Project guide
Gravel driveway
A driveway is not a path with cars on it. It is a thicker layer of a denser material, laid in stages, and the depth is the difference between a drive and a set of ruts.
- TimeA weekend for a short drive, longer if the digging is bad
- DifficultyHard: the plate compactor is not optional
How much gravel do I need for a driveway?
- Road base at 6 inches: one cubic yard covers about 54 square feet at 6 inches, so 300 square feet takes about 6 cubic yards (roughly 7.8 tons).
- Recycled concrete at 6 inches: one cubic yard covers about 54 square feet at 6 inches, so 300 square feet takes about 6 cubic yards (roughly 7.8 tons).
Work out how much road base I need …and the recycled concrete
What the job involves
Stripping the topsoil out, shaping and compacting the ground so water runs off it, then laying aggregate in layers and compacting each one. Most yards sell this by the ton rather than the cubic yard, and the calculator answers in whichever unit the yards near you use.
What you need, and roughly how much
Road base
The drive itself, compacted
6 inches residential driveway, compacted
Road base is a dense-graded aggregate: stone, sand and fines together, so it locks up under a compactor instead of moving under a tyre. A residential drive on well-drained ground takes 6 inches measured after compaction, and cold climates and wet or weak soils need more than that. Order against the finished depth rather than the delivered one: a loose load shrinks as it is compacted.
One cubic yard covers about 54 square feet at 6 inches, so 300 square feet takes about 6 cubic yards (roughly 7.8 tons).
Good for: Anywhere a vehicle turns, parks or stands still, and the surface you drive on as well as the layer under it. Not for: An open-graded base rock with the fines screened out. Material made for a paved road's base will not form a crust when it is used as the surface, and becomes very difficult to maintain.
Does the same job at this layer: Recycled concrete.
5 listed yards publish a price for this.
Recycled concrete
The same layer, crushed from old concrete
6 inches residential driveway, compacted
Crushed concrete is graded and sold to the same job as road base and usually costs less to buy and to haul. For anything a vehicle drives on it should be only part of the blend, from a crushed source certified by a state department of transportation; a walk or a patio can be all crushed concrete. That is a question to put to the yard before the load is booked, not after.
One cubic yard covers about 54 square feet at 6 inches, so 300 square feet takes about 6 cubic yards (roughly 7.8 tons).
Good for: A drive where the budget is the constraint and the yard can say what its crushed concrete is certified to. Not for: A drive built from crushed concrete alone. For vehicles it should be blended with quarried dense-graded aggregate rather than used neat.
Does the same job at this layer: Road base.
5 listed yards publish a price for this.
How much recycled concrete for my area? See the yards near me
What else you will need
- A plate compactor, hired by the day. There is no hand tool that replaces it, and the depth above is a compacted depth.
- A geotextile separation fabric if the ground under the drive stays wet. Not sold here; a builders' merchant carries it.
- Stakes and a string line, so the finished surface sheds water instead of holding it.
- Room for the truck to tip. A drive's worth of aggregate is a serious tonnage and it arrives all at once.
How to do it
- Strip the topsoil and anything organic out of the drive first. Aggregate laid over topsoil settles as the topsoil rots.
- Shape the ground underneath so it already carries the fall you want on the finished surface, then compact it. The whole structure copies the shape of what is under it.
- Lay a separation fabric if the ground holds water, so the soil below cannot work its way up into the aggregate.
- Spread the base in layers rather than in one lift, and compact each layer before the next goes on.
- Damp it as you go. Aggregate reaches density at the right moisture and will not at the wrong one, and material that has gone too wet has to be worked until it dries back.
- Check the fall with a string line before the last layer goes down, while changing it is still cheap.
- Keep the first weeks of traffic slow and spread across the width. The gravel roads guide uses exactly that to finish compacting a surface where a roller is not available.
Common mistakes
Building it to a patio's depth
A walk and a patio carry people. A drive carries a vehicle, and needs a thicker base for exactly that reason. If a vehicle will ever park on it, size it for the vehicle rather than for the footpath it looks like.
Laying it all in one go
Aggregate compacts from the top down and only so far. Put it down in layers and compact each one: a thick lift will not reach good density.
Building it flat
Water that cannot run off a drive sits in it, softens what is underneath and takes the surface apart from below. A drive needs a minimum fall, and a surface with no crown potholes and corrugates.
Ordering the finished depth
The depth above is what is left after compaction. What comes off the truck is loose, and the gravel roads guide warns that ordinary compaction takes a large share of that volume straight back out. Work the quantity from the finished depth, then talk to the yard about the difference before you book the load.
Putting rounded stone on a drive
Rounded stone does not interlock and will not stay where it is put under a wheel. Fractured stone embeds into the surface far better and resists movement under load.
Building it in a hard frost
Frozen aggregate will not compact and neither will frozen ground under it. Do not build on either: a drive laid on frozen material settles when it thaws.
Yards near you that carry it
455 listed yards carry gravel. Set your area and the nearest come first, by distance and never by price. Every yard, by state · Road base prices · Recycled concrete prices