Gravel calculator
How much gravel, stone or sand a layer takes, from any shape of area, with the compaction allowance, bags, wheelbarrows and price.
Gravel calculator
How it is worked out
Finished volume = area × finished thickness. Weight = finished volume × weight in place. A compacted layer of crushed stone with fines weighs about 2.2–2.3 t/m³; sand about 1.8 t/m³; clean stone laid loose about 1.5 t/m³.
Loose material takes more room than the finished layer: crushed stone with fines about 1.4 times, sand about 1.2 times, washed stone about 1.15 times. The calculator uses this for the loose volume in the truck or heap (see 1.4).
Clean stone laid loose settles, so order about 15 % more. Buy by weight when you can: a metric ton is always a metric ton, but a loose cubic meter changes with moisture.
Sources
- FHWA Federal Lands, earthwork design, Exhibit 6.1 A: dry sand 1535 kg/m³ loose, 1920 compacted; uniformly graded gravel 1600 loose, 1870 compacted; well-graded gravel 1645 loose; basalt 2935 in place
- WisDOT research report 0092-22-05, Table E2: dense-graded base 1.80–1.86 tons/yd³ compacted, expansion from compacted to loose 34–52 %
- Iowa DOT design manual 1B-4: crushed stone base 140 lb/ft³ (2.24 t/m³) for estimating quantities
- WSDOT Geotechnical Design Manual, Table 10-1: sand 109 lb/ft³ loose, 129 compacted
- FHWA-RD-97-148, Granular base: natural aggregates weigh about 2.0–2.3 t/m³ in place
- FHWA-HRT-15-034, open-graded aggregates: No. 57 stone, loosest 95.4 lb/ft³ (1.53 t/m³), densest 108.7 lb/ft³ (1.74 t/m³)
- Penn State University, CE 584 concrete course notes: aggregates: aggregate for normal concrete weighs 1,520–1,680 kg/m³
- NPTEL (Indian Institutes of Technology), soil mechanics worked examples: dry sand about 1,600 kg/m³
- CEC (Government of India) glossary: at 5–8 % moisture, sand volume increases by up to 20–40 %
- US EPA, Volume-to-weight conversion factors: loose soil or sandy loam: 2,392 lb per cubic yard, about 1.42 t/m³
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