ContractorHandbook

How Many Pavers for an 8x16 Patio?

Pavers to buy

620 pavers

128 sq ft of patio, 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 length16 ft
  • Patio width8 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 buy620 pavers

Patio area128 sq ft
One paver covers0.227 sq ftface plus one joint
Pavers per sq ft4.4
Pavers before waste563
Base gravel, compacted2.37 cu yd
Base gravel to order2.84 cu yd20% added for compaction
Base gravel weight3.98 tons
Bedding sand0.4 cu yd1,067 lb
Polymeric sand, 50 lb bags264 sq ft per bag
Edge restraint48 ft

The material list this produces

Pavers620
Base gravel, cu yd3
Bedding sand, cu yd0
Polymeric sand, 50 lb bags2
Edge restraint, ft48
Edging spikes48
Geotextile fabric, sq ft141

Patio size compared

Eight feet across, from a patio to a walk. The paver count follows the area, but the last column follows the perimeter, which is why a long thin eight foot slab pays for so much edging.

Patio sizePavers to buyPatio areaEdge restraint
8 by 8 ft310 pavers64 sq ft32 ft
8 by 10 ft387 pavers80 sq ft36 ft
8 by 12 ft465 pavers96 sq ft40 ft
8 by 16 ft620 pavers128 sq ft48 ft
8 by 20 ft774 pavers160 sq ft56 ft

What else matters here

Six hundred and twenty pavers over 128 sq ft. A patio twice as long as it is wide is usually against a house wall, and that makes the fall the important number rather than the paver count.

A paved surface has to shed water away from the building, and the usual figure is about a quarter of an inch of drop per foot of run. Over the 16 ft length of this one that is four inches of fall from the house to the far edge, which is a lot more than most people picture and it has to be built into the base rather than into the pavers. The gravel is graded to the finished fall, the bedding sand is a constant thickness screeded over it, and the pavers follow. Screeding the sand thicker at one end to make up a slope is the classic mistake and it settles out within a year.

The second thing a long narrow shape costs is edging. This patio needs 48 ft of edge restraint for its 128 sq ft, while a square patio of almost the same area needs about 45. Not a large penalty at this size, but it grows with the aspect ratio, and a 400 sq ft patio pays 80 ft as a square and 116 ft as a 50 by 8 strip.

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 an 8x16 patio?

620 pavers at 4 by 8 in over 128 sq ft, with a ten percent waste allowance.

How much slope does a paver patio need?

About a quarter of an inch per foot, running away from the building. Over a 16 ft patio that is four inches of fall.

Should the slope be in the sand or the base?

The base. The bedding sand is screeded at a constant thickness over a graded base. Building the fall by screeding the sand thicker at one end settles out within a year.

Different numbers?

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

Other common sizes