Paver Patio Takeoff Calculator: Pavers, Base and Sand
Paver Patio Takeoff Calculator
A whole patio: pavers, base gravel with its compaction allowance, bedding sand, jointing sand and edge restraint. Base is ordered loose, which is the quantity the yard actually sells you.
Base gravel compacts as it is plated, commonly by about 20 percent, so ordering the finished depth leaves the patio short and the yard will not take the shortfall back. Bedding sand is a screeded inch and should not be thicker: sand deeper than about an inch keeps consolidating under traffic and the surface goes wavy. Waste of 5 percent suits a straight running bond; a herringbone or a curved edge cuts far more pavers and wants 10 percent or more.
How to use this tool
Enter the patio dimensions and the paver size, set the base and bedding depths, and the tool returns pavers, base gravel ordered loose, bedding sand, jointing sand and edge restraint, as a bill of materials you can print or export.
The compaction allowance is the whole point
A patio base is specified as a compacted depth, commonly 6 inches for a foot traffic patio and more where a vehicle will cross it. Gravel does not arrive compacted. Plate it and it loses roughly a fifth of its loose volume, which means ordering the finished depth leaves you about 20 percent short, and you discover it halfway through screeding when there is nowhere to get more of the same material that day.
So the order quantity and the specified quantity are different numbers, and the tool reports the loose one because that is what the yard sells and what the truck carries. The allowance is adjustable because it varies with material: a well graded crushed base compacts more than a rounded gravel, and a plate compactor achieves more than a hand tamper.
Why the bedding sand should stay thin
It is tempting to fix an uneven base by thickening the bedding layer, and it is the most common reason a new patio goes wavy within a season. Bedding sand is a screeded inch, and it exists to seat the pavers, not to level the site. Sand deeper than about an inch keeps consolidating under traffic, and it consolidates unevenly because the load is uneven, so the surface follows the traffic pattern. The flatness has to come from the compacted base underneath.
A worked check you can repeat on paper
A 20 by 12 foot patio is 240 square feet. Pavers at 6 by 9 inches cover 0.375 square feet each, so at 5 percent waste that is 240 times 1.05 divided by 0.375, which is 672 pavers. The base at 6 inches compacted is 240 times 0.5, which is 120 cubic feet, plus 20 percent for compaction is 144 cubic feet, or 5.33 cubic yards. Bedding at 1 inch is 20 cubic feet, or 0.74 cubic yards. Edge restraint on three sides of a 64 foot perimeter is 48 lineal feet.
Mistakes that catch people out
Ordering the compacted base volume. The classic 20 percent shortfall. Fix: the compaction allowance, applied automatically.
Thickening the bedding to level the base. It looks fine on day one and waves by autumn. Fix: keep bedding at an inch and fix level in the base.
Using 5 percent waste on a herringbone. Diagonal and herringbone patterns cut almost every perimeter paver. Fix: raise waste to 10 percent or more for patterned lays.
Skipping edge restraint. Without it the perimeter pavers creep outward and the joints open, which no amount of jointing sand fixes. Fix: it is a line in the takeoff, not an optional extra.
How this was checked
The worked example was verified line by line: 240 square feet, 672 pavers at 5 percent waste, 5.333 cubic yards of loose base including the compaction allowance, 0.741 cubic yards of bedding, and 48 lineal feet of edge on three sides. The paver area was confirmed from the 6 by 9 inch dimensions as exactly 0.375 square feet, and the bag count was checked at the rounding boundary.
Related Calculators and Reference
Base and bedding volumes in other forms are the Mulch and Soil Volume Calculator, which handles the same cubic yard conversion. A wall retaining the patio is the Retaining Wall Calculator, and areas for curved or irregular patios are the Area of 2D Shapes Calculator. Bedding sand on its own, in tons, cubic yards or 50 lb bags, is the Sand Calculator. For a brick edging wall or planter, the Brick Calculator counts the bricks and mortar.