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Tremron Home Additions & ADU: The San Diego Owner’s Guide
If you own a home with a Tremron paver or wall system and you’re planning an addition or ADU in San Diego, the most important thing to know is this: your existing hardscape needs to be assessed, matched, and often partially reconstructed before framing starts. Penhallow Remodeling San Diego installs and integrates Tremron-compatible pavers, retaining walls, and site systems as part of home additions and ADU construction. A full addition with Tremron integration typically runs $53,100 – $153,400 in San Diego, depending on scope, site prep, and hardscape work.
Most San Diego homeowners discover the hardscape complication the same way: the architect’s plans look great, but the existing Tremron patio or retaining wall sits exactly where the new foundation needs to go. Or the ADU pad requires cutting into a Tremron driveway that’s been there since the Bush administration. Either way, the part that fails first is usually the base layer under the pavers, not the pavers themselves. We’ll get into why that matters below.
Which Tremron Models This Applies To
Tremron manufactures a wide range of concrete pavers, retaining wall blocks, and edging systems. The most common products we see on San Diego properties are the Tremron Estate Stone pavers, Tremron Mega Olde Towne pavers, Tremron Tumbled pavers, and their retaining wall lines like the Tremron Pisa and Tremron Diamond wall systems. Each has different dimensions, joint spacing, and base requirements, and that’s where compatibility gets tricky.
Here’s the first gotcha: Tremron paver thickness varies by product line. Estate Stone typically runs 60mm thick, while some Tumbled series pavers are 50mm. If your existing patio uses a discontinued Tremron color, matching new pavers for an addition can mean blending from multiple pallets or sourcing close-complementary colors from other brands we work with, including Belgard and Unilock. The second gotcha: Tremron retaining wall blocks are engineered for specific setback angles and require the correct geogrid reinforcement for walls over 3 feet. An OEM Tremron paver is always the first choice for a seamless match, but quality aftermarket equivalents from Belgard or Unilock are often the practical choice when the original Tremron color has been retired. We’ll tell you honestly which way makes sense for your project, and we won’t install a mismatched patch that looks like a bad toupee on your patio.
To identify your Tremron product, look for the manufacturer stamp on the underside of a paver or the back lip of a wall block. Measuring the thickness matters. Snap a photo of the top surface and the side profile, and bring those to our first visit. It saves everyone a return trip.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Tremron Home Additions & ADU Is Failing
Most of the time, the pavers themselves aren’t the problem. The base underneath is. Here’s what we see on San Diego jobs where an existing Tremron installation has to be assessed before an addition or ADU can go in:
- Settling or sunken pavers near the new foundation line. This usually means the aggregate base wasn’t compacted deeply enough for San Diego’s expansive clay soils. When soil shifts seasonally, the base heaves and drops, and the pavers follow. You can’t frame a wall over that.
- Retaining wall leaning or bowing outward. Tremron wall blocks are only as good as the drainage behind them. If a wall is pushing forward, hydrostatic pressure has built up, and the wall needs to be taken down, drained properly, and rebuilt before any structure goes near it.
- Wide, crumbling joints between pavers. Polymeric sand breaks down over time, especially within a few miles of the coast where salt air and moisture accelerate degradation. Once joints open up, pavers shift, and the surface stops shedding water correctly.
- Water pooling against the foundation or patio edge. Tremron installations should have a slight slope away from structures. If water is pooling, the original grade has changed or the base has settled. In San Diego’s wet winters, this gets worse fast.
- Cracked or chipped pavers in a concentrated area. Isolated damage is one thing, but repeated cracking in the same spot points to a void underneath, often from a broken drainage line or an old tree root. That void becomes a problem the moment we dig footings nearby.
See the difference
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
In San Diego, a home addition with Tremron hardscape integration typically runs $53,100 – $153,400. The range is wide because it spans everything from a modest bump-out with a small paver patio rework to a full ADU with new retaining walls, driveway modifications, and extensive hardscape reconstruction.
What drives the number up or down? Site access matters more than most people expect. If we can’t get a skid steer into your backyard, material handling goes manual and labor costs climb. The condition of your existing base layer also drives cost: if we can salvage and re-compact the existing aggregate, you save money. If the base has degraded to sand and clay, we’re excavating and rebuilding it. Tremron product availability and color matching can add cost if we’re blending multiple pallets or sourcing discontinued colors. Every quote we write includes parts, labor, haul-away, and the written guarantee in one number. That’s the Kingswell standard: the price on day one is the price on the invoice. Call (619) 604-9624 and Trevor Nash will give you a written number before anything gets picked up or pulled out.
DIY or Call Us?
There are a few things you can check safely on your own: walk the area and mark where pavers feel loose, note where water pools after rain, and snap photos of any cracked or chipped Tremron units. That helps us quote faster.
What you shouldn’t do is start pulling up pavers or dismantling a retaining wall yourself. Retaining walls over 3 feet hold back a lot of soil, and releasing that pressure incorrectly can cause a sudden collapse. So can trenching near an existing wall without knowing where the drainage goes. If you’re planning an addition or ADU in San Diego and your Tremron hardscape is in the footprint, call us at (619) 604-9624 before you touch it. The walkthrough is free, and we’ll tell you exactly what’s holding and what isn’t.
FAQs
With a properly compacted base and intact joints, Tremron concrete pavers typically last 25 to 40 years in San Diego, though coastal salt air can shorten that to 20 – 30 years for unsealed surfaces. The base layer under the pavers, not the pavers themselves, is usually what fails first, and we mark that clearly in every assessment. Call (619) 604-9624 if you want us to check yours before building.
Yes, if the base layer is still stable and the slope drains correctly, we can often cut, salvage, and reinstall existing Tremron pavers around a new foundation. If the base has settled or the drainage failed, a partial rebuild is usually the better long-term call. We’ll show you the difference in writing before you choose.
Hardscape integration typically runs 3 to 10 days within the larger project timeline, depending on access, the amount of demolition, and whether we’re rebuilding the base layer. A straightforward paver rework near a bump-out is faster than a full retaining wall reconstruction at an ADU pad. The bigger job still follows one rule: price before work, written guarantee at the end.
We source Tremron products directly for San Diego projects, and we keep a stock of commonly needed base materials and edging on our trucks. For discontinued Tremron colors, we match with complementary lines from Belgard and Unilock. Call (619) 604-9624 and we’ll tell you what’s available for your specific match before you spend a dollar.
Tell me what you need, I’ll tell you what it costs, and we’ll go from there. Call (619) 604-9624 to schedule your free estimate, or to have Trevor Nash walk your Tremron hardscape and give you a straight answer about what’s worth saving.
Written by Trevor Nash, Owner, Penhallow Remodeling San Diego at Penhallow Remodeling San Diego, serving San Diego and nearby areas.
