Stone Calculator for Graded Crushed Stone in Indiana
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Most people open this page because of standing water. A flat back yard on till ground holds a puddle for a week after a spring rain, the ditch is a long way off, and the fix is a trench packed with clean stone that gives the water somewhere to move. That is the job the stone calculator is built around, along with pipe bedding, wall backfill and the hard entrances that a wet field approach needs. Below are the questions that come up, in the order they normally come up.
How do I measure a drain trench that follows the building line?
A trench is the friendliest shape on this page, because all three of its measurements are real. Length is what you dig or what you plan to dig, measured along the run rather than corner to corner. Width is the width of the trench bottom in feet, so a 12 in trench is 1.0 and an 18 in trench is 1.5. Depth is the depth of stone, not the depth of the hole, which matters once the pipe and the fabric are in.
For anything wider than a trench, measure to where the stone stops. A pad gets length times width. A ring of stone around a well head or a downspout outlet goes in as a circle, measured across the widest point. Where a job has separate pieces, such as four splash zones under four downspouts, multiple areas mode takes five of them and totals them in one pass.
How deep does clean stone go under a drain, a pad or a path?
| Layer | Depth to enter |
|---|---|
| Top course over a finished base | 2 to 3 in |
| Compacted base under a pad or path | 4 in |
| Trench drain or French drain | 12 in and up |
| Backfill behind a retaining wall | the full backfill depth |
| Construction or field entrance | 6 in |
On slow-draining till the deeper end of a drainage range earns its keep. Water that has no outlet sits in the stone until it can soak away, and a shallow trench simply fills and stays full. The depth box runs from 0.25 to 24 in, so a wall backfill deeper than 24 in goes in as two runs that you add together, which is also how the stone should be placed.
Why does a ton of screenings cover less ground than a ton of #57?
Because the fines take up the room that air would otherwise have. The weights this site publishes make the point plainly: clean stone in the #57, #67 and 3/4 in family runs about 2,800 lb per cubic yard, the same as #8, #89 and 3/8 in chips, while stone screenings and #4 stone or ballast come in near 2,900, graded road base around 3,000 and rip rap about 3,100. Cubic yards stay put when you switch material, since the trench has one volume; only the tonnage moves.
Coverage follows from that. A ton of the 1.40 materials spreads over roughly 116 sq ft at 2 in, 77 sq ft at 3 in, 58 sq ft at a 4 in base and 39 sq ft at 6 in. Those four numbers are enough to sense-check almost any result the tool gives you.
Should the 5 percent box be ticked on stone that gets rolled?
Tick it whenever the stone will be compacted or driven on. Rolled angular stone typically tightens by 5 to 10%, and the box adds a margin for that and for what the bucket loses over the side. Leave it as a margin, not as a design figure: where a drawing calls for a compacted depth, enter that compacted depth and expect to place a little more than the yardage says.
Drainage stone is the exception worth naming. Clean stone in a wrapped trench is not compacted at all, so the box there covers spillage and the handful of extra shovelfuls that go in at the outfall. Better to have that surplus than to order half a ton later.
Which number do I pick out of the material list?
Twelve graded options sit behind the material select, running from 3/8 in chips up to 2.5 in railroad ballast. The grade numbers describe size ranges, and the bigger the stone the lower the number.
- #4 stone is 3/4 to 1-1/2 in, for heavy drainage, trench bottoms and field entrances.
- #57 stone is 3/16 to 1 in, the usual choice for French drains, driveway bases and concrete work.
- #67 stone is 1/4 to 3/4 in, often used for pipe bedding.
- #8 stone is around 3/32 to 3/8 in, a common Indiana drive topping and an underdrain stone.
- #89 crushed stone runs from 3/8 in down to fines, for joints and tight bedding.
- Stone screenings are dust and small chips, screedable and compactable, meant as a thin leveling layer rather than a base.
- Railroad ballast is 1 to 2.5 in angular stone for hard standing and saturated ground.
The choice that matters more than the number is clean against fines. Clean washed stone stays open so water can move. Graded stone with fines packs tight and carries load. Mixing those two up on ground that drains as slowly as a central Indiana till plain gives you a drain that holds water or a base that shifts under a tire. Where a permit or plan names a gradation, order what it names.
A Footer Drain and a Field Entrance, Worked Through
Both are examples with invented dimensions, not customer jobs.
Footer drain, 45 ft long, 18 in wide, 18 in of #57 over the pipe.
- 45 x 1.5 = 67.5 sq ft
- 67.5 x 18 / 12 = 101.25 cubic feet
- 101.25 / 27 = 3.75 cubic yards
- 3.75 x 1.40 = 5.3 tons
- With the 5% box: 3.94 cubic yards, 5.5 tons
A 4 in pipe takes up about 0.15 of a cubic yard along that run, which is not worth deducting. Line the trench with non-woven fabric before the stone goes in, or the clay silts the voids up within a couple of seasons and the drain stops draining.
Field entrance in #4 stone, 30 ft by 14 ft at 6 in.
- 30 x 14 = 420 sq ft
- 420 x 6 / 12 = 210 cubic feet
- 210 / 27 = 7.78 cubic yards
- 7.78 x 1.45 = 11.3 tons
Big angular stone is what keeps a wet approach from turning to soup, and it knocks the mud off tires before they reach the road.
Is this the right tool, or does the gravel page fit better?
Split it this way. Graded crushed stone ordered by its number, plus screenings, ballast and drainage stone, belongs here. Loose surfacing gravel for a drive or a path, including driveway stone and pea gravel, belongs on the gravel calculator. A compacted layer of #53 stone under a lane or a pad goes through the road base calculator, and the finer #73 topping goes through the crusher run calculator. Decorative beds belong on the river rock calculator.
When the tonnage is settled, take it to the product page, set the quantity and pick a delivery date. Delivery is arranged at checkout by ZIP code, and the truck needs a firm spot with clear overhead room to tip.
Common questions
Where should a few tons of stone actually be tipped?
On the drive or another firm surface within wheelbarrow range of the trench, not on the lawn beside it. Clean stone spreads out as it lands, so allow a footprint wider than the pile you are picturing, and keep it off the run of the trench itself so you are not shoveling the pile twice.
The panel gives yards and tons. Which one do I order on?
Graded stone is sold by the ton here, so the ton figure is the order. The cubic yards are for checking the arithmetic and for working out how much room the pile will take at the drop spot.
Do I enter the depth before or after it is tamped?
Enter the depth you want to finish with, then tick the 5% box. On a drainage trench there is nothing to tamp, so the entered depth and the finished depth are the same.
There is a ring of stone going around a well head. What goes in the tool?
Circle mode, with the diameter measured across the full ring in feet. A 6 ft ring at 3 in comes to about 28.3 sq ft, 7.1 cubic feet, 0.26 cubic yards and roughly 0.4 tons of #57. The cap in the middle is too small to bother subtracting.
Can I check the answer without the tool?
Square feet times depth in inches, divided by 12, gives cubic feet; divide by 27 for cubic yards; multiply by 1.40 for the common clean grades. If the answer is far off the coverage figures above, a unit has slipped somewhere, usually a trench width entered in inches instead of feet.
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