ordering gravel... need math help
 

Sorry for posting this but my whole family is math-challenged.

I am ordering gravel for my driveway, and I am trying to figure out how many sq yards to get. I know I could ask when I call in the morning, but I hate not having this stuff figured out beforehand.

I have two measured sections:
35' x 30' = 1050 sqft
110x10 = 1100 sqft

so 2250 sq feet

I want 3" of gravel, so 0.25 of a foot

2250 x 0.25 = 562.5 cubic feet

562.5/ 27 = 20.83 cubic yards

Seems like a lot to me... is that right??

Also, how long will it take my wife to spread that out?

(1050+1100)[ft^2]*.25[ft]*(1[yd^3]/27[ft^3])=19.907[yd^3]

time for wife to move by hand is approx 4 days.

Speedy:)

I see a mistake in your addition. You have 1050+1100=2250 when it is actually 2150 :)

Speedy:)

Your math looks fine...but you really need to rent a Bobcat loader for that much gravel.

I keep about 3/4 mile of gravel (3/4 quarter inch rock) road in repair on my farm, and move about 12 cubic yard a year keeping the road in shape. Doing it by hand is not an option.

The Bobcat will save you at least a day with that much gravel.

Master the art of smoothing rock with a front end loader in reverse:)

I got a little less than 20 cubic yards.

And it's going to take a long time for your wife to spread all that:eek:

She works fast when she's mad!

Thanks for double checking my math. Now I can call up and act like I'm "old hat" at this.

As for the bobcat, I don't think I'll need it. I'm going to get them to tip it off as they drive down the driveway. My buddy taught me a trick: they always say "Oh, I don't think I can really do that", but if you say you'll give them $50 if they can, they usually manage. Saves a lot of work.

I got 19.907 yards.

cubic yard is 36"tall. Divided by 3" deep is 12.
1 cubic yard will cover 108 square feet ( 9 square feet x 12, 3" layers)

2150 divided by 108 = 19.907...


KT

I fell off my chair when I read the part about the wife spreading 20 yrds.......If she does it, she's an angel and hold onto her. What's her reward, you gonna put in a well so she don't have to carry water up from the river?

I just love the metric system...

Numbers? Ciphering? Down here we just call it a "****load".

How long will it take her to spread it by hand? 'Til she finishes!

(I love this "new math")! Where's my cookie?;)

I was just goofing around, I'm sure I'll be doing it. But I'm also sure she'll insist on helping... she is pretty hands-on. Plus, we're trying to work on stuff TOGETHER more... I have a tendency to work on stuff all weekend and then say "hi" on sunday night. So, I'm trying to help her out more with her stuff (cleaning, groceries etc) and she's helping me with mine. As far as I can tell it takes longer to get stuff done, but we're enjoying it more. When I did the roof in the fall, she was up there pulling nails. I'm sure I could've done it faster, but we had fun and it means we're BOTH proud of the work.

If you can get the guy on the truck to roll forward while slowly dumping the load, you will be well ahead. That's about two truckloads. 3 to five days to spread it.

Depending on where you are located, most rock, wash gravel, pea gravel, asphalt, etc is sold by weight. It is done this way, because of the different weight by volume, of the various material. Dirt and sand, usually get sold by the load, though a lot of places are going by weight now also. The gravel place will tell you how much a ton will convert for coverage estimates. About the only thing that still primarily gets sold by the cubic yard is concrete. Borrow a little tractor from someone with a spreader blade.

Ask for a guy who can run a spreader truck (just a dump truck with chains on the tailgate that adjust how much it opens). An experienced guy will set his truck speed so it runs out of gravel at the end of your run. The 35' x 30' section will take some shovel/rake work.
Jim

forget the bobat.........rent or borrow a kubota tractor with a box scraper.......the rear box scraper carries and levels the material.......heck you can rent one for $200 a day most likely..........unlike a wife,

You've done this before?

Don't discount the mechanized assistance, even if they tip it out. The el gigando boxes of Advil are available at Costco.

+1

20 cubes is a LOT of freakin gravel!

We used to do the "spreader loads" mentioned above when I was a Combat Engineer in the Army (you wear a metal helmet instead of that pinstripe cap when you drive the locomotive). You should be able to get it spread pretty close to the thickness you want and then shove it around.

Unless of course, there's still snow on the driveway, you might want to have the Wife clear that first.

Someone here was/is a locomotive engineer?

I cheaped out and got about half what I was planning. I looked at it again last night, and I really don't need (or want) a full 3" over the whole thing. Plus, the bottom of the driveway is better than I thought. Plus, there is a load limit on the road right now, so I'd have to pay for two trips if I wanted that much.

So I ordered 10 tons, getting it tomorrow. I'm going to get them to tip it out as good as they can, then shovel & rake it out. I'll work from home tomorrow and start right after work. Will need beer.

I will be done saturday by 1pm. Anyone want to bet against me?

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'.