How Much Gravel for 500 Square Feet?
Material needed
4.63 cubic yards
500 square feet at 3 inches deep, gravel at roughly 2,800 lb per cubic yard.
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How that number is worked out
These are the figures this page was built with and every line the calculator produces from them. Change anything above and all of it moves.
- Bed area500 sq ft
- Depth3 in
- MaterialGravel or stone
Material needed4.63 cubic yards
| Volume | 125 cu ft |
|---|---|
| Cubic yards | 4.63most yards sell in half yard steps |
| Order in half yards | 5 cu yd |
| 2 cu ft bags, if bagging it | 63 |
| Approximate weight | 12,963 lb (6.48 tons) |
The material list this produces
| Material, cubic yards | 5 |
|---|---|
| Landscape fabric, sq ft | 500 |
| Edging, linear ft | 90 |
Depth compared
Depth is the whole calculation. Two inches will not suppress weeds, six inches will suffocate roots.
| Depth | Material needed | Order in half yards |
|---|---|---|
| 2 in | 3.09 cubic yards | 3.5 cu yd |
| 3 in | 4.63 cubic yards | 5 cu yd |
| 4 in | 6.17 cubic yards | 6.5 cu yd |
| 6 in | 9.26 cubic yards | 9.5 cu yd |
What else matters here
The volume is identical to mulch, and the weight is not: four and a half yards of gravel is about six and a half tons against under two for bark. That is a tandem load, not a pickup, and it is worth knowing before anyone offers to fetch it.
Gravel is usually sold by the ton rather than the yard, so the conversion is the useful part of this page. Ask the quarry what their material weighs per yard, because crushed limestone, river rock and pea gravel are not the same density and the difference is real money at this volume.
Three inches is a top dressing, not a driveway. A driveway that will carry vehicles needs a compacted base course under the surface layer, usually four to eight inches of larger crushed stone, or the surface gravel simply migrates into the soil.
What this calculator assumes
- Three inches is the usual mulch depth. Two is thin and will not hold weeds down, four starts to smother shallow roots and holds water against trunks.
- Weights are approximate and vary with moisture: mulch about 800 lb per cubic yard, topsoil 2200, gravel 2800, sand 2700.
- Bagged material is sold in 2 cubic foot bags, and there are 13.5 of those in a cubic yard.
Questions people ask
How many tons of gravel for 500 square feet?
About 6.5 tons at 3 inches deep, which is roughly 4.63 cubic yards. Density varies by stone type, so confirm with the quarry.
How many yards in a ton of gravel?
Roughly a third to a half of a yard per ton, depending on the stone. At 2,800 pounds per cubic yard, a ton is about 0.71 cubic yards.
How thick should gravel be for a driveway?
A surface layer of three inches over a compacted base course of four to eight inches of larger stone. Three inches on bare soil will disappear into it.
The mulch and gravel calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.