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Crusher Run Calculator

A shed pad, a base, a drive — the short tons of crusher run.

Material only — compact it in lifts.

12' · 144 in · 12 ft · 3.6576 m

20' · 240 in · 20 ft · 6.096 m

4" · 4 in · 0.3333 ft · 0.1016 m

80 ft³

Check thisThe link gave a slab no thickness, so its box starts at the usual one. Check it.

10% covers what is pressed into soft ground, spread past the edges and left in the truck bed or the bags. It is added once, to the weight and to the loose yards.

This page recalculates as you type. There is no Calculate button.

Answer

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Weight in short tons, with 10% waste

5.18 short tons (2,000 lb)

4.15 yd³ loose with 10% waste · 4.7 tonnes (1,000 kg) · 10,364 lb

Order 5.25 short tons (2,000 lb)
Weight in short tons, before waste 4.71 short tons (2,000 lb)
Tonnes, with 10% waste 4.7 tonnes (1,000 kg)
Loose, with 10% waste 4.15 yd³
Delivered, in quarter short ton steps 5.25 short tons (2,000 lb)
Or in bags 224 × 50 lb bags (0.5 ft³)
In place, cubic yards 2.963 yd³
In place, cubic feet 80 ft³
In place, cubic meters 2.265 m³
Weight, with 10% waste 10,364 lb
Ticked items cost $331.25
DrawingThe project drawn to scale. Patio: 12' × 20'.12'20'Patio

Buying note10,364 lb is about 7 trips in a full-size pickup at ~1,500 lb a load, if you haul it yourself. Your truck's payload is on the driver's door-jamb sticker; type it under Assumptions.

Breakdown

Area Measurements Qty Volume in place Share
Patio 12' × 20' × 4" Add ×1 80 ft³

What to buy

Buying note10,364 lb is about 7 trips in a full-size pickup at ~1,500 lb a load, if you haul it yourself. Your truck's payload is on the driver's door-jamb sticker; type it under Assumptions.

Ways to buy the bags

Bags of gravel, sand and paver base are sold by volume, 0.5 ft³ a bag; the count is the loose volume over that.

224 × 50 lb bags (0.5 ft³) Bags 224 Left over 0.06 ft³ Weight 11,200 lb Cost $1,227.52 Reference price $5.48. Type your store's.

Shopping list

5.25 short tons (2,000 lb) $331.25
2 rolls $48.00 Reference price $0.12. Type your store's.
Ticked items $331.25

Untick what you already have. A delivered load's price includes the delivery fee you type below.

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Bags or a delivered load

Bags $1,227.52
Delivered $331.25 order 5.25 short tons (2,000 lb)

The delivered load is $896.27 cheaper.

From 0.5 short tons (2,000 lb) up, a delivered load costs less than bags.

Reference price $45.00. Type your store's. Reference price $95.00. Type your store's.

Every supplier rounds, sets a minimum and charges for small loads its own way. Ask before you order.

How this was worked out

Every number below is yours. Each constant links to the row where you can change it.

Patio 12' × 20' × 4" 80 ft³
All areas 80 ft³ ÷ 27 2.963 yd³ · 2.265 m³
Weight 2.963 yd³ × 1.59 short tons a yard, compacted 4.711 short tons (2,000 lb)

Change:Crusher run, compacted

Plus waste 4.711 short tons (2,000 lb) × (1 + 10%) 5.182 short tons (2,000 lb) · 4.701 tonnes (1,000 kg)
Loose, to order 2.963 yd³ × 1.59 ÷ 1.25 × (1 + 10%) 4.146 yd³

Change:Crusher run, compactedCrusher run, loose

Bags 111.936 ft³ ÷ 0.5 ft³ a bag 224 × 50 lb bags (0.5 ft³) · 0.06 ft³ left over

Change:Yield, 50 lb gravel bag

Delivered 5.182 short tons (2,000 lb) → quarter short ton 5.25 short tons (2,000 lb)
Cost 5.25 short tons (2,000 lb) × $45.00 + $95.00 $331.25

Assumptions

Every one of these is editable. Change one and the answer changes with it.

Assumption Value Confidence
Crusher run, looseMoDOT's loose crushed granite or limestone, used for crusher run and paver base: the same rock with its fines left in. No figure found for the graded product itself. ~ short ton/yd³ Derived or single-supplier
Crusher run, compactedMoDOT's compacted crushed granite or limestone, used for crusher run and paver base: assumed to pack about this tight, as no figure for the graded product was found. ~ short ton/yd³ Derived or single-supplier
Deepest loose liftNRCS Conservation Practice Standard NY-560, Access Road: spread each lift no more than 9 in deep before compacting it. in From a data sheet or an agency document
Yield, 50 lb gravel bag0.5 ft³ per 50 lb bag. Sand, which the sand page buys in the same bag: Sakrete Play Sand (data sheet REV 3-10) and Sakrete's commercial sands (Rev. 06/16) yield 0.5 ft³, Quikrete Premium Play Sand is labeled 'approx 1/2 cu. ft.'; mason sand runs larger, 0.6 ft³ (Sakrete, Rev. 04/16). Gravel: Quikrete All-Purpose Gravel as retailers list it. ~ ft³/bag Derived or single-supplier
Where a delivered load starts to payAbout where bags stop making sense: 54 bags of 0.5 ft³, some 2,700 lb. Chosen, not sourced. ~ yd³ Derived or single-supplier
Your truck's payloadFull-size (1500-series) pickups advertise 2,260-2,440 lb of payload (2026), and ordinary trims carry 600-700 lb less; this is the low end. Your truck's figure is on the driver's door-jamb placard. ~ lb Derived or single-supplier
Fabric overlap between stripsNRCS Construction Specification 95, Geotextile (national 210-VI-NIH, May 2001): panels joined without sewing overlap at least 18 in unless otherwise specified. in From a data sheet or an agency document

How much crusher run you need

Crusher run is weighed at its compacted density, because the depth you measure is the depth after the plate compactor. A shed pad 12 by 16 feet, 4 inches deep once packed, is 12 × 16 × 4/12 = 64 cubic feet, or 2.37 cubic yards. Compacted crusher run weighs about 1.59 short tons a yard, so the pad holds 3.77 short tons; with 10% for waste you order 4.15 short tons, which a quarry rounds up to 4¼.

If the yard sells it by the cubic yard, it is measuring loose stone in a bucket, and loose crusher run takes more room: about 1.25 short tons a yard. The same pad is 3.32 loose yards with waste, rounded up to 3½. Ordering the 2.37 yards the finished pad occupies would leave you about 30% short of the 3.32 you need.

What crusher run is

Crushed stone with its fines left in — the stone dust from the crusher, not screened out. The fines fill the gaps between the larger stones, which is why it packs hard and why it is the usual base under sheds, patios, pavers and driveways. It is also why it drains slowly; for a drainage bed, #57 stone, with the fines washed out, is the stone to use. Yards sell it under several names: crusher run, crush and run, dense-graded aggregate, road base.

No density for crusher run itself was found in a DOT table or a producer's sheet, so the page uses the Missouri DOT figures for crushed granite and limestone — loose 2,410 to 2,590 lb a yard, compacted 3,060 to 3,300 — and marks them as estimates. Ask your yard for its own figure and type it under Assumptions; both the short tons and the loose yards follow it.

Compacted once, never twice

For the shed pad above, the 1.59 already is the packed stone: the page never adds a compaction allowance on top of it, and the ratio of the two densities, about 1.27, only turns the finished 2.37 yards into the 3.01 loose yards that make them, 3.32 with waste.

Spread it in lifts

The NRCS standard for access roads limits each loose lift to 9 inches before it is compacted. Four inches compacted starts as about 5.1 loose, one lift. Six inches is about 7.6 loose, still one. Eight inches is about 10.2 loose, and the page tells you to spread and compact it in two.

Depth by job

  • Shed pad or patio base: 4 inches compacted is common.
  • Driveway: the FHWA gravel roads guide asks for at least 4.5 inches of gravel on firm ground, 5.5 on average ground and 6.5 on soft ground. The gravel driveway calculator asks about the ground and checks the depth.
  • Never thinner than twice the largest stone, the same guide's rule for every layer.

A pad for a concrete slab goes under the slab; the link below carries the same outline to the concrete slab calculator. The 4.15 short tons above are 8,292 lb, about six trips in a full-size pickup at the 1,500 lb payload we assume, so this is a delivered load. Type the yard's price per short ton or per cubic yard and its delivery fee in the comparison under the shopping list for the total. We are not connected with any quarry or supplier.