Crusher Run and Item 4, Figured by the Compacted Inch

Walk the lane before you measure it. The ruts that open along a Mohawk Valley farm track when the frost comes out are never evenly deep, the soft patch by the barn doors goes further down than it looks from the house, and the crown you think is still there washed off two springs ago. A calculator will turn whatever numbers you feed it into tons to two decimal places. Only the walk decides whether those numbers describe the lane.

What the tape misses on a rutted upstate track

An estimate is only as good as the depth behind it, and depth is the number people guess. Three things throw it off on New York ground. Ruts and wheel tracks hold more material than the same lane measured flat, so pace the length and take a depth reading every ten or fifteen feet rather than one in the middle. Silt and clay valley floors along the Hudson and the Mohawk stay soft into spring, and the first load pushed down into soft subgrade never comes back up. And the number that counts is the finished rolled thickness, not the loose depth you spread, because a graded mix tightens under a plate compactor.

That last point is the one that costs people a second delivery. Enter the compacted depth you want to finish at, then let the 10% tick box cover spillage and tightening.

Three thousand pounds a yard, and why that is the heavy end

This site publishes crusher run and Item 4 at about 3,000 lb per cubic yard, which is 1.50 tons per yard. That is the heaviest of the drive materials in the catalogue: clean washed stone and driveway gravel run about 2,800 lb, or 1.40 tons per yard. The fines are the reason. A graded mix carries its own dust, the dust fills the gaps between the stones, and a yard of it weighs more than a yard of anything washed and screened.

Item 4 is the New York trade name for that material, and yards here use both names for the same kind of thing. NYSDOT specifies subbase under Section 304, which is how material gets described locally rather than anything this storefront certifies. On the calculator, pick the crusher run or road base row either way, and use the road base calculator if Item 4 is the name on your drawing, since that is the name that has to match your ticket.

Putting a lane and its turnaround into the multiple-areas box

Choose rectangle for a lane, circle for a turnaround measured straight across, or multiple areas to total up to five separate pieces in one pass. Lengths, widths and diameters go in feet. Depth goes in inches, anywhere from 0.25 to 24. Pick the material, because the ton figure follows it, and leave the 10% extra for compaction and spillage ticked on anything you will roll. The result comes back as cubic yards, tons and cubic feet together, and a button sends the estimate to your inbox.

Compacted depths for lanes, shed pads and a patio base

Two hypothetical jobs, with the arithmetic shown.

A 90 by 10 ft lane running up to a Capital Region barn, finished at 5 inches:

• 90 x 10 = 900 sq ft
• 900 x 5 / 12 = 375 cu ft
• 375 / 27 = 13.89 cu yd
• 13.89 x 1.50 = 20.83 tons
• with the 10% box ticked: 15.28 cu yd, 22.91 tons

A 12 by 12 ft shed pad at 4 inches over stripped ground:

• 12 x 12 = 144 sq ft
• 144 x 4 / 12 = 48 cu ft
• 48 / 27 = 1.78 cu yd
• 1.78 x 1.50 = 2.67 tons
• with the 10% box: 1.96 cu yd, 2.94 tons

One place this material does not belong is a trench meant to move water. The fines that make it bind also hold water, so a French drain wants clean stone: drain rock or 3/4 inch crushed stone, sized on the gravel calculator.

If pavers are going over the top instead, size that layer on the paver base calculator, which carries the base past the paving edge and stacks the bedding and the paver thickness above it.

Ordering a little long before the plate compactor arrives

Round up to the next half ton. A shortfall on a base course is worse than a heap left over, because the layer has to be placed and rolled in one session to finish level, and a wheelbarrow of leftovers patches the first pothole that opens. Place it in 2-inch lifts and roll each one, misting lightly first, since damp material locks up tighter than dry.

The season sets the rest. Base work here runs from the spring thaw into late fall. Frozen ground will not compact, and a base rolled onto saturated clay in March will move once the ground dries out.

Two names, one product page

Take the tonnage across to Crusher Run or Item 4, set the quantity and choose a delivery date. Delivery is arranged at checkout by ZIP code, and the truck needs a clear route and a firm spot to tip; what the driver needs on the day sets out the rest. If the same job needs a top course, size that separately and order both together so they arrive on one load.

Common questions

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