A Gravel Driveway Is Three Layers, Not One
A driveway that lasts is built in courses: a large-stone sub-base, a crusher-run base, and a finer top course — over geotextile fabric. The reason most DIY gravel driveways rut within a year is that they were one dump of stone spread across bare dirt. Without a sub-base spreading the load and fabric keeping the stone out of the mud, the aggregate you paid to haul in simply disappears into the subgrade.
This list sizes every course from one driveway measurement, and each line runs the same math as the standalone Gravel Calculator — so the total here and the per-course numbers there will never disagree.
A Worked Example: 100 × 12 ft Driveway
A 100-foot driveway 12 feet wide is 1,200 square feet of driving surface. Built the standard way, that is:
- 1,200 sq ft of geotextile separation fabric over the graded subgrade
- 21 tons of #3 large crushed stone — 4 in compacted sub-base
- 21 tons of crusher run / dense-grade aggregate — 4 in compacted base
- 10.5 tons of #57 or dense-grade surface stone — 2 in top course
- 52.5 tons total, across a 10-inch build-up
Fifty-two tons is the number to sit with before you start. A standard tandem dump truck carries roughly 15 tons, so that is four loads — delivered, spread, and compacted one course at a time. Each figure already includes 5% waste for spread and compaction loss.
Choosing the Stone
- Sub-base: #3 or similar large angular crushed stone, 1½ to 2½ inches. Its job is load spreading and bridging soft ground, not looking good — it is buried.
- Base: crusher run or dense-grade aggregate. The mix of stone and fines is the point: it compacts into a locked, near-solid layer.
- Top course: #57 crushed stone or a dense-grade surface mix. This is what you see and drive on.
Use angular stone throughout. Rounded river rock and pea gravel never interlock — they roll under tires, migrate to the edges, and leave you re-raking the driveway every spring. Angular crushed stone keys together under a compactor and stays where you put it.
Compaction Is Not Optional
Compact each course before the next one goes down: sub-base, then base, then the top. A plate compactor handles a short driveway; rent a vibratory roller for anything approaching 100 feet. Skipping this is the single most common reason a correctly-specified driveway still fails — the stone settles unevenly under vehicle loads instead of all at once under a roller.
Grade with a slight crown or cross-slope while you are compacting, so water sheds to the sides instead of standing in the wheel tracks. Standing water in a gravel driveway is how potholes start, and it will find any flat spot you leave.
Resurfacing vs. Building New
If you already have a stable, well-drained driveway and just want a fresh driving surface, set the sub-base and base depths to reflect what is already there — often you only need the top course. Set the sub-base to “None” and the list drops to a base and surface refresh. If the existing driveway ruts, holds water, or has stone pressed into mud, it does not have a working sub-base, and adding another inch of surface stone will not fix it.
For current per-ton pricing to attach to these tonnages, see gravel prices by state. Budget delivery separately — haul charges on bulk aggregate are per load, and a driveway is always several loads.
Export Your List
Use the buttons above the article to copy the list, download a PDF, or email it to yourself. When supplier links are configured, the “Send this list to Home Depot” section opens a live, in-stock search for every line item — one click per material.
Related
- Gravel Driveway Installation Guide — step-by-step build
- How Much Gravel to Order — tonnage, waste, and delivery
- Gravel Cost Factors — what moves the per-ton price
- Gravel Calculator — a single course on its own
- All project materials lists
Written by Daniel McCarney — AceCalc