Landscape Material Calculators for Florida Jobs
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The mistake this page exists to prevent is running one generic gravel figure across a whole job. A cubic yard is a fixed box, three feet on every side, but what fills it is not fixed. Mulch and riprap fill it five times apart, and an order placed on the wrong figure arrives short or leaves a pile you are still moving in August.
So there is one calculator per material, fourteen of them, each holding that product's published weight.
Why a landscape material calculator has to know which rock you mean
What differs between the tools is the published weight each multiplies by, and at the ends of the range those weights are far apart.
Shredded mulch is about 600 lb a cubic yard, or 0.30 tons. Blended garden soil is about 2,000 lb, screened topsoil about 2,200 and fill dirt about 2,400. River rock at 1 to 3 inch, mason and washed sand, and paver sand are all about 2,700 lb, or 1.35 tons. Crushed stone at #57 or 3/4 inch, driveway gravel and pea gravel are all about 2,800 lb, or 1.40. Stone screenings are about 2,900 lb. Crusher run, limerock base and paver base are all about 3,000 lb, or 1.50. RipRap is the heaviest at about 3,100 lb, or 1.55.
Count those and there are nine figures for fourteen tools. Three groups of three share one apiece, so a pad run through the gravel tool comes back at the same tonnage as the same pad run through the stone tool, and a base costed as crusher run matches the same base costed as limerock. Weight, on its own, is not what makes fourteen tools worth having. Depth is: a bedding course is an inch, a mulch bed two to three, topsoil under sod four to six, a wet trench twelve or more, and riprap goes down in layers rather than being spread at all.
Base and surface tools, for a drive being built over sand
A Florida drive or pad is usually two separate quantities, because the rock that carries the load and the rock you look at are not the same material.
- Limerock base calculator for lanes, long drives and equipment pads.
- Crusher run calculator for the compacting layer under drives and patios.
- Paver base calculator for the compacted layer that keeps pavers flat.
- Gravel calculator for the surface course on drives, paths and pads.
- Stone calculator for the graded stones, #57 through ballast.
Drainage and erosion tools, where depth does the work
The site's own guidance runs deep here: a French drain or wet trench wants clean #57 or drain rock at 12 inches or more, and riprap goes down in 12-inch-plus layers over fabric.
- Rip rap calculator for shorelines, canal banks and slopes.
- River rock calculator for dry creek beds and splash zones.
- Pea gravel calculator for patios, walkways and play areas, where the published fall-zone depth is 9 to 12 inches.
- Paver sand calculator for bedding sand in tons and joint sand in bags.
- Sand calculator for mason and washed sand.
Soil and mulch tools, measured by the yard
- Topsoil calculator for new lawns and finish grading, at the published 4 to 6 inches before sod or seed.
- Soil calculator for raised beds and planters.
- Dirt calculator for raising grade and filling low spots, with settling built in.
- Mulch calculator for beds and borders, at a 2 to 3 inch layer.
The arithmetic every one of these runs
Volume is area times depth, and tons are the cubic yards times the density above.
Cubic yards = (Length ft x Width ft x Depth in / 12) / 27
The full tool takes a rectangle, a circle by diameter, or up to five separate areas added together, accepts a depth from 0.25 to 24 inches, and offers an optional 5% for compaction and spillage. Tick that box for anything you will roll or drive on. Results come back as cubic yards, tons and cubic feet, and the figure can be emailed to you.
Depth is where estimates go wrong, because it gets guessed once the tape is away. An 18 by 12 ft pad swallows three times the rock at 6 inches that it does at 2. Check the product page before committing to a number, and what the truck needs to reach the drop before the load is booked.
Common questions
Which tool do I open for a limerock pad?
The limerock base calculator, which is the road base tool. It holds the 3,000 lb per cubic yard figure this site publishes for that material, so the tonnage matches what you are actually ordering.
The pad is an L shape around an AC unit. Do I run it twice?
You can, but you do not have to. The multiple-areas option lets you add up to five separate rectangles or circles in one calculation, which handles an L, a drive with an apron, or a run that jogs around an obstruction.
Should I tick the 5% box for a decorative bed?
Not usually. That allowance covers what compaction and spillage take out of a layer you are rolling or driving on. Loose decorative cover such as river rock or pea gravel does not compact, so the plain volume is close enough.
Can base rock and surface rock go on one order?
Yes. Calculate each layer in its own tool, then add both products to the same order. Work the base out first, since how deep the surface course needs to be depends on what is underneath it.
Priced it? It ships free.
All 24 materials in these calculators are in stock, delivered free across Florida.