Paver Base Calculator
A paver patio is two ordered materials under the pavers: a compacted gravel base and a thin bedding sand course. This calculator sizes both for your area, starting from the minimum base thickness the hardscapes association publishes for the traffic you are putting on it — CMHA now, the ICPI when the spec was written, and still the same document.
How it works
The base thickness defaults to the ICPI minimum for your use: 4 inches after compaction for sidewalks, patios and pedestrian areas, 6 inches for a residential driveway. Both figures are minimums over well-drained soils. Clay that holds water, or a frost-prone region, needs more than the minimum — how much more depends on your soil and your local frost depth, and a calculator is not in a position to decide that. Raise the thickness yourself if either applies.
Base tonnage uses 139 lb/ft³, the FHWA figure for compacted aggregate base, so one cubic yard is about 1.88 tons. The number sizes the compacted layer in place; loose delivered stone occupies more room in the truck, and no source we opened publishes a loose density we could cite for the conversion.
Bedding sand is a nominal 1 inch, screeded flat and left alone. It is not compacted before the pavers are laid — compacting it first defeats its purpose, which is to let each paver seat itself when the plate compactor passes over the finished surface. Because it goes down loose, its tonnage uses the loose sand density of 99 lb/ft³.
Formula: Base yd³ = (length ft × width ft × base thickness in ÷ 12) ÷ 27 · Bedding sand yd³ = (length ft × width ft × 1 in ÷ 12) ÷ 27
Measuring on site
- Measure the finished paved area. The base normally extends past the paver edge to support the edge restraint, so add that overhang to your dimensions if you want it in the order.
- Total excavation depth is base plus bedding sand plus the paver itself. On a 4 inch base that is 5 inches before you add the thickness of the paver you bought, measured down from finished grade.
- Break an irregular patio into rectangles. Base gravel is the cheapest thing in the job by the yard and the most annoying to be short of once the excavation is open.
Waste and what it covers
The gravel base is sized as the compacted volume in place, which is less than the loose volume you take delivery of. The bedding sand is not: it is screeded loose and left that way, so its tonnage uses the loose density and what you order is what goes down. There is no published loose density for crushed base stone in any source we opened, so we do not apply a hidden swell factor to the base — the waste field is yours. What we can tell you is where it usually goes: over-excavated soft spots, the base running past the edge restraint, and screed sand pushed off the edges.
| Area | Use, base thickness | Base yd³ | Base tons | Sand yd³ | Sand tons |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 × 10 ft (100 ft²) | Patio, 4 in | 1.23 | 2.32 | 0.31 | 0.41 |
| 12 × 16 ft (192 ft²) | Patio, 4 in | 2.37 | 4.45 | 0.59 | 0.79 |
| 12 × 24 ft (288 ft²) | Driveway, 6 in | 5.33 | 10.01 | 0.89 | 1.19 |
| 20 × 20 ft (400 ft²) | Driveway, 6 in | 7.41 | 13.90 | 1.23 | 1.65 |
Questions
- How deep should paver base be?
- 4 inches of compacted base for patios, sidewalks and other pedestrian areas, 6 inches for a residential driveway. Those are the ICPI minimums over well-drained soils, and they are floors rather than targets: poorly drained clay or a hard freeze-thaw climate calls for a thicker base, and that call belongs to whoever knows the site.
- How much gravel do I need for a 10x10 paver patio?
- At the 4 inch pedestrian minimum, 1.23 cubic yards of base — about 2.32 tons — plus 0.31 cubic yards (0.41 tons) of bedding sand. On a 6 inch base the gravel goes to 1.85 cubic yards; the sand does not change, because the bedding course is 1 inch regardless of what is under it.
- Do you compact bedding sand before laying pavers?
- No. Screed it to a nominal 1 inch and leave it. The pavers are set on the loose sand and the whole surface is plate-compacted afterwards, which beds each unit to its own thickness. Compacting the sand first removes the give that makes the surface come out flat.
- How many square feet does a ton of paver base cover?
- One ton of compacted aggregate base is about 14.39 ft³, which covers 43.2 ft² at 4 inches or 28.8 ft² at 6 inches. That is compacted coverage — the same ton is a larger pile in the driveway before you roll it.
Sources
- Concrete Masonry & Hardscapes Association (formerly ICPI) — PAV-TEC-002-22 — Construction of Interlocking Concrete Pavements“Sidewalks, patios and pedestrian areas should have a minimum base thickness (after compaction) of 4 in. (100 mm) over well-drained soils. Residential driveways on well-drained soils should be at least 6 in. (150 mm) thick. ... Bedding sand should be spread and screeded to an uncompacted nominal 1 in. (25 mm) thickness.”
- Federal Highway Administration, Central Federal Lands Highway Division — Application Rates and Weights for Estimating Purposes“Aggregate Base | 2225 kg/m3 (139.0 lb/ft3)”
- Federal Highway Administration — Geotechnical Aspects of Pavements Reference Manual (NHI-05-037), Chapter 5, Table 5-9“Table 5-9. Typical porosity, void ratio, and unit weight values for soils in their natural state (after Peck, Hanson, and Thornburn, 1974). [Columns: Porosity n · Void Ratio e · Water Content w · Unit Weight kN/m³ γd γsat · lb/cu ft γd γsat] Well-graded sand (loose) 0.40 0.67 25% 15.6 19.5 99 124 · Well-graded sand (dense) 0.30 0.43 16% 18.2 21.2 116 135”
Figures and sources last checked by The BuilderTally Team in August 2026.