Crusher run is sold under half a dozen names depending on where you are standing, and priced by the ton while you measure in yards. This works out what to order, tells you which name your yard will recognise, and applies the compaction allowance exactly once.
Dense-graded base for driveways, patios, sheds and hardstanding. Enter the area and the finished compacted depth.
Works in metric and US imperial — you choose at the start and can switch at any time. Every figure this calculator uses is published with its source, and the result comes with a printable order sheet. No account, no email, and nothing you type leaves your browser.
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Area × finished compacted depth gives what you want in place. Crusher run loses about a quarter of its volume under a compactor, so the calculator adds 25% and converts at roughly 1,600 kg/m³ to the tonnage the yard sells. Order the loose figure; the allowance is already in it. Adding another one on top is the single most common way to end up with a spare half-load on the drive.
A 6 × 3 m driveway base at 150 mm finished is 2.7 m³ compacted. Loose, that is about 3.4 m³ to order — roughly 5.4 tonnes. And because 150 mm is past what a domestic plate will compact in one go, it is two lifts of 75 mm, not one pass. Plan the day around that: the second lift cannot go down until the first is properly locked.
Dampen it first. Dense-graded stone binds only near its optimum moisture content — bone dry, the fines will not lock and the surface stays loose; saturated, it pumps under the plate and you are just moving mud. Damp enough to hold together in a squeezed handful is the field test. A geotextile membrane underneath is worth the small cost too: without one the bottom of the base migrates into soft subgrade over a few winters and you lose depth you paid for.
The same product is sold as crusher run, ABC (aggregate base course), QP (quarry process), dense-graded aggregate, 3/4 minus, and locally as #21A or #21B for the finer grades. In the UK the nearest equivalent is MOT Type 1. If you describe it as dense-graded stone with fines, any yard will know what you mean.
Work from the finished compacted depth, not the loose depth. A domestic driveway is typically 150 mm (6 in) of base over firm ground, more over clay or made ground. Multiply area by that depth, then add about 25% for compaction — which this calculator does for you.
Yes. It is a legitimate base, compacts well, is widely used and is usually cheaper. Two caveats: it is slightly lighter than virgin stone so the tonnage differs, and quality varies more between suppliers, so it is worth asking what the source was.
A domestic plate compactor cannot compact through more than about 100 mm of loose material. Put 200 mm down in one go and you get a firm crust over a loose bed, which settles unevenly the first winter. A 150 mm base is two lifts; a 200 mm base is three.