Paver Base Calculator
Base stone and bedding sand for a paver patio, walkway or driveway, in yards and tons.
Quick estimating rule of thumb
For paver base: area (sq ft) × depth (in) ÷ 324 = cubic yards. Use 4 inches compacted for a patio, 6 for heavy foot traffic, 8 to 12 for a driveway, plus exactly 1 inch of bedding sand. Excavate paver + 1 inch + base: about 7⅜ inches for a standard patio. Order 20% extra: dense-graded stone loses a fifth of its depth to compaction.
This paver base calculator gives the crushed stone base under a paver installation in cubic yards and tons. A paver job needs two separate orders: compacted base stone and one inch of coarse bedding sand, so run the base here and then the sand with the depth set to 1 inch.
The number that catches people out is the excavation depth. You are not digging the thickness of the pavers; you are digging pavers plus bedding plus base, which for a standard patio is about 7 to 8 inches below finished grade. Get that wrong and either the patio sits proud of the door threshold or the base has nowhere to go.
How deep should paver base be?
Four inches of compacted crushed stone for a pedestrian patio or walkway, 6 inches for a heavy patio or a garden path that takes a mower, and 8 to 12 inches for anything a car drives on. Over clay or poorly drained soil, add 2 inches and put a woven geotextile between the soil and the stone.
Compacted is the operative word. Dense-graded base stone loses roughly 20 to 25% of its loose depth when it is properly compacted in 2-inch lifts, so 4 inches of finished base needs about 5 inches of stone spread loose. That is why this page defaults to a higher allowance than the material pages do: it is not waste, it is the compaction you are paying for.
The full build-up, and what to excavate
Working down from the finished surface: the paver itself is typically 2 3/8 inches for a standard concrete paver, or 1 to 1 1/4 inches for a thin overlay unit. Under that is exactly 1 inch of screeded bedding sand. Under that is the compacted base. A standard patio is therefore 2 3/8 + 1 + 4 = 7 3/8 inches of excavation, and a driveway with an 8-inch base is closer to 11 3/8 inches.
A 200 square foot patio at 4 inches of base needs 2.47 cubic yards, about 3.7 tons of road base. The 1-inch sand layer on top of it is 0.62 cubic yards, roughly 0.83 tons. Both are well under a truckload, so the delivery fee is likely the bigger line on the invoice than the stone.
Base stone, bedding sand, joint sand: three different products
Base stone is a dense-graded crushed aggregate with the fines left in: road base, Class 5, 3/4 minus, or crusher run depending on where you buy. The fines are what lets it lock up under a compactor. Do not substitute washed #57 stone, which never compacts and lets the pavers rock.
Bedding sand must be coarse, sharp concrete sand meeting ASTM C33, spread 1 inch and screeded flat, never compacted before the pavers go down. Joint sand is a third purchase and is bought by coverage printed on the bag rather than by volume: polymeric jointing sand covers roughly 100 square feet of narrow-jointed pavers per 50 lb bag, and as little as 30 to 40 square feet on large-format units.
The spoil nobody budgets for
Excavating 7 3/8 inches over 200 square feet produces about 123 cubic feet (4.6 cubic yards) of soil to get rid of, and it comes out bulked up by roughly 25% from digging, so it occupies closer to 5.7 cubic yards in a pile. That is more than the stone going back in. Decide before you start whether it is going into raised beds, into a grading job elsewhere on the property, or into a skip.
A driveway installation makes this much worse. An 8-inch base under a 2 3/8 inch paver is 11 3/8 inches of excavation, and on a 600 square foot driveway that is 21 cubic yards of spoil. At that point the skip hire is a real line item and the disposal cost can rival the stone.
Common paver base mistakes
Using washed stone for the base. #57 and other clean stone will not compact. The pavers rock underfoot and the joints open. Base stone must be dense-graded with the fines left in.
A thick sand layer to level a bad base. Bedding sand is exactly 1 inch, screeded. Thicker sand lets individual pavers sink under load, which is the usual cause of a wavy patio.
Compacting the bedding sand. The base is compacted; the 1-inch sand layer is screeded flat and left alone until the pavers are down and vibrated in.
Ordering the compacted volume. Dense-graded base loses 20 to 25% of its loose depth under a compactor. Order 20% over the calculated figure.
No edge restraint. Without plastic or steel edging spiked into the base, the outer course creeps outward and every joint in the field opens behind it.
| Material | lb / ft³ | tons / yd³ | Sold by | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pea gravel (3/8″, rounded) | 100–105 | 1.35 | ton or yd³ | Paths, patios, dog runs, drainage |
| #57 crushed stone (3/4″, washed) | 100–105 | 1.35 | ton | Drainage, slab sub-base, French drains |
| 3/4″ minus / dense-grade | 105–115 | 1.45 | ton | Driveway base, paver base, road pack |
| Crushed concrete (RCA) | 100–110 | 1.35 | ton | Driveway base, structural fill (cheaper) |
| River rock (1–3″) | 95–105 | 1.40 | ton or yd³ | Dry creek beds, borders, xeriscape |
| Decomposed granite | 110–120 | 1.50 | ton | Paths, patios, natural-look driveways |
| Road base / Class 5 | 110–120 | 1.50 | ton | Compacted base under pavers, slabs, drives |
Background reading: how deep should gravel be.
Frequently asked questions
How much paver base do I need?
For a 4-inch compacted base, about one cubic yard for every 80 square feet of patio. A 200 square foot patio needs 2.47 cubic yards, roughly 3.7 tons of road base. Add 20% because dense-graded stone loses a fifth of its loose depth when compacted.
How deep should paver base be?
Four inches compacted for a pedestrian patio or walkway, 6 inches for heavy foot traffic, and 8 to 12 inches for a driveway. Add 2 inches and a geotextile fabric over clay or ground that stays wet.
How deep do I dig for pavers?
Paver thickness plus 1 inch of bedding sand plus the base depth. A standard 2 3/8 inch paver on a 4-inch base means digging 7 3/8 inches below finished grade. A driveway with an 8-inch base is about 11 3/8 inches.
What kind of gravel goes under pavers?
A dense-graded crushed aggregate with the fines in it, sold as road base, Class 5, 3/4 minus or crusher run. The fines let it compact solid. Washed stone such as #57 will not compact and lets pavers rock underfoot.
How much sand do I need under pavers?
Exactly 1 inch of coarse concrete sand, screeded flat. That is 0.0031 cubic yards per square foot, so a 200 square foot patio takes 0.62 cubic yards, about 0.83 tons. Do not use a thicker sand layer to level a bad base.
Can I use paver base panels instead of gravel?
For a light pedestrian patio over stable, well-drained soil, yes: the foam panels replace several inches of stone and save a lot of digging. They are not rated for vehicle loads and they do not fix drainage, so a driveway or a wet site still needs crushed stone.
How much does a cubic yard of paver base weigh?
About 1.5 tons, or 3,000 lb, for dense-graded road base at 110 to 120 lb per cubic foot. It is one of the heavier landscape aggregates, which is why it is almost always sold by the ton.
Do I need to compact paver base in layers?
Yes. Compact in lifts of no more than 2 inches with a plate compactor, wetting lightly if the stone is dry. A single 4-inch lift compacts only at the top and settles unevenly later, which shows up as dips in the finished patio within a year.
How much extra base should I order?
Twenty percent. Roughly 20 to 25% of the loose depth disappears into compaction, and the excavation is never a perfect flat plane. Ordering the exact calculated volume reliably leaves you short.
How much does it cost to base a paver patio?
For a 200 square foot patio, roughly 3 cubic yards of base stone at $30 to $45 a yard plus 0.62 yards of bedding sand, so $110 to $180 in material before delivery. The base is a small fraction of a paver job: the pavers themselves are usually five to ten times that.
How many bags of sand for a paver patio?
For the 1-inch bedding layer, about one 50 lb bag per 6 square feet. A 200 square foot patio is roughly 33 bags, which is the point where bulk sand is clearly cheaper and easier to screed from one pile.
Can I use sand instead of gravel under pavers?
Not as the base. Sand has no load-spreading capacity and washes out, so a sand-only installation ruts and sinks. Sand is the 1-inch bedding course that sits on top of a compacted crushed-stone base.
How much base do I need for a paver driveway?
Eight to twelve inches compacted, so 600 square feet at 8 inches is 14.8 cubic yards, about 22 tons, plus 20% for compaction, roughly 18 yards or 27 tons. That is two truckloads and a compactor rental.
Do I need geotextile fabric under paver base?
Over clay, silt or ground that stays wet, yes: a woven separation fabric between the soil and the stone stops the base being pumped into the subsoil under load. Over sand or firm gravelly subsoil it is optional.