Gravel Calculator
Order this much
2.8 tons
Or 2 cubic yards. Aggregate is sold by weight, so tons is the number the yard will want.
- Volume needed
- 1.85 cubic yards
- In cubic feet
- 50
- Weight of that volume
- 2.59 tons
Weight assumes 1.4 tons per cubic yard, dry. Wet material is heavier and stone size shifts it either way — your yard will know its own figures. The order rounds up to a whole cubic yard, which is the margin.
How this is calculated
Aggregate is the awkward one. You measure a driveway in feet, the volume comes out in cubic yards, and then the yard quotes you in tons, which is a weight rather than a volume and depends on what the material actually is. A cubic yard of dry gravel is around one and four tenths tons; the same volume of topsoil is nearer one and a tenth, because soil is lighter than stone. This calculator does the whole chain in one go: area times depth gives cubic feet, divided by twenty-seven gives cubic yards, and multiplied by the material's density gives the tonnage to order. Aggregate has no bag to carry a waste allowance, so the order rounds straight from that raw volume up to the next whole cubic yard — a margin that is already bigger than any percentage would add, since most yards will not sell you a fraction of a yard. Depths worth knowing: two inches is enough to top up an existing path, three to four is a proper new path or patio base, and a driveway wants four or more over a compacted sub-base.
Worked example
Two hundred square feet at three inches is 50 cubic feet, which is 1.85 cubic yards, or about 2.59 tons of gravel. The order rounds straight from 1.85 up to 2 — most yards will not sell you a fraction of a yard, and that rounding is already a bigger margin than a percentage allowance would add — which comes to 2.8 tons on the ticket.
Inputs: 200 square feet at 3 inches deep, gravel
Result: 2 cubic yards ordered, about 2.8 tons
What this assumes
- Densities are for dry material: 1.4 tons per cubic yard for gravel and crushed stone, 1.35 for pea gravel, 1.3 for sand, 1.1 for topsoil. Wet material is heavier.
- Aggregate is ordered in whole cubic yards, so the figure rounds up from the raw volume. A spare cubic yard is already a bigger margin than any percentage allowance would add. Most yards have a minimum order anyway.
- This is the loose volume delivered. Compacted material settles, so a base you intend to compact needs more than the finished depth suggests.
Questions
- Why does it give me tons when I measured in feet?
- Because that is how it is sold. Aggregate yards price by weight, and a truck is loaded by weight, so a volume figure alone leaves you doing a conversion at the point of ordering with a number you are unsure of. Both are shown; the tonnage is the one to quote.
- How deep should a gravel driveway be?
- Four inches of gravel over a compacted sub-base is a common starting point, and more if the ground is soft or the vehicles are heavy. A path or patio base is happy with three. Two inches is a top-up over something already there, not a new surface.
- My yard quoted a different tonnage. Who is right?
- They are. Density varies with moisture, stone size and what the material actually is, and they know their own stock. This gives you the figure to sanity-check the quote and to order confidently, not a number to argue with the driver about.
- What will the gravel cost?
- Type your supplier's price per ton, or per cubic yard, and the result card costs the order rather than the bare volume — aggregate is delivered by the whole cubic yard, so the tonnage that actually arrives is the rounded-up figure. Fill both in and you can compare the two ways yards quote the same load. The prices are yours, never ours, because they vary by supplier, region and haulage distance.