Gravel Patio Calculator
— How Much Do You Need?

Gravel patios are a great choice for many outdoor spaces, and for many homeowners they make more sense than pavers or poured concrete. The main advantages are cost, drainage, and DIY installability. They are affordable and you can install them yourself in a weekend. They drain water easily, reducing pooling and runoff. They offer flexibility to resize or reconfigure later. Tradeoffs include shifting over time, potential wobble for heavy furniture, and more frequent maintenance to top up gravel. If you want an attractive, low cost, DIY friendly outdoor space, a gravel patio is a smart option.

The right gravel for your patio depends on how you plan to use the space and the look you are going for. Pea gravel is the most popular choice for decorative patios. It is smooth, rounded, and comfortable to walk on barefoot, which makes it ideal for backyard lounging areas and garden patios. It comes in natural earthy tones and gives outdoor spaces a clean, finished look. The trade off is that its round shape means it rolls and migrates more easily than angular materials, especially along the edges of the patio. Crushed stone, such as a #57 stone or crusher run, provides a firmer, more stable surface. The angular edges interlock when compacted, so it resists spreading under furniture and foot traffic better than round gravel. Decomposed granite compacts well and drains nicely, giving a hard surface with a natural look. If you are unsure which material is best for your project, reach out to the Hello Gravel team and we can help you choose.

You can technically lay gravel directly onto bare soil, but skipping proper base preparation almost always leads to problems. Weeds push up through the gravel, the surface becomes uneven as the ground shifts, and drainage suffers if the soil underneath compacts over time. A standard approach starts with excavating the area to roughly 4 to 6 inches below your intended finished grade and compacting the soil. Then lay a layer of landscape fabric directly on the compacted soil to block weeds while letting water drain through. Over the fabric, add a base layer of crushed stone or road base gravel and compact it. Your decorative gravel goes on last as the top layer. Edging around the perimeter is essential to keep the gravel in place over time.

For a stable, functional gravel patio, plan for a total depth of 4 to 6 inches. This usually means a base layer of 3 to 4 inches of crushed stone or road base, topped with 2 inches of the decorative gravel. If you use a single layer, aim for 3 to 4 inches. Deeper is better for high traffic, as it keeps the surface firmer and reduces maintenance. When you estimate materials, specify the depth so the quantities are accurate. The Hello Gravel calculator makes this easy by letting you enter your square footage and target depth to get an exact quantity.

Quantity depends on the patio size and depth. For a 20 by 20 foot patio covering 400 square feet at 4 inches deep, you would need roughly 7 tons of gravel. At 3 inches deep, the same patio would use about 5 tons. These figures use a typical gravel weight around 1.4 tons per cubic yard. Real world results vary with gravel type and base preparation. The Hello Gravel calculator is the best way to get an exact quantity for your dimensions, and our team can help with any questions before you order.