Burlingame paving contractor
Yes, we lay pavers across Burlingame
Burlingame sits between San Mateo and the airport, with US 101 on the bay side and El Camino Real running the length of town. We come up El Camino Real from San Carlos, which takes us past the long rows of mature eucalyptus that line the road through Burlingame. Those trees are the first clue about what the work here looks like.
The housing is the second. A lot of Burlingame went up in the 1920s and 1930s, and it has been looked after, so you still see original brick entries, stone steps and mortar set walkways in front of houses that are close to a century old. When those surfaces finally go, people do not want them replaced with something that looks nothing like the house. We only work in interlocking pavers and natural stone, so matching into old brick and stone is the normal request rather than a special one. You can see the range of that in the jobs we have finished around here.
What makes a Burlingame job different
Roots. Mature street trees and big garden trees are what make this town look the way it does, and their roots do not stop at the edge of a driveway. Over the years they lift a slab in one corner, crack a walkway across the middle and tilt an old brick path until every joint is a trip hazard. Cutting the roots out is the wrong answer: it can take the tree down with it, and in a lot of towns here the bigger trees are protected anyway.
So the paving has to work around the tree instead. We excavate carefully near the root zone, bring the base up rather than digging the roots out, and lay a paver or brick field that can be lifted and reset later if the roots keep moving. That flexibility is the whole argument for pavers on a treed lot: a slab that lifts has to be broken out, and a paver field that lifts is an afternoon of work. Where the surface meets an older brick entry we match the size and the color as closely as we can, and where it meets a lawn it gets a proper edge restraint so nothing creeps. Start with a free estimate and we will look at the trees with you first.
What we handle here
What we build in Burlingame
Driveway Paving
Burlingame drives tend to be older, narrower and lifted somewhere by a root. We take the old surface out, rebuild the base and lay pavers that can be reset if the tree keeps working. Detail matters on these streets, so a lot of our drives here get a grass or planted strip down the middle or a contrasting border, which suits the older houses better than a plain field. That is our driveway paving in Burlingame.
Walkway Paving
The front path is the surface that gets walked on most and noticed first. Old brick paths here lift at the joints and rock underfoot. We rebuild the base, relay the walkway flat and even, and where the house wants brick we use McNear, which reads correctly next to original Peninsula brickwork. See how we build a paver walkway so nothing catches a toe or a wheel.
Patio Paving
Back gardens here are often mature, shaded and laid out around a tree that is not going anywhere. A paver patio can be shaped around what is already there, pitched away from the house, and lifted years later if a root moves a corner of it. Our patio paving here is set on a compacted base with a border course holding the edge, whatever shape the garden forces.
Hardscaping
Sometimes the drive, the entry, the path and the back terrace all need doing, and doing them one at a time is how the levels stop lining up. We plan the whole hard surface as one job so the grades, the materials and the drainage agree with each other. That is what our hardscaping work is: paving, walls, steps and stone, set out together.
Why Burlingame calls us
Why Burlingame homeowners call Exterior Designs
Because the work here has to match something, and matching is a craft question rather than a catalog question. Exterior Pavers Designs is family owned and operated, Todd Chandler runs the crew, and he will bring samples out and hold them against your existing brick or stone before anyone talks about a start date. We only work in interlocking pavers and natural stone, so this is the one thing we do all day.
Todd is an ICPI Certified Paver Installer, a Belgard Master Craftsman and an Allan Block Certified Installer, and we lay Belgard, Calstone and McNear. Every installation is built to ICPI specification and carries a 20 year warranty. On a lot with big trees that warranty is the point: a paver field can be lifted, the base corrected and the same units put back down. Our walkway work is where most Burlingame jobs start, and the estimate costs nothing.
Where you will see us around Burlingame
Burlingame sits between San Mateo to the south, Millbrae to the north and Hillsborough up the hill to the west, with US 101 along the bay side and El Camino Real running the length of town. The long rows of mature eucalyptus along El Camino Real are the thing everybody recognizes, and they are a fair warning about what is under the pavement everywhere else in town. We come straight up El Camino Real from San Carlos, so we are here without touching the freeway.
Most of the housing went up in the 1920s and 1930s and has been well kept, so original brick entries, stone steps and mortar set paths are still in front of a lot of these homes. Add trees that have had a century to work and you get the two jobs we do here over and over: a surface lifted by a root, and an old entry that needs replacing with something that still looks like it belongs to the house. Both come back to the base, which is why we rebuild it rather than skim over it, and both usually end in one planned set of levels instead of three separate patches.
Where we work
Paver work we build in Burlingame
We cover Burlingame from the bay side streets near US 101 across to the older blocks under the hill, and our crews work the Hillsborough side of the hill just west of town and the San Mateo streets immediately to the south.
Ask a paver installer
Straight answers about paver installation on the Peninsula
Do you cover Burlingame?
Yes. It is the north end of our regular run, a straight shot up El Camino Real from our San Carlos shop past San Mateo. Coming out to look at the job and quote it costs nothing.
A tree root has lifted my driveway. Can it be fixed without losing the tree?
Usually. Burlingame has a lot of big mature trees, so we excavate carefully near the root zone and bring the base up instead of cutting the roots out, then lay a paver field that can be lifted and reset if the tree keeps working. Cutting big roots to level a surface is how people lose the tree a few years later.
Can you match new work to my original brick?
That is a normal Burlingame job for us. We lay McNear brick along with Belgard and Calstone pavers, and we will bring samples to the estimate and hold them against what you have. Matching an old entry is mostly about size and color, and about how the joint is finished.
Do you do concrete, since that is what is there now?
No. We only work in interlocking pavers and natural stone. On a treed Burlingame lot that is the point: a slab that a root lifts has to be broken out and replaced, and a paver surface comes up, the base is corrected, and the same pavers go back down.
Will the work disturb the whole street?
We keep it tight. The older Burlingame blocks are narrow with cars parked both sides, so we stage material carefully, bring equipment that fits and sweep up at the end of each day. It is your neighborhood after we leave.
What certifications do you hold?
Todd is an ICPI Certified Paver Installer, a Belgard Master Craftsman and an Allan Block Certified Installer, and we are members of the San Carlos Chamber of Commerce. Every installation is built to ICPI specification and carries a 20 year warranty.