Base material short cut?

[fmarshall04]

I know the long cut to figuring out my gravel and sand for a paver project. Is there an old school short cut that this busy mind might be able to remember in a hurry????

[rholt9]

Not sure by what you mean by long cut or short cut. There is pretty much only one way to calculate your materials....(SF x depth) divided by 27 gives you your cubic yards needed.

[uptoninc]

Info I use for base material calculation. To start, it is always best to have a little extra material on hand than not enough. The following is info you could use in computing material needs. Know Area of final paved surface. Know Perimeter Length of paved surface in need of edge restraint-i.e. a paver driveway meeting an existing concrete apron or walk will not need edge restraint nor additional base material beyond the edge of the paving stones adjacent to the concrete surface. Know whether the perimeter is straight or has curves-I generally over build the base when curves are present as it saves time in excavation and base install. Also,overbuilding the base gives me more freedom when installing the pavers to control the curved perimeter. Know the depth of base material you are likely to use-for a walkway in Southern New England, I plan for 6" base. Your Area of base will be the area of pavers plus (the perimeter of the paver footprint x the amount of feet wider your base will be than your footprint). Straight perimeters will be minimum 6" wider, curved i figure 8-10".

Heres the math for a walk in CT with minimum 6" base material:
Walkway is 5' wide x 20' long = 100 sq ft walk meets front stoop and city walk
Area of base = Area of Walk + (perimeter of unrestrained footprint x 6")
AofBase=(5'x20')+(40'x0.5')=120 sq ft minimum
Volume of base= Area of base x depth (if using feet for area, use feet for depth)
VofBase = 120' x 0.5' = 60 cubic ft (of compacted base material)
Cubic ft to cubic yards 60/27= 2.22 cubic yards (compacted material)
I generally figure that I will need 125% of uncompacted base (add 25%) for compaction
2.22 cubic yards becomes 2.78 cubic yards
Material is sold by yard or ton, i generally buy per ton. 1 yard=1.33 ton or 1 ton=0.75 yd
2.78 yards x 1.33= 3.7 ton
I would add 15% 3.7 x 1.15= 4.25 ton
So for a straight walk at 6" depth, 120 sq ft of base needs 4.25 ton or 3.2 yards
1 ton will cover 28 square feet, 1 yard will cover 37.5 sq ft at 6" base

120 sq ft/28 sq ft = 4.28 ton 120 sq ft/37.5 sq ft =3.2 yards
These shortcuts needs to be recalculated for different depths of base.
If youvare still reading, i hoped that helped.