Free Paver Patio Calculator
This free paver patio calculator plans the whole sandwich, not just the pavers: enter your patio size and get the paver count with cut waste included, base gravel and chip-stone volumes in cubic yards, the dig depth drawn to scale, polymeric sand bags, edging footage, and a complete shopping list. It works from your paver’s actual label dimensions — any brand, any size — and it’s the same base spec as our paver patio build. Free, no account.
Paver Patio Calculator
Punch in your patio size and get the full open-grade build spec: paver count, base and chip-stone volumes, polymeric sand bags, edging, and your dig depth — matched to this guide.
Your patio
Your patio spec
| Item | Spec | Amount |
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📩 Email me my patio spec
Get this exact build spec and shopping list for your 16 ft × 12 ft patio sent to your inbox, with the build guide — free.
Patio sizing FAQ
Why order by the cubic yard?
Stone yards sell base gravel and chip stone by the yard (or by the ton — they’ll convert for you). Take these volumes in and they’ll spec the tonnage free. Round up: running short mid-compaction costs you a second delivery fee.
My patio isn’t a rectangle
Measure the bounding rectangle that contains your whole shape and use those numbers — the curves option adds cut waste for the pavers, and extra base under a curve edge never hurts.
Tool by Rogue Engineer — every constant matches our paver patio build guide above.
The layer stack, drawn for your patio
A paver patio is a stack, and the dig depth is just the stack added up: your base depth, plus a 1″ screeded top coat, plus the paver’s thickness. The calculator draws that section cut to scale for your inputs — pavers, chip stone, gravel base, fabric line, undisturbed soil — with the total dig bracketed on the side. With the default 6″ base and a 2¾″ paver, you’re excavating 9¾″ below finished patio height, and seeing that number before the rental excavator shows up is the whole point.
The base is ¾″ clean, open-graded gravel — no fines — compacted in 1–2″ lifts, with commercial-grade landscape fabric in the stack. Open-graded stone drains straight through instead of holding water under your pavers, which is what keeps a patio flat through freeze-thaw winters. Use 6″ as the standard, drop to 4″ only over well-drained undisturbed soil, and add 2″ anywhere a vehicle will roll.
Chip stone, not sand — and why the top coat is 1″
Between base and pavers the calculator specs a 1″ top coat of ¼″–⅜″ clean chip stone, screeded flat with rails and a straight board. Like the base, it’s open-graded: water passes through instead of washing out from under the field the way bedding sand can. The pavers themselves get counted from your label’s width × length, with 5% added for cuts on a straight-edged patio and 10% when you’re cutting curves — and the calculator takes the bounding rectangle of a curved design, since the base under a curve gets built as a rectangle anyway.
The finish spec rides along automatically: polymeric sand at one bag per 80–100 square feet of joints, plastic paver edging with 10″ spikes around the full perimeter, and a drainage pitch of ⅛″ per foot away from the house — converted into the actual drop in inches across your patio’s width, so your screed rails start at the right slope instead of a guess.
How to use the paver patio calculator
1. Measure your space. Length and width in feet — for a curved or organic shape, measure the rectangle that contains all of it and pick the curves option.
2. Copy your paver’s label. Width, length, and thickness from the pallet tag or product page. The dig depth adjusts with the thickness automatically.
3. Take the numbers to the stone yard. Base and top-coat volumes are in cubic yards, rounded up to the quarter yard — the yard will convert to tonnage for free. Ordering short costs a second delivery fee; the calculator rounds up so you don’t.
4. Email yourself the patio spec. Your full spec and shopping list, free, waiting on your phone at the supply yard.
Materials for common patio sizes
Quick reference using the calculator’s defaults — 9″ × 6″ pavers, 6″ base, straight edges (5% cut waste):
| Patio | Area | Pavers | Base gravel | Chip stone | Poly sand | Edging |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 ft × 10 ft | 100 sq ft | (281) | 2 yd³ | 0.5 yd³ | (2) | (40 ft) |
| 12 ft × 16 ft | 192 sq ft | (538) | 3.75 yd³ | 0.75 yd³ | (3) | (56 ft) |
| 16 ft × 20 ft | 320 sq ft | (897) | 6 yd³ | 1 yd³ | (4) | (72 ft) |
Paver patio calculator FAQ
How many pavers do I need for my patio?
Patio area in square inches divided by the face size of one paver, plus cut waste: 5% for a straight-edged patio, 10% if you’re cutting curves. The calculator does the math from the paver dimensions on your pallet label — width, length, and thickness are all inputs, so it works for any paver, not just one brand.
How deep do I dig for a paver patio?
Base depth, plus a 1-inch top coat, plus your paver’s thickness. With the default 6-inch base and a 2¾-inch paver that’s 9¾ inches below finished patio height — and the calculator draws the layer stack to scale so you can see exactly where every inch goes before you put a shovel in the ground.
How much gravel base does a paver patio need?
6 inches of ¾-inch clean, open-graded gravel is the calculator’s default for a patio; use 4 inches only over well-drained, undisturbed soil, and add 2 inches anywhere a vehicle will roll. It converts your area to cubic yards (rounded up to the quarter yard), which is how the stone yard sells it — take the number in and they’ll convert to tonnage for free.
What goes between the gravel and the pavers?
A 1-inch screeded top coat of ¼-to-⅜-inch clean chip stone. An open-graded top coat drains straight through instead of holding water the way concrete sand can, and it screeds flat with two rails and a board. The calculator figures its volume separately from the base.
How much polymeric sand do I need?
One bag covers roughly 80–100 square feet of joints — the calculator rounds up from your area. Sweep it in dry, vibrate it down, sweep clean, then mist to activate. Skip this and the joints grow weeds and shift; it’s the highest-value bag on the list.
What slope should a paver patio have?
⅛ inch per foot, pitched away from the house. The calculator turns that into a real number for your patio — the total drop across your width — so you can set your screed rails once and check it with a level and a straight board.
From spec sheet to finished patio
The digging, screeding, laying, cutting, and sanding are all in the full paver patio build guide — including the soldier course, cutting clean curves, and the poly-sand finish that keeps the joints tight. Once the patio’s down, it deserves something to sit on.
