Is there a certian formula that you use for estimating how much gravel is needed for a drive way? I have never really had to buy a lot of gravel so I'm not familar with the measurements they use. I want to make sure I order enough but at the same time I dont want to order too much. Thanks in advance.
Figuring gravel for driveway
- Thread starter csutton
- Start date
NSBound
Platinum Member
There's lots of charts and calculators out there. Just use google and type in what you want to do. I just did and this is the first one that came up, provided by a trucking company : Construction Materials Calculator | Atak Trucking
L x W x H
brin
Super Member
My experience has been that crusher run gravel will cover about 150 ft. 3 " deep for a 10 ft. wide road and the dump truck can rough spread it if the driver is good and then you just need to finish spread it with your box or back blade or FEL. Just to give you a rough idea. That is for a 15 ton load as I recall..a full double axle dump truck load.
Last edited:
flusher
Super Member
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2005
- Messages
- 7,538
- Location
- Sacramento
- Tractor
- Getting old. Sold the ranch. Sold the tractors. Moved back to the city.
My driveway is 330 ft L x 20ft W x 0.5ft deep = 3300 cu ft = 122 cu yd of road base gravel. The ground was excavated 6" deep and leveled. The gravel was placed in 2" lifts and was watered and packed with a vibratory roller after each lift was placed. The end of the driveway connecting to the road was paved with asphalt for the first 20 ft to satisfy county requirements for interfacing to the road.
That was 5 years ago and it hasn't required any maintenance at all. Cost: about $7500.
DJ54
Elite Member
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2009
- Messages
- 4,227
- Location
- Carroll, Ohio
- Tractor
- IH Farmall 656 gas/ IH 240 Utility/ 2, Super C Farmalls/ 2, Farmall A's/ Farmall BN/McCormick-Deering OS-6/McCormick-Deering O-4/ '36 Farmall F-12/ 480 Case hoe. '65 Ford 2000 3 cyl., 4 spd. w/3 spd Aux. Trans
I have a Lufkin construction calculator. You can get them at Lowe's, Sears, etc. I got mine on ebay.. 3 as a matter of fact, and gave the other two to buddies for Christmas presents. I use it a lot..!! If your going to be doing a lot of projects, they are well worth the money in my book.
Or, just figure the WxLxH to figure your cubic yards with the online calculator, then multiply by 1.5 for conversion to tonnage. You'll be pretty close.
I also have a Construction Master IV which will figure bd.ft. Sure is handy when going to auctions and they have a stack of rough sawn lumber, and have no idea, or take a guess at how much is there... A couple minutes to measure, and calculate the cubed bundle, will tell you pretty well right to the nub what you're paying per bd.ft.
Or, just figure the WxLxH to figure your cubic yards with the online calculator, then multiply by 1.5 for conversion to tonnage. You'll be pretty close.
I also have a Construction Master IV which will figure bd.ft. Sure is handy when going to auctions and they have a stack of rough sawn lumber, and have no idea, or take a guess at how much is there... A couple minutes to measure, and calculate the cubed bundle, will tell you pretty well right to the nub what you're paying per bd.ft.
xLearJockey
New member
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2009
- Messages
- 15
Easy one is LxWxD (all measured in feet or fraction of feet) divided by 27 = cubic yards.
If your supplier sells by the ton instead of cubic yard you'll need to convert cubic yardage to tons.
For that, you'll need to know how many tons a cubic yard of (whatever it is you are buying, weighs.
If, for example, 1 cubic yard of #1 stone (or whatever) weighs 3000 lbs, then the conversion factor would be X cubic yards (figured from the above LxWxD/27) times 3000 (pounds/cubic yard) divided by 2000 (pounds/ton).
So, if you needed 1 cubic yard of (whatever) stone that weighed 3000 pounds/cubic yard.....it would be 1 (cy) times 3000 (#/cy) = 3000 (lbs) divided by 2000 (#/ton) equals (=) 1.5 tons.
The conversion factors (how many pounds/cubic yard) are readily available either on the net via google or in any standard engineering tome. They should also be easily obtainable by simply calling your supplier and asking how much a yard of their sand, stone, whatever, weighs.
The "x" factor is moisture.......a yard of stone is going to be pretty constant regardless of moisture......a yard of sand or loam will be considerably heavier (and therefore smaller by volume) if it's been rained on but measured by weight and converted to "yardage".
gerard
Veteran Member
Think you got your answers and running crush weighs about 3000 per cubic yard. Gravel pit are going to charge by the ton which is what most truckers will charge. I would figure out how many FULL loads you need and get that. No sense having him come with half a load. The material's cheap, trucking's not and you can always find a place to use extra material and it's not like it'll spoil..............
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
The big rigs are limited to 80,000 pounds total. So with the weight of the truck, the trailer and a full load, you get real close to that maximum weight to drive on the roads without a special permit.
On average, and for basic estimating, you can usually get 27 tons of rock per load. One load will give you real close to 100 feet , four inches thick and ten feet wide. Never put down less then four inches. Anything less and it's too think to lock together.
Driveway rock, also known as road base and a dozen other terms around the country, comes in sizes from a couple inches all the way down to fines. It's edges are jagged. This is important because when spread out and compacted, it will lock together to form a solid mass that will shed water and support the load of vehicle traffic. Once spread and compacted, you never want to tear it up again. The worse thing that you can ever do is to regrade it and smooth it out. Get it right the first time and leave it alone. Messing with it just means that some of it will wash away and you'll have a thinner road then before you started messing with it.
If you get a pothole or thin area, add more rock. Tear up the rock around that area, add the new rock and compact it all together.
Where I live, road base rock, deleivered in bulk is $22 a ton.
Hope this helps,
Eddie
On average, and for basic estimating, you can usually get 27 tons of rock per load. One load will give you real close to 100 feet , four inches thick and ten feet wide. Never put down less then four inches. Anything less and it's too think to lock together.
Driveway rock, also known as road base and a dozen other terms around the country, comes in sizes from a couple inches all the way down to fines. It's edges are jagged. This is important because when spread out and compacted, it will lock together to form a solid mass that will shed water and support the load of vehicle traffic. Once spread and compacted, you never want to tear it up again. The worse thing that you can ever do is to regrade it and smooth it out. Get it right the first time and leave it alone. Messing with it just means that some of it will wash away and you'll have a thinner road then before you started messing with it.
If you get a pothole or thin area, add more rock. Tear up the rock around that area, add the new rock and compact it all together.
Where I live, road base rock, deleivered in bulk is $22 a ton.
Hope this helps,
Eddie
Eddie, 100' x 10' x 4'' is only a little over 12 yards and less than 18 tons.