Arkansas Flat Rock vs Rounded Creek Rock: $265.00 a Ton Against $300.00 to $400.00

You stand in the creek rock aisle at the yard in front of ten pallets. Nine of them hold rounded stone, and every one of those nine tags reads a price per pound. The tenth pallet holds flat stone, and its tag reads $265.00 per ton. That pallet is Creek Rock Flats - 3-5" Medium, the Arkansas flat rock buyers search for, and it is the one creek rock product in the yard that sells by the ton.

Once you multiply the pound prices by 2,000, the flats turn out to be the lowest per-ton price in the aisle. This guide covers what a creek rock flat is, where it goes, how the ton price compares with the pound prices beside it, and how to get a coverage figure for a stepping path out of the yard. Rockhouse sells and delivers the stone. Your own crew places it.

Rockhouse runs a 7-acre stone yard in Hot Springs Village with Bennett Brothers of Hot Springs heritage since 1972. The yard stocks the flats in the medium aisle, weighs the load, and loads your trailer with a forklift.

What a creek rock flat is

Creek Rock Flats - 3-5" Medium are smooth, naturally compressed stones that the yard selects for their low profile and their flat faces. A rounded creek rock rolls underfoot. A flat sits still. That one difference decides where each goes.

The store lists three uses. The flats stack, so they build a low border or a short dry-stacked edge. They lay as a skipping stone pathway, one flat after another with the flat face up. They line the bottom of a shallow water feature, where their low profile keeps the water shallow and the face visible. Set close together they give a neat, architectural look that rounded stone does not.

The aisle around the flats

The creek rock aisle holds smooth river stone in three sizes and three colors, for dry creek beds, pond lining and replacing mulch in beds. The flats sit in the medium aisle beside the 5 to 8 inch water-worn stone in brown and pink.

Arkansas Brown Creek Rock comes in 3-5" Small, 5-8" Medium and 8-12" Large, all at $0.15 per pound. High Color Creek Rock comes in the same three sizes at $0.20 per pound. Arizona Pink Creek Rock comes in the same three sizes at $0.18 per pound. Every one of those nine sells by the pound, and a price under one dollar is a correct and complete price for one pound of stone.

The ton math across the aisle

One ton is 2,000 pounds, and that conversion puts every tag in the aisle on the same line. Arkansas Brown at $0.15 per pound is $300.00 per ton. Arizona Pink at $0.18 per pound is $360.00 per ton. High Color at $0.20 per pound is $400.00 per ton. Creek Rock Flats at $265.00 per ton come in $35.00 under the Arkansas Brown and $135.00 under the High Color.

So the Arkansas flat rock is the cheapest ton in the aisle. That surprises buyers who assume a sorted, flat stone costs more than the rounded stone beside it. The yard selects the flats out of the same creek rock, prices them by the ton, and the ton comes in low.

How far a ton of flats goes

Coverage depends on how the stone is used. The yard's River Rock and Gravel calculator says 2 to 5 inch rock covers about 60 square feet per ton when it is spread as a bed 4 inches deep. Spread that way, a ton of flats at $265.00 covers a 60 square foot area for about $4.42 per square foot.

A flat laid as a single stepping course is a different job. One layer of flat stone covers far more ground per ton than a 4 inch bed does, and that figure is not on the record, because it depends on how close the stones sit. Ask the yard what one ton of flats covers as a single layer. The flats run 3 to 5 inches across, so a path is many stones set close, and the yard can tell you about how many pieces a ton holds when you call.

For a rounded creek rock bed, the yard's post on what a 100 square foot bed of river rock costs runs that math by color. Put the two side by side, and the flats win on the ton price while the rounded stone wins where the bed needs depth.

Where the flats go on a real lot

A stepping path from a back door to a shed is the common job. The flats lay flat face up with a hand's width of ground or mulch between them, and the low profile means a mower passes over without catching. A dry creek bed edge is the second job. Rounded stone fills the channel, and a course of flats along each side gives the bed a clean line that reads as built.

A shallow water feature is the third. Flats on the bottom of a basin keep the water shallow enough to see the stone through it, and their smooth faces clean easily. A low dry-stacked border around a bed is the fourth, two or three flats high, where the stacking face of the stone does the work. In every case Rockhouse sells the stone and your own crew sets it.

Size a stepping path from the back door

A path is a count of stones more than a weight of stone, and the arithmetic starts with your stride. A 30 foot path with one flat every 2 feet takes about 15 stepping stones. A path two flats wide, so two people can pass, takes about 30. Each flat runs 3 to 5 inches across, so a single stepping stone is often a small cluster of two or three flats set tight, and the count of flats runs higher than the count of steps.

Bring the path length and the width you want to the yard, and ask how many pieces a ton holds and how many square feet a ton covers as one layer. Those two answers turn a 30 foot path into a fraction of a ton or a full ton, and at $265.00 per ton a stepping path is one of the least expensive stone jobs on the lot. Add the yard's 10 percent for the flats that split or turn out too thick for the spot.

Flats and rounded stone in one load

The two kinds of creek rock leave the yard together more often than apart. A dry creek bed takes rounded Arkansas Brown in the channel and a course of flats along each bank. A water feature takes flats on the bottom and rounded stone on the rim. A bed that replaces mulch with rounded High Color rock takes a flat border to hold the edge. The yard weighs the rounded stone by the pound and the flats by the ton, prints both units on the same ticket, and loads the two on one trailer.

Pick up the load or have the yard deliver

Rockhouse stocks, sorts, weighs, prices, loads and delivers. It never installs, builds or lays anything. Your own crew does that work. Orders load by the pallet, the super sack or the full truckload. At the yard the crew loads your trailer with a forklift.

Delivery is free on 3 or more pallets to Hot Springs Village and all of Garland County. Below three pallets the yard quotes the run. Freight to other regions runs through the yard, and contractors get delivery straight to the jobsite. The yard will meet or beat any stone supplier's price.

Contractors who buy every week open a verified pro account for trade pricing and net terms. Qualified buyers can open trade credit, and the Rockhouse Rewards Program gives tiered discounts to repeat and volume buyers. The online store shows inventory and pricing. The yard takes the order on the phone.

Call 501-532-1905 with the path measured

A flat rock quote takes one call once these are in hand.

• The length and width of the path, bed edge or basin, in feet.
• Whether the stone lays as a single course or fills a bed, and how deep.
• Any rounded creek rock you want in the same load, by color.
• The delivery address, or the trailer you will bring.

Call 501-532-1905 and the yard will tell you what a ton of flats covers as a single layer, quote the load at $265.00 per ton, and set a delivery or a pickup. Or come to 5643 N Hwy 7, Hot Springs Village, Monday through Friday from 7:30 AM to 4:30 PM, and turn a few flats over in your hands before you buy.