apart at the edges, call Mason Remodeling Co Dallas at (432) 302-8761. We’ll send someone out to look at it, tell you what it needs, and hand you a written price before any work begins. No change orders, no surprises, no guesswork about who’s showing up at your door.
Written by Isaac Pruett, Owner, Mason Remodeling Co Dallas at Mason Remodeling Co Dallas, serving Dallas and nearby areas.
