SettingsSettings for this calculationUS
Length of the area to cover.
Measure it on the ground rather than off a plan. A drive that widens at the gate, turns a corner, or runs past a parking bay is not the rectangle the drawing shows, and gravel is bought by volume so every discrepancy is paid for. For a curved path, run the tape along the CENTRELINE of the curve rather than taking the straight distance between its ends, which is always shorter.
Width of the area.
For a driveway, allow for the turning area and any widening at the entrance — those are usually forgotten and are a meaningful share of a short drive.
Depth of the gravel layer.
100 mm (4 in) suits a footpath or a light driveway on firm ground. 150 mm (6 in) is usual for a car driveway; more where the subgrade is soft or vehicles are heavy.
Extra to order because loose gravel compacts down.
Gravel is delivered loose and finishes compacted. Ordering the finished volume leaves you short by roughly the compaction — 15-25% for crushed stone, more for a rounded pea gravel that settles further.
Gravel required
6.59 US short tons
Weighs the loose load at a typical loose bulk density of 1600 kg/m³ (100 pcf) for crushed stone or gravel as delivered. Ask your supplier for the loose density of the specific grade — a dense basalt and a light limestone differ by 15%.
- Finished volume
- 4.07 yd³
- Loose volume to order
- 4.89 yd³
- Cubic yards
- 4.89 yd³
- US short tons
- 6.59 tons
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Gravel Calculator: 6.59 US short tons — shown in imperial, US market. The link sets both, so the result they see is the one on your screen.
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How this was calculated
Formula source(s)
- Typical LOOSE bulk density of crushed stone or gravel as delivered, 1600 kg/m³ (100 lb/ft³) — the site's material density table gives gravel, dry loose, at 1600 kg/m³ and crushed stone at 1550 kg/m³ (97 lb/ft³); a rolled dense-graded base is about 2200 kg/m³ (137 lb/ft³) in place (Wisconsin DOT 1.85 US tons per cubic yard)
- Driveway base depth 100-150 mm (4-6 in) over a prepared subgrade — common residential practice
Inputs used
- Length
- 33 ft
- Width
- 10 ft
- Depth
- 4 in
- Compaction allowance (%)
- 20
Intermediate steps
- Finished volume
- 4.07 yd³
- Loose volume to order
- 4.89 yd³
- Cubic yards
- 4.89 yd³
- US short tons
- 6.59 tons
Confidence note: Weighs the loose load at a typical loose bulk density of 1600 kg/m³ (100 pcf) for crushed stone or gravel as delivered. Ask your supplier for the loose density of the specific grade — a dense basalt and a light limestone differ by 15%.
What this calculation does not cover
- Length × width × depth is a single rectangle at a single thickness, so a drive that curves, splays at the entrance or opens out into a parking bay has to be measured as several rectangles and the answers added, and nothing is deducted for a manhole, a kerb line or a planted island sitting inside the area.
- That thickness is then spread evenly over the whole footprint, which assumes ground already graded true — ruts, hollows and the first load that disappears into a soft patch are material the product of three numbers cannot see, and there is no separate term for a levelling course under the stone.
- The compaction allowance is one flat percentage of the finished volume, applied to the whole job at once and stopping at 40%, rather than a figure derived from the grading or the moisture of what you are actually buying; it is also added to the finished volume rather than divided out of it, so 20% here means 1.20 times the finished figure, not the 1.25 that losing a fifth of a loose load to settlement would call for.
- The weight and the loose volume are the same load: the tonnage is the loose volume to order, compaction allowance included, at one fixed loose bulk density of 1600 kg/m³ (100 pcf), with no field to change it. That suits stone delivered loose and spread or lightly rolled; a dense-graded base (crusher run, DGA, Type 1) specified by its compacted thickness weighs about 2200 kg/m³ (137 pcf) in place and is better worked on the gravel base tonnage page, which takes a compacted density.
- Nothing in the arithmetic asks what will drive over the surface or what lies beneath it: any depth from 10 mm (0.39 in) to a metre is accepted without a check on wheel loads or subgrade strength, and a build that puts a coarse base course under a finer wearing course is two separate runs of this page rather than one.
- What comes back is an exact arithmetic tonnage, not an order quantity — it is not rounded up to whole bulk bags, to the minimum load a tipper will bring out, or to the increment your yard sells in, so the last step of rounding upward is yours once you know how the material is sold.
Estimated cost — your price
This site holds no price list for this material — local prices vary too much to publish honestly. Enter your supplier's price and the result is costed with it.
Computed in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded. Presented in US customary units and US trade terminology. Where a formula follows a published standard, that standard and its edition are cited beside it on this page; where none governs, the page says so. Local amendments override model codes — verify against the code in force where you build.
Sources checked 2026-09-26 · v1.1.0
Regulatory standards & verification citations2
- Typical LOOSE bulk density of crushed stone or gravel as delivered, 1600 kg/m³ (100 lb/ft³) — the site's material density table gives gravel, dry loose, at 1600 kg/m³ and crushed stone at 1550 kg/m³ (97 lb/ft³); a rolled dense-graded base is about 2200 kg/m³ (137 lb/ft³) in place (Wisconsin DOT 1.85 US tons per cubic yard)
- Driveway base depth 100-150 mm (4-6 in) over a prepared subgrade — common residential practice
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