Table of contents
Gravel drivewayWhat is gravel?Gravel driveway calculator — featuresHow much gravel for a driveway? — an example of calculationsGravel driveway cost — factorsGravel driveway calculator is a useful construction tool that calculates how much gravel is needed to build a gravel driveway. If you want, it can also estimate the needed material weight and total gravel driveway cost.
Stop wondering how much gravel you should buy and focus only on choosing the best gravel for the driveway. In the article below, you can find additional information about what gravel is and a few factors that may influence the gravel driveway cost. Moreover, we prepared a step-by-step tutorial on proper calculator usage.
🙋 If you prefer to use crushed stones instead of gravel, you can check out our crushed stone calculator to correctly calculate how many stones you'll need. On the other hand, to determine the quantity of gravel for other landscaping bedding purposes and to learn more about gravel, you may want to visit our gravel calculator.
Gravel driveway
Gravel driveways are very popular in some areas and very hard to find in others. Crushing stone is commonly used in the countryside to build driveways and roadways. You can often see gravel driveways leading to concrete garages. See our concrete driveway cost calculator if that interests you.
Why are they so popular? That's because you can build a gravel driveway cheaper than a paved driveway, but it will last just as long. Moreover, that will be a good choice if you don't mind doing extra maintenance.
🔎 Nevertheless, if you're also considering pavers or paving blocks for your driveway, you can check out our paver calculator in conjunction with our paver sand calculator. That way, you can compare how much it will cost if you choose that as your driveway surface.
What is gravel?
Natural gravel can be technically defined as loose rocks or stones with dimensions larger than sand but smaller than a cobble. The diameter may vary from 2.5-6.5 cm (0.1-2.5 in). Gravel, commonly used for building driveways, is often a processed product consisting of rocks, sand, and clay. This mixture compacts much better into a stable surface than plain rocks.
Gravel driveway calculator — features
No matter if you need to build a local driveway to a single-family house or an access road to a building site, the gravel driveway calculator will help you in both situations. This user-friendly tool requires you only to enter the dimensions of a planned driveway. If you are curious about the costs of needed crushed stone, you should also provide the price of the material. Moreover, you can check what the total weight or tonnage of the material is. We assumed the standard weight of gravel equals 1.25 tonnes per cubic meter, but you can change it in case of using a different type of crushed stone.
We use simple formulas for the calculations:
amount of gravel = length × width × depthgravel weight = amount of gravel × crushed stone weight
The costs of material:
total costs = amount of gravel × price (per cubic meter or cubic yard)
How much gravel for a driveway? — an example of calculations
Let's see an example of calculations to be sure that you are using the gravel driveway calculator properly. The numbers are only assumptions for the purpose of this example:
Enter the planned driveway dimensions.
length = 100 m,width = 3 m,depth = 15 cm.Check the result:
total crushed stone = 45 m³.Click on the "Total weight" heading to see that the total weight is 56.25 tons. This assumes the default density of 1.25 metric tons per cubic meter.
Open the "Total cost" section of the calculator to calculate the total cost of the gravel. Enter a material price of $20/m³ to find the total cost is
$20/m³ × 45 m³ = $900.
Gravel driveway cost — factors
Whether you want a basic gravel driveway or something more stylish, multiple factors affect the cost. Depending on the condition of the site and its size, land clearing may be required. To do this task yourself, you will for sure need to rent appropriate gear or hire professionals who will do this faster. You can choose from various types of stone — more solid and nicer will cost you much more than regular gravel.
Of course, the crushed stone volume needed to build the driveway will significantly influence the total cost. Keep in mind, though, that you should take care of some other factors, such as proper water drainage. This also costs additional effort and money as a consequence. However, if it is not installed right the first time, it could lead to higher maintenance costs.
Related calculators
