ContractorHandbook

How Many Pavers for a 200 Square Foot Patio?

Pavers to buy

968 pavers

200 sq ft of patio, typed 10 by 20, 4 by 8 in pavers, 6 in compacted base, 1 in bedding sand, ten percent waste.

It does not stop at a number.

When the figures look right, the paver material list downloads as a real PDF with your business details on it, built inside your own browser. Nothing you type is uploaded anywhere.

waste10%patio area, sq ftpaver size plus the joint sets pavers per sq ftarea x pavers per sq ft, plus base stone and bedding sand
The pavers are the visible half of the job and the cheap half of the excavation. Under them sits six inches of compacted base and an inch of bedding sand, and both come off the same area, which is why they are on the material list.

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.

  • Patio length20 ft
  • Patio width10 ft
  • Paver length8 in
  • Paver width4 in
  • Paver thickness2.375 in
  • Joint width0.0625 in
  • Compacted gravel base6 in
  • Bedding sand1 in
  • Waste allowance10 %

Pavers to buy968 pavers

Patio area200 sq ft
One paver covers0.227 sq ftface plus one joint
Pavers per sq ft4.4
Pavers before waste880
Base gravel, compacted3.7 cu yd
Base gravel to order4.44 cu yd20% added for compaction
Base gravel weight6.22 tons
Bedding sand0.62 cu yd1,667 lb
Polymeric sand, 50 lb bags2100 sq ft per bag
Edge restraint60 ft

The material list this produces

Pavers968
Base gravel, cu yd4
Bedding sand, cu yd1
Polymeric sand, 50 lb bags2
Edge restraint, ft60
Edging spikes60
Geotextile fabric, sq ft220

Patio size compared

Ten feet across, which covers most of the sizes people ask about. Going one step down this table is the cheapest change on the whole project, because the digging, the delivery and the tool rental do not move with it.

Patio sizePavers to buyPatio areaEdge restraint
10 by 8 ft387 pavers80 sq ft36 ft
10 by 10 ft484 pavers100 sq ft40 ft
10 by 12 ft581 pavers120 sq ft44 ft
10 by 16 ft774 pavers160 sq ft52 ft
10 by 20 ft968 pavers200 sq ft60 ft
10 by 24 ft1,161 pavers240 sq ft68 ft

What else matters here

Nine hundred and sixty eight pavers, typed here as 10 by 20 because that is how this area was most often asked as a dimension. Change the shape in the calculator and everything stays put except the edge restraint, which is the only row that knows the perimeter.

The 2 bags of polymeric sand at the bottom of the list are the last material on site and the one most often ruined. Polymeric sand is jointing sand with a binder in it that sets when it is wetted, and it is what keeps ants, weeds and water out of the joints. It goes in after the pavers are down and after the second compaction pass, not before, and the order is: sweep it into the joints, run the compactor over the whole patio so it drops into the bottom of every joint, sweep more in, then blow or sweep every grain off the paver faces.

That last step is the one that gets skipped and it is the one that matters. Any polymeric sand left sitting on the face of a paver sets there as a haze that does not come off. Then the patio is misted, not hosed: a gentle soak in stages so the binder activates through the full depth of the joint rather than washing the top out of it. And none of it happens if rain is forecast within the day or if the pavers are damp when it goes in.

What this calculator assumes

  • The joint default is 1/16 of an inch because concrete pavers are cast with spacer nubs on the sides and that is the joint you get when they are set tight. A hand set joint at 1/8 or wider takes noticeably more polymeric sand, so type the joint you are actually laying.
  • Waste is 5 percent for a running bond laid square to the edges, 10 for most patios, and 15 or more for herringbone or a circle kit, because every angled cut throws away most of a paver.
  • Base gravel is quoted compacted. Crushed stone loses about a fifth of its loose volume under a plate compactor, so the order line adds 20 percent back.
  • Four inches of compacted base suits a foot traffic patio on good soil. Six is the common default, and eight to twelve is driveway and heavy clay territory.
  • Polymeric sand is the volume of the joints at the full thickness of the paver, at about 100 pounds per cubic foot.
  • Weights use 2,800 lb per cubic yard for crushed stone and 2,700 for bedding sand.

Questions people ask

How many pavers for a 200 square foot patio?

968 pavers at 4 by 8 in, including a ten percent waste allowance. The bare coverage is 880.

How much polymeric sand for 200 square feet?

2 bags at 50 lb, on the calculator's figure of about 100 sq ft per bag. Wider joints use considerably more.

How is polymeric sand installed?

Sweep it in, compact the patio so it drops to the bottom of the joints, sweep more in, then clear every grain off the paver faces before misting it in stages. Sand left on a face sets as a haze that does not come off.

Different numbers?

The paver calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.

Other common sizes