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Calculating amount of gravel required for a drive?


mmaddock
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I'm just turning part of our garden into a driveway at the moment.  Much as I hate the stuff, gravel seems the quickest and cheapest option for the moment, but how do I figure out how much I need to buy?  Had a search around the web but can't find anything.  The area is around 100-120m2 (bit of an odd shape!)

I'm going to go straight down to the quarry rather than buy it through a merchant, so I'd rather know how much I need before going down there.

If anyone can make any suggestions I'd be grateful.

Cheers,

Matt

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[quote]Great stuff gravel, dont knock it.[/quote]

[:)] I think I just get put off with it getting stuck in tyres, dragged

around the garden & house on shoes, children playing in it, cats

'using' it. etc.  When I was in the UK I used to get complaints from

the neighbours because I had 'big' gravel, and some little s**ts used

to pick it up off the drive to chuck it at the neighbours houses.

Anyway,

I've experimented and got the right sized pieces from the quarry, so

I'm happy enough, but I need a lot more than our trailer can handle,

and I don't fancy 100 trips there and back, not to mention that I don't

think the tyres would handle it!  So, I want to ask them to deliver for

me, but no idea how to figure out how many tonnes I need!

Matt

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Assume you have 110 square metres and you want it covered to a depth of 10cms. You need 11 cubic metres . If the density of the gravel is 1.5 you need 16.5 tonnes. If the depth is 5 cms and the density is 2 you need 11.0 tonnes. Might be worth taking kitchen scales and an empty jamp jar but in general I have found French quarries fairly user friendly.
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You might also consider putting down a plastic membrane under the gravel which will effectively get rid of 99% of your future weed problems.

Anton Redman's posting is the way to accurately estimate your requirement. If you have the full amount dropped in one go get the driver to tip gently and move slowly forward at the same time. This will help enormously with spreading the gravel for you.

Lasr Autumn I laid 14 tonnes and am very pleased with the results.

My old neighbour in the UK swore by gravel as he said Burglar Bill didn't like it. [8-)]

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