How it works
Area × depth in feet ÷ 27 gives cubic yards. Loose gravel uses the site's typical range of 1.4–1.7 tons per cubic yard. Compacted Class A crushed stone uses 140 lb/ft³ (1.89 tons per cubic yard), from the Iowa DOT Design Manual figure recorded in FEMA appeal 219532. The result card shows both.
How it differs from the pea gravel calculator: both measure rectangles and circles. Only this one shows the compacted crushed stone figure, side by side with loose. Use the pea gravel calculator for pea gravel paths.
Worked example
A 10 × 10 ft pad 4 in deep: 10 × 10 × (4 ÷ 12) = 33.33 cu ft, which is 1.23 cu yd. Loose: 1.73–2.10 tons. Compacted crushed stone: 2.33 tons.
Tips and common mistakes
- Suppliers sell by the ton or by the yard; ask which, and ask for their own weight figure.
- Compare the loose and compacted figures before ordering; the right one depends on how the material is placed.
Questions about this calculator
How much will 1 ton of gravel cover?
Loose gravel at 1.4–1.7 tons per cubic yard covers about 48–58 sq ft per ton at 4 in deep, or 32–39 sq ft at 6 in.
How do I calculate how much gravel I need for an area?
Multiply length × width × depth in feet and divide by 27 to get cubic yards. Then multiply by tons per yard: 1.4–1.7 loose, or 1.89 for compacted crushed stone.
How much gravel do I need for a 10x10 area?
At 4 in deep: 1.23 cu yd. That is about 1.73–2.10 tons loose, or 2.33 tons as compacted crushed stone.
Sources
Densities are a typical range — ask your supplier. Weight varies with moisture and gradation.
Values marked with a link come from the linked source, which opens in a new tab. Unit conversions and our own defaults are listed separately. Every value the site uses is in the methodology source register.
Where the numbers come from 6
- Gravel / crushed stone density range
- 1.4 – 1.7 US tons/cu yd
- Typical range; no primary standard exists, and weight varies with moisture and gradation. Confirm with your supplier.
- Compacted Class A crushed stone
- 140 lb/ft³
- Iowa DOT Design Manual, as recorded in FEMA appeal 219532, Road Repair (29 February 2012) (opens in a new tab)fema.gov
- Pounds per US short ton
- 2000 lb/US ton
- NIST Guide to the SI, US short ton (2000 lb) (opens in a new tab)nist.gov
- Meters per international foot
- 0.3048 m/ft
- NIST, international foot conversion (opens in a new tab)nist.gov
- Kilograms per pound
- 0.45359237 kg/lb
- NIST Guide to the SI, pound conversion; exact definition (opens in a new tab)nist.gov
Unit conversions and our defaults8
- Inches per foot
- 12 in/ft
- Unit definition: one foot contains twelve inches
- Cubic feet per cubic yard
- 27 cu ft/cu yd
- Geometry: 3 × 3 × 3 feet
- Centimeters per meter
- 100 cm/m
- Metric prefix definition: centi is one hundredth
- Circle constant π
- ≈ 3.14159 unitless
- Circle geometry, as specified in the owner brief
- Gravel calculator starting dimensions
- 10, 10, 4 ft length, ft width, in depth
- Wave 2 pack worked example; editable starting measurements
- Gravel calculator starting circle diameter
- 12 ft
- Wave 2 pack worked example; editable starting measurements
- Gravel calculator depth unit-check threshold
- 12 in
- Owner specified unit-check warning, not a recommended depth
- Volume and weight display precision
- 2 decimal places
- Owner specification: display volume and tons to two decimals