Gravel Calculator

How much gravel do I need for a gravel driveway?

A driveway 20 ft long by 10 ft wide covered 4 in deep in crushed stone #57 holds 66.7 cubic feet of stone, which works out at 2.47 cubic yards and 3.33 short tons. The 10% margin pushes that to 4 tons to order in the gravel driveway calculator, because turning up half a ton short means a second delivery fee for what fits in two wheelbarrows. That #57 grade is the washed 3/4 in stone most yards keep for driveways and drainage trenches.

Depth moves that figure faster than any other entry on the form. The recommended bed runs 4 to 6 in under a car against 2 to 3 in on a walkway, so the same 20 by 10 ft strip laid at the top of the driveway range needs 5.5 tons rather than 4, an extra 1.2 cubic yards for two inches nobody sees once the surface is raked. The depth field turns amber as soon as an entry falls outside that range, whichever side it lands on.

How much will 1 ton of gravel cover?

One short ton of crushed stone #57 fills 0.74 cubic yards of loose material, close to 20 cubic feet, which spreads over 120 sq ft at 2 in, 80 sq ft at 3 in and 60 sq ft at 4 in. Lighter stone covers more ground per ton, so river rock reaches 125 sq ft at 2 in while decomposed granite stops at 108, held back by its fines, the crusher dust that packs into the voids between the chips instead of leaving them empty.

Those coverage figures assume dry stone delivered loose in bulk. Quarry moisture and compaction move bulk density by up to 10% either way, a swing that shifts a 10 ton order by a full ton and explains why the ticket printed at the scale house rarely matches an estimate to the tenth. A density table sizes a delivery while the weighed ticket at the gate settles the bill.

How to calculate yards of gravel by hand

Four operations reproduce what any how much gravel do I need calculator runs inside.

1. Multiply length by width in feet for the area.
2. Multiply that area by the depth converted to feet, since 4 in is 0.333 ft.
3. Divide the cubic feet by 27 for cubic yards.
4. Multiply those yards by the density of the chosen stone for short tons.

Take a 12 by 8 ft shed base at 3 in: 96 sq ft multiplied by 0.25 ft gives 24 cubic feet, divided by 27 gives 0.89 cubic yards, multiplied by 1.35 gives 1.2 tons, which the allowance and the half ton rounding turn into 1.5 tons to order. The yards line of the gravel calculator matters at the counter, since plenty of yards quote a price per cubic yard rather than a price per ton.

Which gravel type weighs the most per cubic yard?

Decomposed granite tops the four types at 1.5 short tons per cubic yard, ahead of pea gravel at 1.4, crushed stone #57 at 1.35 and river rock at 1.3. Rounded pebbles pack loosely and trap air between each piece, which leaves river rock the lightest of the group even though the individual stones feel heavy in the hand.

Switching the type to pea gravel gives the pea gravel calculator reading of the same job without touching a single dimension. The tonnage climbs by about 4% while the cubic yards hold still, so a 10 cubic yard patio moves from 13.5 tons of #57 to 14 tons of pea gravel, half a ton that lands on the invoice.

How much does gravel weigh per square meter?

One square meter of crushed stone #57 spread 5 cm deep takes 0.05 m³ of material, close to 80 kg at a bulk density of 1,602 kg per m³, while a 10 cm bed doubles that to 160 kg per square meter. Pea gravel runs heavier at 1,661 kg per m³ against 1,543 kg for river rock. Metric entry keeps meters for the two sides with centimeters for the depth, which matches how landscaping suppliers outside the United States quote a job.

The recommended depths convert along with the units, which puts a driveway at 10 to 15 cm, a walkway or patio at 5 to 8 cm and a drainage trench at 15 to 30 cm. Take a 6 by 4 m patio finished in 8 cm of river rock: the bed holds 1.92 m³, the same volume as 2.51 cubic yards, which the density of river rock turns into 3.26 short tons before the allowance goes on top.