Gravel calculator
Ver el procedimiento — con sus números
The weight here comes from the density you enter, and gravel density genuinely varies. Treat the tonnage as an ordering estimate, confirm the density with the pit, and buy a little over rather than under.
Enter the area you are covering and how deep, and you get the volume in cubic yards and cubic metres plus the weight in tons or tonnes. Volume is length × width × depth; weight is that volume multiplied by the material's density, which you can override with your supplier's figure.
Ejemplo resuelto
A parking pad 20 ft × 12 ft, 3 inches deep: 3 inches is 0.25 ft, so the volume is 20 × 12 × 0.25 = 60 cubic feet, or 60 ÷ 27 ≈ 2.2 yd³. At 1.4 tons per yard that is about 3.1 tons. Add 10% waste for an uneven base and you would order roughly 2.5 yd³ — call it 3.5 tons — so the pit loads you a full, honest amount.
In metric: a 6 m × 3.6 m pad at 8 cm is 6 × 3.6 × 0.08 = 1.73 m³. At 1.68 tonnes per cubic metre that is about 2.9 tonnes, or 3.2 tonnes with 10% waste.
En la obra
A garage base, ordered by the truck. A 24 ft × 30 ft pad wants 6 inches of compacted crush. Half a foot deep, so 24 × 30 × 0.5 = 360 ft³, which is 360 ÷ 27 = 13.3 yd³. At 1.4 t/yd³ that is 18.7 tons, and with 10% for the low spots the ticket reads 20.5 tons. Ask the pit what one load carries before you phone it in — if a tandem brings 14 tons, that is a full load and a half load, and it is cheaper to say so than to have the second truck turn up full and charge for the lot. The metric version: 7.3 m × 9 m at 150 mm is 9.86 m³, about 16.6 tonnes at 1.68 t/m³ before waste.
Compacted is not loose. The pit sells stone loose in the box; you are paying for the depth after the plate compactor has been over it. If your supplier says their crush loses about 20% under compaction, divide the finished depth by 0.8 to get the loose depth to spread: 6 in ÷ 0.8 = 7.5 in loose (150 mm ÷ 0.8 = 187.5 mm). Put 7.5 in the depth field, not 6, and the tonnage takes care of itself. The figure is theirs, not this page's — every stone and every compactor is different.
Yards on the quote, tons on the scale. Some pits price by the yard and weigh you out by the ton. The density they use to go between the two is the number to ask for, because it is the one on the invoice. Type it into the density field and this tool's tons will match their scale ticket instead of arguing with it.
What went wrong?
Gravel takeoffs go wrong in exactly the places concrete ones do — the depth goes in as the wrong unit, or the cubic feet never become yards. Find the slip in each.
Quick referencefor a base
- A cubic yard
- 27 ft³ — 3 ft each way
- Depth as feet
- 3 in = 0.25 · 4 in = 0.333 · 6 in = 0.5 · 8 in = 0.667
- Yards from an area, at 3 in
- ft² ÷ 108
- Yards from an area, at 4 in
- ft² ÷ 81
- Yards from an area, at 6 in
- ft² ÷ 54
- Toneladas cortas
- yards × the pit's density (1.4 t/yd³ is only this page's default)
- Métrico
- 1 m³ = 1.31 yd³ · 1 tonne = 1.10 short tons
- m³ from an area
- m² × depth in m — at 75 mm × 0.075 · at 100 mm ÷ 10 · at 150 mm × 0.15
- Toneladas métricas
- m³ × the pit's density (1.68 t/m³ is only this page's metric default)
Waste & overagewhat to add, and why
- Crews order 10% over on a base and more on a rough sub-grade — the low spots eat stone, and a pit will not take back the half load you did not need. The waste field starts at 10%.
- Compaction is on top of waste: if your supplier says the crush loses a fifth of its depth under the plate, spread the loose depth that compacts to your finished depth, and type that loose depth.
- Ask what a truck carries before you order: a load and a bit is priced as two loads.
Mistakes to catchbefore you order
- Measuring the finished area but forgetting the stone runs past the edge of the slab or the pavers by the width of the base extension on each side.
- Using the supplier's tons-per-yard for a different stone — clear stone and crusher run can be 10% apart in density.
- Reading the yards figure as tons; the two are on different lines, and a 10-yard order is 14 tons at 1.4 t/yd³.
What an inspector looks forthe building or municipal inspector, wherever the gravel is a structural base
On this part of the job
- The material itself: the gradation or product number specified, not "whatever the pit had". Clean drain rock and a crushed road base are not interchangeable.
- Depth of the base, measured in a hole dug through it rather than eyeballed off the top.
- Compaction — in lifts of the thickness specified, each one compacted before the next. On anything engineered you may need a density test and a report to go with it.
- Geotextile where the detail calls for one, lapped as shown, not tucked in at the edges.
- Drainage: that the base is not a bathtub, and that any pipe within it is at the invert shown.
Have this ready
- The delivery tickets naming the product and the tonnage.
- The specified lift thickness and compaction requirement, printed.
- The compaction test report, if the job calls for one.
Every figure an inspector measures against comes from the code your jurisdiction has adopted, the stamped drawing, or the manufacturer's printed instructions — so none of them are printed here. Look the number up in your own book, type it into the tool, and the arithmetic is yours.
La fórmula
weight = length × width × depth × density
Work the volume out first (length × width × depth, with depth converted from inches to feet), turn cubic feet into cubic yards by dividing by 27, then multiply by the density in tons per cubic yard. Metric follows the same steps in metres and tonnes per cubic metre.
What this tool assumes
The depth, the waste factor and the density are all editable — they are the figures that change with the job and the material. The default density (1.4 tons per yard, or 1.68 tonnes per cubic metre in metric) is a middle-of-the-road crushed gravel; a phone call to the pit gets you the exact number for what you are buying.
Preguntas
- How much does a cubic yard of gravel weigh?
- Roughly 1.4 short tons for dry crushed gravel, but it swings with the stone and the moisture. Wet gravel, dense trap rock or a material with a lot of fines runs heavier; loose washed stone runs lighter. If your supplier quotes a density, type theirs into the density field — it is the number that moves the answer most. In metric, crushed gravel runs around 1.6 to 1.7 tonnes per cubic metre.
- Do I order gravel by the yard or by the ton?
- Either — pits sell both, and this tool shows both. Volume (cubic yards or metres) is what fills your space; weight (tons or tonnes) is often how it is priced and hauled. Match whichever unit your supplier is quoting so you are comparing like with like.
- How deep should a gravel driveway be?
- Depth is your call based on the traffic and the sub-grade, so you type it in. A walking path might be 2 inches (50 mm); a driveway base is commonly built up thicker, often in layers of different stone. This tool tells you how much fills the depth you enter — it does not spec the depth for you.
- Why does crushed gravel differ from washed gravel?
- Crushed gravel has angular faces and fines that pack tight and lock together, which makes it heavier per yard and good for a compacted base. Washed gravel is rounded and clean, drains freely and weighs a little less. Same volume, different weight — so set the density to match what you are actually buying.
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