Project guide
Gravel walkway
A path that lasts is a compacted base under a compacted top course, held in by an edge. The stone you see is the smaller half of the order.
- TimeA weekend for a garden path
- DifficultyModerate: the digging is the work
How much gravel do I need for a path?
- 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).
- Crusher fines at 3 inches: one cubic yard covers about 108 square feet at 3 inches, so 300 square feet takes about 3 cubic yards (roughly 3.9 tons).
What the job involves
Digging out to the combined depth of both layers, laying and compacting a base course, then a finer top course compacted over it, with edging on both sides. A weekend for a garden path; the digging is the work.
What you need, and roughly how much
Road base
The base course, compacted
6 inches base course under a gravel or crushed-stone path, compacted
Crushed rock with fines, laid and compacted, is what a park department specifies under a crushed-stone path: 6 inches of base course, mechanically compacted. Recycled concrete does the same job and looks identical once it is buried.
One cubic yard covers about 54 square feet at 6 inches, so 300 square feet takes about 6 cubic yards (roughly 7.8 tons).
Does the same job at this layer: Recycled concrete.
5 listed yards publish a price for this.
Crusher fines
The top course you walk on
3 inches path top course over a compacted base course
Angular crushed stone graded down to dust locks together when it is wetted and compacted, into a surface a wheelbarrow and a stroller can cross. The top course goes on at 3 inches over the base. Laid straight onto fabric with no base course, trail builders use more, within a range of 3 to 6 inches.
One cubic yard covers about 108 square feet at 3 inches, so 300 square feet takes about 3 cubic yards (roughly 3.9 tons).
Not for: Pea gravel, or any rounded stone, for a surface you walk on: rounded particles do not interlock and give a loose, unconsolidated surface.
5 listed yards publish a price for this.
What else you will need
- Edging: steel, aluminium, or a soldier course of brick. Not sold here.
- A plate compactor, half a day from a rental yard. Hand tamping works on a narrow path and is honest work.
- Woven landscape fabric between soil and base.
How to do it
- Mark the path and dig out to the depth of both layers together, keeping the bottom flat and the sides clean.
- Lay woven fabric across the bottom and up the sides, so the base cannot work down into the soil.
- Set edging along both sides, to finished height.
- Fill 6 inches of road base, wetting lightly and compacting with the plate compactor as you go.
- Top with 3 inches of crusher fines, rake level, wet it, and compact again.
- Leave it a day before you walk on it hard.
Common mistakes
No base course
The top course is thin on purpose; what carries a wheelbarrow is the compacted base under it. The park standard this guide follows puts more material in the base than in the surface, and compacts both.
Rounded stone on a path you walk
It looks wonderful in the photograph and it is miserable underfoot. Rounded particles do not interlock, so the surface stays loose and unconsolidated; angular fines pack.
Compacting it dry
Fines bind when they are wetted and then compacted; dry material stays loose. Wet each layer lightly, full depth, then compact.
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 · Crusher fines prices