Landscape Material Calculators: Which One Fits the Job
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Most people arrive here with a drive to rebuild and a tape measure reading they are not sure what to do with. Length and width are the easy part. The number that decides the order is weight, and weight is the thing that changes completely depending on what is going in the hole. Pick the calculator that matches the material and the arithmetic takes care of itself.
Why the same hole takes five times the tonnage in base that it takes in mulch
Volume is volume. A cubic yard is 3 by 3 by 3 feet whatever you put in it, and it covers about 108 square feet at 3 inches deep. Tons are a different matter, and the published weights run a long way: shredded mulch at approximately 600 lb a cubic yard, blended garden soil at 2,000, screened topsoil at 2,200, fill dirt at 2,400, river rock and the mason and washed sands at 2,700, driveway gravel and the #57 and 3/4 inch stone at 2,800, crusher fines and ballast at 2,900, crusher run and road base at 3,000, and RipRap at 3,100. Approximate figures, all of them this site's own.
Fill the same bed with mulch and with road base and the loads differ by a factor of five. That is worth knowing, but it is not quite why there are fourteen tools. Nine figures cover the fourteen, and three of them cover most: 2,800 lb is shared by gravel, pea gravel and stone, 3,000 lb by crusher run, road base and paver base, 2,700 lb by sand, paver sand and river rock. Pick any tool inside one of those groups and the tonnage is the same. The tools separate on depth and on the job, which is how the sections below are ordered.
Drives, pads and the base under them
The road base calculator is the one for Class 6 under a lane, a turnaround or an equipment pad, and the crusher run calculator handles the 3/4 inch minus base under patios and smaller pads. For the surface course over a compacted base, use the gravel calculator. Graded washed stone of any size, from #57 down to chips, goes through the stone calculator. A new drive normally means two runs of two different tools: one for the base, one for the top.
Drainage, dry creek beds and slopes that scour
Armor stone is sized by layer thickness rather than by surface depth, so the riprap calculator works at 12 inch layers and up over fabric. Cobble and decorative stone through a dry creek bed go through the river rock calculator. For pea gravel in a play area or a path, the pea gravel calculator uses the rounded-stone weight.
Beds, lawns and regrading
Raising a low spot and finishing it are two separate calculations. The fill dirt calculator sizes the bulk of a grade change, the topsoil calculator sizes the upper few inches under seed or sod, the soil calculator handles raised beds and planters, and the mulch calculator covers beds and tree rings where altitude sun and wind dry the ground out fast.
Paver layers and bedding sand
A patio is three quantities, not one. The paver base calculator sizes the compacted layer, the paver sand calculator sizes the bedding above it, and the sand calculator covers mason and washed sand for mortar work, boxes and mixes. Run all three before you order rather than discovering the bedding layer on delivery day.
What every one of these tools asks for
Each calculator takes a rectangle, a circle, or up to five separate areas for a shape that bends. Length, width and diameter go in as feet. Depth goes in as inches, anywhere from 0.25 to 24. Pick the material, and tick the option that adds 5 percent for compaction and spillage on anything you plan to pack down. Results come back as cubic yards, tons and cubic feet, and a set quote can be sent to your email from the tool. From there, head to the product pages to set a quantity and a date, and to how delivery is arranged for what the truck needs when it gets there. The wider ordering questions are answered separately.
Common questions
Does the 5 percent option matter much on a small job?
On a compacted layer, yes, proportionally more than on a big one. A pad that needs 2 tons loses a noticeable share of it to the plate compactor and to what gets lost spreading the pile out. The option covers both. On decorative rock in a defined bed it adds material you may not have anywhere to put.
Two materials, one delivery. Do I add the tonnages together?
Work each one out in its own calculator first, because the weight per cubic yard is different for each, then add both to the order. Base and surface stone on a drive, or fill dirt and topsoil on a regrade, are the usual pairs. Mark two drop spots on the ground so the loads do not end up mixed in one pile.
How accurate is the number for ground that is not level?
Nothing is wrong with the arithmetic. The ground is the variable. An uneven subgrade, a slope, moisture and compaction all move the real figure, usually by around a tenth either way. Measure the deepest part as well as the average and use the deeper figure if you cannot face a second delivery.
The product page shows one unit and the calculator shows three. Which do I order in?
Use the unit shown on the product page for that material. Stone and gravel are handled by the ton, soils and mulch by the yard. Every calculator shows cubic yards, tons and cubic feet at once, so you do not have to convert anything yourself.
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All 24 materials in these calculators are in stock, delivered free across Colorado.