Paver Base Calculator for Patios, Walks and Parking Aprons
Enter your project dimensions
A 22-foot front walk and a two-car parking apron sound like the same kind of project until the stone is ordered. Run both through this paver base calculator and the walk comes back at about 1.7 tons while the apron comes back near 15.9. Six times the paved area, close to ten times the stone, because the apron carries vehicles on clay and goes down twice as deep. That gap is the whole reason this page exists separately from the tools that size decorative cover.
| Hypothetical job | Paved area | Base footprint | Compacted depth | Tons at 1.50 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front walk, 22 ft x 3 ft | 66 sq ft | 90 sq ft | 4 in | 1.7 |
| Parking apron, 20 ft x 20 ft on clay | 400 sq ft | 430.5 sq ft | 8 in | 15.9 |
Walk: 90 x (4 ÷ 12) = 30 cu ft, then 30 ÷ 27 = 1.11 yd³, and 1.11 x 1.5 = 1.7 tons.
Apron: 430.5 x (8 ÷ 12) = 287 cu ft, then 287 ÷ 27 = 10.63 yd³, and 10.63 x 1.5 = 15.9 tons.
The six inches of base nobody measures, and where they go
Neither footprint above matches the paved area, and that is deliberate. On every side that is not held by a wall or a step, carry the base six inches past the edge of the pavers so the edge restraint is sitting on compacted stone instead of lawn soil. The walk above is open on both long sides and one end, so 22 by 3 becomes roughly 22.5 by 4. The apron is open on three sides, so 20 by 20 becomes about 21 by 20.5.
Enter that larger footprint, not the paved rectangle. Then pick the compacted depth:
- Walkways and garden paths: 4 inches.
- Patios and seating areas: 4 to 6 inches.
- Anything cars drive on: 6 to 8 inches.
- Clay or soft subgrade: add 2 inches and put woven geotextile under the stone.
The last line applies to a lot of this state. Limestone valleys through the center and southeast weather to heavy clay, the western plateau is silty and clay rich, and glacial till in the northeast and northwest often hides a dense layer that holds water not far down. Stone laid straight onto wet clay works its way into the subgrade over a season or two.
Shapes, feet and inches, and the dig depth that follows
Choose rectangle, circle, or multiple areas, which holds up to five pieces and adds them. Length, width and diameter go in as feet, depth in inches with the box accepting 0.25 to 24. Select the material, leave the ten percent for compaction and spillage ticked, or untick it, and press calculate. Cubic yards, tons and cubic feet come back together, and Email my quote puts the figure in writing.
The dig depth is a separate sum worth doing before the shovel starts: base depth, plus 1 inch of bedding, plus the paver thickness, less whatever you want standing above the surrounding grade. A 4-inch base under a 2 3/8 inch paver set flush comes to about 7.5 inches of excavation. Mark that on a stake and check it as you dig, because going too deep means hauling soil out and buying stone to put the level back.
Three numbers, and which one goes in the quantity box
Cubic yards tells you the size of the heap that is coming. Tons is the unit base stone is weighed and sold in, so tons is what goes on the order. Cubic feet is the figure to hold against a wheelbarrow when the material has to cross a lawn.
The conversion between them is the material's weight, and the compacting base here is published at about 3,000 lb per cubic yard, or 1.50 tons per yard. Clean stone with no fines runs lighter at about 2,800 lb, which is why an identical hole comes back at a different tonnage when a different material is selected.
Rounding up on a base you cannot go back and thicken
The ten percent tick box covers spillage and the settling of a spread layer. It does not cover a soft subgrade that takes the first lift and keeps it, and it does not cover a depth typed loose when the specification is compacted. On a patio base, round the calculated tonnage up.
The arithmetic behind that: a base built in 2-inch lifts and rolled tightens by roughly ten to fifteen percent from loose. Enter the finished compacted depth, leave the box ticked, and then round. Coming up a quarter ton short on a 16-ton apron stops the job while the last strip sits unfinished, and a base that gets patched in later never compacts as one layer. Order the base and the bedding sand together so both are on site before the digging is backfilled, and size the bedding course in the paver sand calculator, which is weighted for sand rather than stone.
2A modified for the structure, screenings only as a skin
The load-carrying layer wants crushed stone with the fines left in, so it locks up under a compactor. In Pennsylvania that material is ordered as 2A modified, which is the same dense-graded base sold elsewhere as Crusher Run. Either one carries the 1.50 figure this page uses.
Screenings belong in a thin course over a compacted base, or as a setting bed where sand is not wanted. A base built out of screenings alone traps water and pumps under load, which in a state that freezes and thaws all winter is the shortest route to a wavy patio. Clean stone such as 2B stone is drainage material, not base.
Nothing you build here gets below frost, which reaches about 36 inches across most of the state and runs from about 30 inches in parts of the southeast to 42 inches in the north and the mountains. What is in your control is depth and drainage: build the base to fall 2 to 3 percent away from the house, and the surface sheds water instead of holding it where it can freeze.
Take the tonnage to the product page for the stone you sized, set a quantity and a date, and delivery is arranged at checkout from your ZIP code. Book it for after the excavation is done, since a pile of base stone sitting on lawn for two weeks leaves a dead rectangle behind it. An awkward shape, or ground that stays soft after rain, can go through the contact page first.
Common questions
I changed the material and the tons moved without me touching the measurements. Why?
The tool works out the volume from your figures first, then multiplies by the published weight of whatever is selected. Base stone with fines is about 3,000 lb per cubic yard and clean crushed stone about 2,800 lb, so the same excavation comes back heavier in base. Compare cubic yards when you are choosing between materials, and read tons when you order.
Is ten percent enough on a base under pavers?
It is a start, not the whole cushion. It handles spillage and a bit of settlement, not a subgrade that absorbs the first lift or an excavation that came out an inch deep in one corner. Leave it ticked and round the tonnage up. Base is the one layer you cannot add to once the pavers are down.
The patio is on a slope. How do I measure it?
Take the plan dimensions, measured level, because a paver patio is cut level into the grade rather than laid down the slope. That means the uphill end is a deeper dig and the downhill end may need building up. Enter the deeper half and the shallower half as separate areas with their own depths rather than averaging them into one.
My patio wraps around a corner of the house in an L. Can the tool handle that?
Use the multiple areas option and enter the L as two rectangles that do not overlap, measuring the second leg from where the first one ends rather than from the outside corner. Add the six inch base overhang only on the sides that are actually open, not on the sides against the house or the step. Up to five pieces can be totaled in one calculation.
Does the edging or border count as part of the area?
The edge restraint itself sits on the base, so it is already covered by the six inch overhang you added around the paved area. A separate soldier course or border laid in pavers is different: that is paved surface, so measure to the outside of it and then add the overhang beyond that. A planted or gravel border outside the restraint does not need base under it.
Related calculators
The pavers get the compliments. The base earns them.
Crusher run and screenings by the ton, free delivery, ordered together with your bedding sand.