Just for reference, 1 cu yd is very roughly 9 wheelbarrow loads. Not heaping loads, more like wheelbarrow looks 3/4 full. 10 cu yds is a lot of stuff to move by hand. Personally, I would rather pay up to $300 to have a guy come out w/ a Bobcat to spread it. After $300, my sense of cheapness would kick in.

I'm gonna do a little second guessing here just because you initially thought that 3 inches of gravel was a good thickness for a driveway. I don't mean no harm.

But I wanna make sure you didn't order pea gravel or washed rocks and instead ordered something that will compact like 5/8 minus crushed rock. Pea gravel won't compact and will simply move under your feet, tires, whatever. It's a pain to walk through - like running on the beach. And since you just said "gravel" you wanna make sure you're ending up with what you want. Having 10 yards of the wrong material spread across your driveway can make for a bad day.

Incidentially, I would probably spread it by hand myself although I'd agree it's a schitload of physical work. But once spread, I'd rent a plate compactor to tamp it down and finish the job.

I appreciate the "second guessing", because it wouldn't be unlike me to order 10 tons of the wrong stuff. I completely miscalculated my roof materials last year because of simple arithmatic (that's why I put this math up to the PPOT "review board")

I ordered "1/2 minus", it's not really big chunks that will end up all down the road, but it's not too small like kitty litter. I helped a friend rake out "1/4 minus" last year and I wasn't a fan. This stuff is just right, methinks.

They said they will either be able to run it right down the driveway in one strip, so I can just rake side to side, or if they can't maneouver easily in my driveway they will drop it in several small piles.

This is goig to sound nuts, and I will probably have my man-card revoked, but I can't stand the bobcats. I like the manual labor, and enjoy the peace and quiet. I would take 8 hours of shovelling quietly over an hour of racket with one of those things.

I bet 10 yards will just dissappear. I think a full load is usually about 14? Regardless, you can always get more.

Yards vs Tonnage

Yes. Your math is correct. This is what I do for a living, and I always get the call from the home owner... it never fails. "I just ordered some gravel and I don't think you brought enough."

What makes you think that? - "The pile is not 5 yards" - What does a 5 yard pile look like? - "Well... more" - Yea. ;)

The math does not lie. At least you figured correct.

Cheers to the wife! :)

Nothing wrong with a little hard work.

Post pictures!


KT

Jake has flaw? Who stole your password to impersonate you?

Oh I have all kinds of flaws: Poor at math, low upper body strength, procrastination, sloth, delusions of adequacy, slow typing, cheap, can't hold my liquor, blatant self-promoter, can't cook, messy, tendency towards obstinance, and I throw like a girl.

I make up for it with.... err...

Anyway, I got the gravel. I really could have gotten more, but there's a load restriction on the roads. Just as well, because 10 tons is still A LOT of gravel to move, and I just noticed that I don't have the appropriate beverages.

10 tons?

Rookie, I put 16 tons around my house and under where we built the deck. Moved it all by hand with a wheelbarrow. It sucked, sucked bad.

Bill

We'll let it slide that you may have miscalculated on the gravel, but miscalculating on the beverages "should" get you banned :)

Alternatively, you could have used some tricky integrals to find the volume of the region....

I'm a geek.

Wife working yet?:-P

Yes, it's possible to have too much gravel, but not possible to have too many 'beverages'.