How Many Tons Is a 6-Inch Gravel Base?

Six inches of gravel is about 2.6 tons per 100 square feet, or about 26 tons per 1,000 square feet, at 1.4 tons per cubic yard. That is a finished planning depth. Compact it in lifts. The quarry ticket is the real weight.

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A hundred square feet as the building block

Per 100 square feet, a 6-inch thickness is 100 times 0.5 foot, or 50 cubic feet. Divide 50 by 27 and you get about 1.85 cubic yards. At a planning weight of about 1.4 tons per cubic yard, 1.85 times 1.4 is about 2.6 tons. Scale that block by ten for 1,000 square feet and you get about 26 tons, matching 1,000 times 0.5 divided by 27, which is about 18.5 cubic yards, times 1.4. Use whichever path you can check. A driveway that is not a round hundred should use its own square feet. Multiply the area by 0.5, divide by 27, then multiply by 1.4. This is a planning estimate. The quarry ticket is the real weight for the stone they actually load.

Finished depth is not a loose dump

A 6-inch finished base is the depth after compaction, not one loose 6-inch dump. Stone dropped in a fluffy pile sits higher than it will after a plate or a roller. If you order only the loose look of six inches, the finished base will be thin. Place the stone in lifts a machine can actually compact, and check the finished grade against the six inches you planned. More passes on one thick pile do not densify the bottom. The asphalt that follows, planned at 145 pounds per cubic foot, will settle into any loose stone you left below. The gravel tons and the asphalt tons stay on separate tickets. Do not convert the six inches with the hot-mix formula.

Six inches is a planning depth

Nothing here makes six inches a code minimum or a code maximum. It is a thickness people use when they are counting stone. Clay, water, and truck traffic can call for a different section, and a firm yard with light cars can be discussed differently by the person who builds it. If your quarry's stone is heavier or lighter than 1.4 tons per cubic yard, rerun the cubic yards with their factor. About 1.85 cubic yards per 100 square feet does not change when the unit weight changes. Only the tons change. Extend the base past the asphalt edge if you are building that extra width, and include those square feet before you multiply. Then keep the scale ticket beside the area you compacted.

A practical sequence

Treat six inches as 0.5 foot of finished thickness.
Per 100 square feet, plan about 1.85 cubic yards, or about 2.6 tons.
Per 1,000 square feet, plan about 26 tons at 1.4 tons per cubic yard.
Compact in lifts, and let the quarry ticket stand as the real weight.

The mistake to skip

Dumping one loose six-inch pile and calling it a compacted six-inch base.

Questions people ask

How many tons is six inches of gravel per 100 square feet?

About 2.6 tons. One hundred square feet times 0.5 foot is 50 cubic feet, or about 1.85 cubic yards. Times about 1.4 tons per yard, that is about 2.6 tons. It is a planning estimate for a finished thickness. The quarry ticket is the real weight of the stone that arrives.

Does 2.6 tons include compaction loss?

The 2.6 tons is the planning weight of the finished 6-inch volume at 1.4 tons per cubic yard. A loose pile that only looks six inches deep will compact thinner. Place stone in lifts and check the finished depth. The ticket still tells you the weight you bought.

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