diff --git a/contrib/mesos/pkg/flagutil/cadvisor.go b/contrib/mesos/pkg/flagutil/cadvisor.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ed49bb9d1bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/mesos/pkg/flagutil/cadvisor.go
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2016 The Kubernetes Authors All rights reserved.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package flagutil
+
+import (
+	"flag"
+
+	// TODO(jdef) kill this once cadvisor flags are no longer configured by
+	// global variables. Importing it this way guarantees that the global flag
+	// variables are initialized.
+	_ "github.com/google/cadvisor/manager"
+	// kubelet attempts to customize default values for some cadvisor flags, so
+	// make sure that we pick these up.
+	_ "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/cadvisor"
+)
+
+// FlagFunc retrieves a specific flag instance; returns nil if the flag is not configured.
+type FlagFunc func() *flag.Flag
+
+// NameValue returns the name and value of a flag, if it exists, otherwise empty strings.
+func (ff FlagFunc) NameValue() (name, value string) {
+	if f := ff(); f != nil {
+		name, value = f.Name, f.Value.String()
+	}
+	return
+}
+
+func flagFunc(name string) FlagFunc { return func() *flag.Flag { return flag.Lookup(name) } }
+
+// Cadvisor fields return the configured values of cadvisor global flags
+var Cadvisor = struct {
+	HousekeepingInterval       FlagFunc
+	GlobalHousekeepingInterval FlagFunc
+}{
+	flagFunc("housekeeping_interval"),
+	flagFunc("global_housekeeping_interval"),
+}
diff --git a/contrib/mesos/pkg/minion/server.go b/contrib/mesos/pkg/minion/server.go
index b20ecc56298..c30f0765f1f 100644
--- a/contrib/mesos/pkg/minion/server.go
+++ b/contrib/mesos/pkg/minion/server.go
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import (
 	"gopkg.in/natefinch/lumberjack.v2"
 	kubeletapp "k8s.io/kubernetes/cmd/kubelet/app"
 	exservice "k8s.io/kubernetes/contrib/mesos/pkg/executor/service"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/contrib/mesos/pkg/flagutil"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/contrib/mesos/pkg/hyperkube"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/contrib/mesos/pkg/minion/config"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/contrib/mesos/pkg/minion/tasks"
@@ -177,9 +178,18 @@ func (ms *MinionServer) launchExecutorServer(containerID string) <-chan struct{}
 
 	// disable resource-container; mesos slave doesn't like sub-containers yet
 	executorArgs = append(executorArgs, "--kubelet-cgroups=")
-	if ms.cgroupRoot != "" {
-		executorArgs = append(executorArgs, "--cgroup-root="+ms.cgroupRoot)
+
+	appendOptional := func(name, value string) {
+		if value != "" {
+			executorArgs = append(executorArgs, "--"+name+"="+value)
+		}
 	}
+	appendOptional("cgroup-root", ms.cgroupRoot)
+
+	// forward global cadvisor flag values to the executor
+	// TODO(jdef) remove this code once cadvisor global flags have been cleaned up
+	appendOptional(flagutil.Cadvisor.HousekeepingInterval.NameValue())
+	appendOptional(flagutil.Cadvisor.GlobalHousekeepingInterval.NameValue())
 
 	// forward containerID so that the executor may pass it along to containers that it launches
 	var ctidOpt tasks.Option
diff --git a/contrib/mesos/pkg/scheduler/service/service.go b/contrib/mesos/pkg/scheduler/service/service.go
index 5864157fe61..6ed077ad09f 100644
--- a/contrib/mesos/pkg/scheduler/service/service.go
+++ b/contrib/mesos/pkg/scheduler/service/service.go
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ import (
 
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/contrib/mesos/pkg/election"
 	execcfg "k8s.io/kubernetes/contrib/mesos/pkg/executor/config"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/contrib/mesos/pkg/flagutil"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/contrib/mesos/pkg/hyperkube"
 	minioncfg "k8s.io/kubernetes/contrib/mesos/pkg/minion/config"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/contrib/mesos/pkg/podutil"
@@ -495,6 +496,10 @@ func (s *SchedulerServer) prepareExecutorInfo(hks hyperkube.Interface) (*mesos.E
 	appendOptional("host-network-sources", s.kubeletHostNetworkSources)
 	appendOptional("network-plugin", s.kubeletNetworkPluginName)
 
+	// TODO(jdef) this code depends on poorly scoped cadvisor flags, will need refactoring soon
+	appendOptional(flagutil.Cadvisor.HousekeepingInterval.NameValue())
+	appendOptional(flagutil.Cadvisor.GlobalHousekeepingInterval.NameValue())
+
 	log.V(1).Infof("prepared executor command %q with args '%+v'", ci.GetValue(), ci.Arguments)
 
 	// Create mesos scheduler driver.