Stone Calculator

Crushed stone is mechanically crushed and screened from quarried rock, giving it sharp, angular edges that interlock when compacted. Gravel is often naturally weathered, though the terms overlap in casual use and many suppliers sell "crushed gravel" that's really crushed stone. For structural work like a driveway base or wall backfill, the angular interlock of true crushed stone gives noticeably better stability than smooth, rounded material.

A compacted sub-base typically uses a coarser, angular grade like #57 stone, roughly 1/2 to 3/4 inch, or a crusher run mix that includes fines to lock everything together into a dense layer. The finer #8 stone works better as a top dressing than as the structural base itself, since it lacks the larger interlocking pieces that resist rutting under vehicle weight.

Most paver patios use a compacted base of 4 to 6 inches of crusher run or dense-graded aggregate, topped with a thin leveling layer of coarser stone or sand directly under the pavers. Measure the patio's square footage and enter the base depth above; run the calculation again separately for the thinner leveling layer if you want a tonnage figure for that too.

Crusher run, sometimes labeled #411 or described as "1 inch minus," is a blend of crushed aggregate and stone dust rather than a single uniform size. The fines fill the gaps between larger pieces, letting it compact into a dense, load-bearing base rather than draining freely, which is why it's used under driveways, patios, and slabs but rarely as a visible top layer.

Backfill volume depends on the trench behind the wall, not the wall's face area: measure the backfill zone's length, its depth from the wall's footing to the top, and the width of clean stone you're placing against the wall, typically 12 to 24 inches. Clean, washed 3/4 inch stone is standard, since it drains water away from the wall rather than trapping it.

Natural stone, like flagstone or fieldstone, is quarried and cut but keeps its irregular shape, and is usually priced by the piece, pallet, or square foot rather than by weight. Crushed stone is processed into a consistent graded size and sold by the ton using density, which is what this calculator estimates. If your project uses flagstone or boulders, price it through your stone yard's piece-based system instead.

Riprap typically uses large individual stones, often #1 stone in the 2 to 4 inch range or larger boulder-sized rock, placed by hand on stream banks, embankments, and shorelines to resist being washed out by moving water. Because coverage depends on how irregular pieces interlock rather than a uniform depth, riprap is usually estimated and ordered by the ton with your supplier's guidance rather than through a flat area-times-depth calculation.

For a decorative bed or walkway, yes, a fabric barrier helps slow weed growth and keeps the stone from working down into the soil over time. For a structural base under a driveway, patio, or backfill, fabric is used differently, mainly to separate a clean drainage layer from surrounding soil so fines don't migrate in and clog it, rather than for weed control.

Most crushed stone weighs between 2,600 and 3,200 pounds per cubic yard, roughly 1.3 to 1.6 tons, depending on the rock type and how wet it is when weighed. Crushed limestone tends to sit toward the lighter end of that range, while denser rock like granite or trap rock runs heavier. The calculator above defaults to 1.4 tons per cubic yard but lets you enter your supplier's exact figure.

A decorative stone ring around a fire pit typically runs 2 to 3 inches deep, similar to any other landscape bed, spread over landscape fabric to limit weed growth. If the stone is also serving as a heat-safe base directly under the fire pit itself, check the manufacturer's clearance and depth guidance, since that's a safety spec rather than a purely aesthetic choice.

No. Pavers need a compacted base course, usually crusher run or a similar dense-graded aggregate, beneath a thin bedding layer of coarser stone or sand that the pavers actually rest on. Laying pavers straight onto loose crushed stone without that compacted base skips the structural support the base provides, and the surface will settle and shift unevenly within a season or two.

Most crushed stone suppliers quote and invoice by the ton, since weight is what actually gets loaded onto a truck and checked at the quarry's weigh scale, even though homeowners usually think and measure in cubic yards. Some smaller landscape yards do sell by the cubic yard instead, especially for decorative stone picked up in a truck or trailer rather than delivered by the load. If a quote comes in per cubic yard, multiply it by the density figure above to compare it against a per-ton price before choosing a supplier.

A standard half-cubic-foot bag of crushed stone weighs roughly 40 to 50 pounds, so it takes about 40 to 50 bags to reach one ton (2,000 pounds), depending on the stone's density and the bag's actual volume. That math only makes sense for small jobs like a fire pit ring or a few planting beds; anything closer to a full driveway base or patio is cheaper bought loose by the ton or cubic yard from a stone yard than hauled home bag by bag.

Add about 10 percent on top of the calculated tonnage to cover waste and compaction together, though the two aren't quite the same thing. Waste is material lost to an irregularly shaped area, uneven digging, or spillage that doesn't match a clean rectangle; compaction is the settling that happens as loose stone packs down under a plate compactor or vehicle traffic, which reduces the finished depth from what you originally spread. A structural base under a driveway or patio is worth erring toward the higher end of that 10 percent, since underfilling a compacted base is a costlier fix later than having stone left over.

Yes. Limestone is one of the most common crushed stone types sold for driveways, bases, and backfill, and it fits the same tons-and-density math this calculator runs, so long as you enter a limestone-specific density if your supplier provides one. Crushed limestone tends to sit toward the lighter end of the general crushed-stone range, closer to 1.3 to 1.4 tons per cubic yard, since it's a softer, less dense rock than granite or trap rock, so use that figure if your supplier doesn't give you an exact number.