How much asphalt do you need?
Add your areas and the compacted thickness, get tons of hot mix and cold patch bags instantly.
How do I calculate how much asphalt I need?
Multiply the area by the compacted thickness, then convert the volume to tons. Texas and Indiana DOTs figure 110 lb of hot mix per square yard per inch of thickness. A 12 ft by 50 ft driveway is 600 square feet, or 66.7 square yards; at 3 inches that is 66.7 × 3 × 110 = 22,000 lb, or 11 tons, before any extra.
How much area does a ton of asphalt cover?
At 110 lb per square yard per inch, a ton of hot mix covers about 18 square yards (roughly 160 square feet) at 1 inch thick, about 80 square feet at 2 inches and about 55 square feet at 3 inches.
How thick should an asphalt driveway be?
For a car-only driveway, 2 to 3 inches of compacted hot mix is the usual standard, laid over 6 to 8 inches of compacted gravel base. Go with 3 inches if pickups, delivery trucks or an RV will use it. Those are compacted thicknesses — the mix is spread thicker and rolled down.
How much does a cubic yard of asphalt weigh?
At the 110 lb per square yard per inch that Texas and Indiana DOTs use, compacted hot mix weighs about 147 lb per cubic foot, so a cubic yard is about 1.98 tons (3,960 lb) — about 2.35 tonnes per cubic meter. Washington State DOT estimates a little heavier, 2.05 tons per cubic yard. The mix and how well it is rolled change the number, so if your plant gives a figure, enter it as a weight.
How many bags of cold patch do I need?
A 50 lb bag of QUIKRETE Asphalt Cold Patch fills about 0.5 cubic feet once compacted — about 6 square feet at 1 inch or 3 square feet at 2 inches. Lay it 1 to 3 inches deep in 1-inch lifts, tamping each one. Cold patch is for potholes and small repairs up to about 3 by 3 feet; for a new driveway or a large area, order hot mix by the ton.
How much extra asphalt should I order?
Add 5 to 10%: edges, low spots in the base and material left in the truck all eat into the order. Hot mix is ordered by the ton and must be laid while hot, so running short mid-job is worse than a little left over.
Sources: TxDOT Standard Specifications (2014), Item 341, Dense-Graded Hot-Mix Asphalt; INDOT Design Manual, Figure 17-4A, Roadway Quantities Factors; WSDOT Design Manual M 22-01, Exhibit 620-2; QUIKRETE Asphalt Cold Patch data sheet. How we check our calculators.