Frequently Asked Questions

The primary difference is their shape and origin. Crushed stone is manufactured by mechanically crushing large rocks, resulting in angular, jagged edges. This angularity is its key feature, as the pieces interlock tightly when compacted, creating an exceptionally stable base.

• Best for: Driveway bases, foundations for patios, retaining wall backfill.

Gravel, on the other hand, is a natural product, weathered and rounded by water over time. Its smooth, rounded shape makes it less stable under pressure but more comfortable to walk on and visually appealing for decorative uses.

• Best for: Walkways, garden paths, playgrounds, decorative ground cover.

A "waste factor" is an essential buffer of extra material (typically 5-10%) you add to your final order. It's crucial for two main reasons:

1. Compaction: Materials like crushed stone and stone dust settle and compact, meaning their final volume is less than their loose volume. A waste factor accounts for this reduction. You can see this effect with our compaction calculator.
2. Contingency: It covers minor measurement errors, uneven ground, and spillage during installation.

Forgetting the waste factor is one of the most common mistakes that leads to a material shortage, costly second delivery fees, and project delays. It's cheap insurance for a smooth project.

The required depth is all about load-bearing capacity. The more weight the surface needs to support, the deeper the base must be.

• Driveways: A minimum of 4-6 inches of compacted crushed stone is standard for residential driveways supporting cars and light trucks. For heavy vehicles like RVs, or for areas with very soft soil, 8-12 inches may be necessary.
• Patios & Walkways: For pedestrian traffic, a 4-inch compacted base is typically sufficient to prevent pavers or flagstones from shifting and settling.

This is a common point of confusion. You plan your project in volume (cubic yards), but you almost always purchase your material in weight (tons).

Suppliers sell by the ton because weight is a more consistent and verifiable measure. A material's volume can fluctuate with moisture content or how it's piled, but a ton is always 2,000 pounds. Our calculators are designed to bridge this gap by converting the cubic yards your project needs into the tons your supplier will sell you, using standard material densities.

#57 stone is a specific size grading for crushed stone, typically referring to stones that are about 3/4 inch to 1.5 inches in diameter. It's incredibly popular because it offers a perfect balance of properties:

• The stones are large enough to create voids for excellent drainage.
• They are angular enough to interlock and compact into a very stable base.
• It's widely available and cost-effective.

These qualities make it the go-to choice for a huge range of applications, including driveway bases, French drains, backfill for retaining walls, and as an aggregate in concrete mixes.

Yes, absolutely. Compaction is arguably the most critical step in building a long-lasting base for any project. Without proper compaction:

• The stone will settle unevenly over time, causing your driveway to rut or your patio pavers to sink and become a trip hazard.
• The base will lack the structural integrity needed to distribute weight, leading to premature failure.

For best results, you should spread the base material in 2-3 inch layers (lifts) and compact each layer thoroughly with a plate compactor before adding the next.

The best and simplest method is to break the complex shape down into smaller, manageable, regular shapes like squares, rectangles, and circles.

1. Sketch your project area on a piece of paper.
2. Overlay a grid of squares and rectangles to cover most of the space.
3. Use our calculator to find the volume for each individual shape.
4. Add the results from all the shapes together to get your total estimated volume.

This approach is far more accurate than trying to guess an average length and width for the entire irregular area.

Geotextile fabric is a permeable, durable textile used in landscaping and construction. You should use it at the very bottom of your excavated area, directly on top of the compacted soil (subgrade), before you add any stone.

It serves two critical functions:

• Separation & Stabilization: It prevents your expensive stone base from mixing with the soil below, ensuring your base maintains its intended depth and strength over time.
• Weed Barrier: It helps to suppress weeds from growing up from the soil into your stone layers.

Using geotextile fabric is a relatively inexpensive step that dramatically increases the stability and longevity of your project.

It is highly discouraged. While beautiful, decorative river rocks are smooth and rounded. They do not interlock when pressure is applied. When a car drives over them, they will simply shift and slide out of the way, creating deep ruts and an unstable surface.

For any load-bearing surface like a driveway, you must use an angular, interlocking crushed stone as the base material to ensure a safe and durable surface.

For any project larger than a very small garden patch (e.g., more than 10-20 square feet), buying in bulk from a landscape or quarry supplier is almost always significantly cheaper than buying individual bags from a big-box store.

The price per pound for bagged material can be 5 to 10 times higher than the price per pound for bulk material delivered by a truck. While there is a delivery fee for bulk orders, the overall cost savings on even a small project are substantial.