Stone Calculator: Turn 150 Square Feet Into 2.5 Tons Before You Call the Yard
You stand in front of the stone at the yard with your measurements in your pocket. You know the length of the wall and you know its height. What you do not know is how many tons that wall takes, and a stone calculator is the tool that answers it. Rockhouse publishes six of them at rockhousestone.com/calculators, one for each kind of material the yard loads.
Every one of those tools hands back an answer in tons or in cubic yards. Half the Rockhouse catalog prices by the pound. So the calculator gives you the first number, and one conversion gives you the second: one ton is 2,000 pounds. Multiply the tons by 2,000, then multiply the pounds by the per-pound price on the product record, and you have the material cost before you pick up the phone.
Rockhouse runs a 7-acre stone yard in Hot Springs Village with Bennett Brothers of Hot Springs heritage since 1972. The yard stocks the stone, weighs it, prices it by the unit on the record, and loads it onto your trailer with a forklift. Your own crew sets it. This guide covers what each stone calculator asks for and what to do with the number it returns.
Builders stone: a stone wall calculator that works in square feet of face
The Builders Stone tool asks for the wall dimensions and the stone width. It returns tons. The math assumes stone four inches thick. A four-inch-wide stone covers about 40 square feet of wall face per ton. A six-inch-wide stone covers about 35 square feet per ton, because the wider stone puts more weight into each square foot of face.
The tool opens on a 20 foot by 4 foot wall. That is 80 square feet of face. At 40 square feet per ton that wall takes 2 tons of four-inch stone. Add the 10 percent the yard recommends for cuts and waste, and the order is 2.2 tons. At 2,000 pounds a ton that is 4,400 pounds of stone on the trailer.
Chop stone: a stone wall calculator that works in linear feet
The Chop Stone tool takes the running length of a wall or a garden border in linear feet and the stone width. It returns tons and it also assumes four-inch-thick stone. Coverage falls as the stone gets wider. A four-inch-wide chop stone runs about 120 linear feet per ton and a six-inch stone about 80. Eight-inch runs about 60, ten-inch about 48 and twelve-inch about 40.
The default example is 50 linear feet. In six-inch-wide stone that border takes 0.625 tons. Call it 0.6 tons before the overage and about 0.7 tons after it. The yard's post on chopped limestone by the ton carries the ordering math for that aisle.
Decomposed granite calculator: the base under everything else
The Decomposed Granite and Base tool asks for the area and the depth. It returns tons at 1.4 tons per cubic yard. Base material goes under pavers and under flagstone. Most patio buyers run this calculator first.
The default example is a 10 foot by 15 foot area at 4 inches deep. That is 150 square feet, which at 4 inches is 50 cubic feet, or 1.85 cubic yards. At 1.4 tons per cubic yard the base comes to 2.6 tons. Add 10 percent and the order is about 2.9 tons, which is about 5,800 pounds.
Flagstone: coverage per ton falls as the stone gets thicker
The Flagstone tool asks for the patio or walkway area and offers thickness settings from 1.5 inch up to 2.5 inch. It returns tons. A thicker stone puts more pounds into each square foot. A ton of thick stone therefore covers less ground than a ton of thin stone. The exact coverage for the pallet in front of you comes from the counter. Ask what the pallet weighs and how many square feet it covers, and divide the second number into the first.
Mulch and soil: the one landscape stone calculator that returns cubic yards
The Mulch, Soil and Gravel tool asks for area and depth and returns cubic yards. Bagged and bulk mulch sells by volume. The tool stays in the unit the product uses. For a mulch order the yard's post on rubber mulch against wood mulch turns cubic feet into bag counts.
River rock and gravel: tons for a bed at the depth each size needs
The River Rock and Gravel tool asks for square feet and rock size, and it returns tons. Each size carries its own depth. Rock of 1 to 2 inches covers about 100 square feet per ton at 2 inches deep. Rock of 2 to 5 inches covers about 60 square feet per ton at 4 inches deep. Rock of 5 to 12 inches covers about 25 square feet per ton at 8 inches deep, because a big stone needs a deep bed to disappear into.
The default example is a 150 square foot bed. In 2 to 5 inch rock at 4 inches deep that bed takes 2.5 tons, which is 5,000 pounds. Rounded creek rock in the creek rock aisle prices by the pound, and Arkansas Brown Creek Rock costs $0.15 per pound in all three sizes. So 5,000 pounds of Arkansas Brown is $750.00, and 10 percent over brings the order to about $825.00. The yard's post on gravel and aggregate sizes covers the smaller stone.
Match the calculator answer to the unit on the product record
Rockhouse sells stone by the unit printed on the product record, and the unit changes from aisle to aisle. A price of $0.15 per pound is a correct and complete price for one pound of stone, and it converts to $300.00 per ton. Other aisles price by the ton already. In the gravel aisle, Ouachita River Gravel - 1.25" costs $57.52 per ton, Ouachita Oversized Gravel costs $57.52 per ton, and Caddo River Gravel - 2.5" costs $89.00 per ton. Standard Driveway Gravel - 1" to 1.5" prices at $0.01 per pound.
Write the unit down beside every price you read. When the calculator returns tons and the record says per pound, multiply the tons by 2,000 first. When the record says per ton, use the calculator answer as it stands. Either way, the yard checks the number for free when you call with your dimensions.
Three things a stone calculator cannot see
The tool does exactly the arithmetic you give it. Three inputs trip up more orders than any math error. The first is the depth unit. Every tool on the page takes depth in inches and area in feet, and a 4 inch bed typed in as 4 feet returns twelve times the stone. Read the field label before you type.
The second is the overage. The calculator returns the bare quantity. Stone breaks, edges get trimmed, and a natural stone never fits a straight line without waste. The yard recommends 10 percent over on every order, and that 10 percent goes on after the tool returns its number.
The third is the shape of the space. The tools work in rectangles. An L-shaped patio is two rectangles, and a curved bed is close to a rectangle drawn around its widest points. Run each rectangle on its own and add the tons. When the shape will not break into rectangles, bring the sketch to the counter and the yard will size it with you.
What the pounds mean for the trailer
Once the tons become pounds, the same number tells you what your trailer has to carry. A 2.5 ton order is 5,000 pounds of stone on top of the trailer's own weight, and a single pallet of stone runs heavy. The yard weighs every pallet before it goes on the forks. Ask for the pallet weight when you call, and bring a trailer rated above that number. When the load runs past what your trailer carries, the yard delivers it.
Order the stone the calculator counted
Rockhouse stocks, sorts, weighs, prices, loads and delivers stone. It never installs, builds, sets or lays anything, and 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, and below three pallets the yard quotes the run. Freight to other regions runs through the yard as well.
Contractors who buy every week open a verified pro account for trade pricing and net terms, and qualified buyers can open trade credit. The Rockhouse Rewards Program gives tiered discounts to repeat and volume buyers, and contractors get delivery straight to the jobsite. The yard will meet or beat any stone supplier's price. The online store shows inventory and pricing, and the yard takes the order on the phone.
Call 501-532-1905 with the calculator answer in hand
The yard checks every stone calculator result for free. Have these ready before you dial.
- The length, height or area you measured, in feet.
- The depth of a bed or a base, in inches.
- The stone width or thickness you picked in the tool.
- The tons the tool returned, plus your 10 percent.
Call 501-532-1905 with those numbers and the yard will confirm the tonnage, quote the stone by its unit, 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 run the numbers at the counter with the pallet in front of you.