How many pavers do I need per square foot?

Divide 144 by the paver area in square inches. A 4 by 8 inch paver covers 32 square inches, so 144 ÷ 32 = 4.5 pavers per square foot.

How thick should the gravel base be?

Four to six inches of compacted crushed stone for a patio or walkway, and six to eight for a driveway. Compact it in two inch lifts — a single deep lift never compacts properly all the way down.

Paver Patio Calculator

Count pavers for a patio or walkway and estimate the bedding sand and gravel base beneath.

Draft — figures checked, awaiting an editorial read. Not indexed.

Pavers to buy— pavers

Patio area: — ft²
Pavers per ft²: —
Bedding sand1 in layer directly under the pavers.: — yd³
Gravel base: — yd³

Formula: Paver area (ft²) = (length × width) ÷ 144. Count = patio area × (1 + waste) ÷ paver area, rounded up.

What this calculates

This counts the pavers a patio or walkway needs and sizes the two layers underneath: an inch of bedding sand directly below the pavers, and the compacted gravel base below that. The base is where paver projects succeed or fail. The pavers themselves are the visible part and the easy part; a patio that heaves and settles after two winters almost always failed because the base was too thin, not properly compacted, or laid over soil that was never excavated deep enough.

How it works

The area of one paver in square feet is its length times its width in inches, divided by 144. The patio area is divided by that, with the waste allowance added, and rounded up to whole pavers. Bedding sand assumes a one inch screeded layer, converted to cubic yards. The gravel base uses whatever depth you enter — four inches is standard for a patio carrying foot traffic, six to eight for anything a vehicle will sit on — and is likewise converted to cubic yards, which is how it is delivered.

Worked example

A 16 by 12 foot patio using 8 by 4 inch pavers. Each paver covers (8 × 4) ÷ 144 = 0.222 square feet, so about 4.5 pavers per square foot. The patio is 192 square feet; with 5% waste that is 201.6, divided by 0.222 gives 908 pavers. Bedding sand at one inch: 192 ÷ 12 ÷ 27 = 0.59 cubic yards. Base gravel at four inches: 192 × (4 ÷ 12) ÷ 27 = 2.37 cubic yards.

Common mistakes

Under-building the base. Four inches of well-compacted gravel is the minimum for a patio and it needs compacting in two-inch lifts, not dumped and raked. Second, using the wrong waste figure for the pattern: a straight running bond wastes about 5%, but herringbone cuts every paver along both edges and can waste 15%. Third, using bedding sand thicker than an inch to level out a poor base — it will consolidate unevenly and the surface will ripple.

Common questions

How many pavers do I need per square foot?: Divide 144 by the paver area in square inches. A 4 by 8 inch paver covers 32 square inches, so 144 ÷ 32 = 4.5 pavers per square foot.
How thick should the gravel base be?: Four to six inches of compacted crushed stone for a patio or walkway, and six to eight for a driveway. Compact it in two inch lifts — a single deep lift never compacts properly all the way down.