Gravel & Stone Calculator (Yards & Tons)

Enter a footprint (a rectangle, circle, triangle, or a total square footage) and a depth. We compute the loose volume, add a separate compaction and waste buffer to get the volume to order, then convert to weight using the material's bulk density — the single factor that decides how many tons a cubic yard weighs.

area:
  rectangle  A = length × width
  circle     A = π × (diameter / 2)²
  triangle   A = (base × height) / 2
  total area A = entered directly

loose volume:
  cu ft = A × (depth_in / 12)
  cu yd = cu ft / 27

order volume (separate compaction + waste):
  uplift  = 1 + compaction% + waste%
  order cu yd = loose cu yd × uplift

tonnage:
  weight_lb = order cu yd × density (lb/yd³)
  US short tons = weight_lb / 2000
  long tons     = weight_lb / 2240
  metric tonnes = weight_lb / 2204.6226

Named-material densities (lb/yd³): Pea Gravel 2,565 · River Rock 2,835 · Crushed Stone #57 2,431 · Crushed Stone #411 2,835 · Dense-Graded Base / DGA 3,374 · Bank Run 3,240 · Decomposed Granite 2,781 · Lava Rock 1,391 · Marble Chips 2,565 · Riprap 2,700 — single-point values from CalculatorSoup (pick Custom to enter your own). Compaction (settling under a plate compactor) and waste (spillage, over-dig) are kept as two separate buffers because they model different things.

Tonnage is not rounded up — suppliers sell partial tons, so the order weight is shown to one decimal as a continuous figure (unlike bag or pallet counts, which round up to whole units). Depth and density are material estimates, never a load-bearing or compliance claim.