About this calculator

What you can do with it

Enter a rectangle or an area you already measured, plus the depth you intend to place. Choose US or metric units. The result is the uncompacted volume in cubic yards, cubic feet, and cubic metres, then an estimated weight in US short tons and in metric tonnes.

Those two weight names are kept apart on purpose. A US short ton is 2,000 pounds. A metric tonne is 1,000 kilograms. They are not equal, and neither one is a bag or a truck order.

Three materials have a published yard weight built in: pea gravel at 2,600 lb/yd³, crushed stone at 2,800 lb/yd³, and river rock at 2,700 lb/yd³. You can type a custom density in the unit the field names. The FAQ links the supplier pages those figures come from and explains why another yard may print a different number.

What the presets change

Garden path, walking path, and driveway surface set a depth and a gravel. Length, width, and area stay as you left them. A driveway preset is only a coverage choice for someone who already wants about 4 inches of crushed stone. It is not a design for layers, traffic, or thickness.

What it will not do

It will not tell you how thick a base should be, how many bags to buy, or what a supplier will put on an invoice. Compaction, moisture, and the stone itself change coverage. The volume you see is the space you measured. If you want spare material, add one allowance yourself and the result will say that it was applied once.

See the FAQ for formulas, assumptions and source links.