Yards, tons, and truckloads
Every trucking call starts with somebody trying to work out how much material they need and how many trucks that is. Here is the arithmetic, the weights, and the two places people usually get it wrong.
| 10-wheel dumpTight sites, driveways, short hauls | 10 CY | 8loads |
|---|---|---|
| End dumpSpoils and demolition debris | 18 CY | 5loads |
| TransferThe valley workhorse for base rock | 22 CY | 4loads |
| Belly dumpWindrowing base along a road on the move | 24 CY | 4loads |
Planning numbers, not a quote. Weights move with the pit and the moisture. Rock and soil you buy are figured loose, because base shrinks about a quarter when it is rolled and the finished thickness is what you measured; material you dig is figured with swell, because a hole never gives back the yards it measured. Tell us the job and we will price it by the ton or by the hour.
Yards
A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet. Multiply length by width by depth, all in feet, then divide by 27. Depth in inches divided by 12 gives you feet: four inches is 0.333 feet.
A 12 by 50 foot driveway at four inches: 12 times 50 times 0.333 is 200 cubic feet, divided by 27 is 7.4 cubic yards.
Tons
Aggregate is sold by weight, so you need a weight per yard. These are the numbers we work to, loose, for typical valley material. They shift a little with the pit and quite a lot with moisture, so treat them as planning numbers rather than as a ticket.
- Class 2 aggregate base, loose: about 1.5 tons per cubic yard
- Class 2 aggregate base, compacted in place: about 1.95 tons per cubic yard
- Drain rock: about 1.4 tons per cubic yard
- Bedding sand: about 1.35 tons per cubic yard
- Topsoil: about 1.1 tons per cubic yard
- Broken concrete: about 1.7 tons per cubic yard
The first mistake: loose versus compacted
The four inches of base you want on your driveway is four inches compacted. Base shrinks roughly 20 to 25 percent when it is rolled, so ordering exactly the neat volume leaves you short. Order about a quarter more than the finished volume, or tell us the finished dimension and let us do it.
The second mistake: swell
Material coming out of a hole occupies more space than the hole did, because digging it breaks it up. Clay swells about 25 percent, broken asphalt about 40, broken concrete about 50. So a 100 cubic yard excavation in clay is roughly 125 yards to haul away, which is six transfer loads rather than five.
Nobody notices this until the last truck. The calculator on this page applies it automatically.
Loads
Divide the hauled volume by the truck. Round up: there is no such thing as most of a load.
- 10-wheel dump: about 10 cubic yards. Fits a residential driveway.
- End dump: about 18 cubic yards. The one for wet or sticky spoils.
- Transfer: about 22 cubic yards. The valley standard for base rock.
- Belly dump: about 24 cubic yards, and it can windrow on the move.
Questions we get
Four inches compacted for cars on decent ground, six if the ground is soft or a delivery truck will use it. Under an RV or a loaded trailer, six to eight and a wider footprint than you think.
By the ton, because that is how the plant scales it and how the truck is billed. Work out your yards, convert, and order tons. Nobody argues about a scale ticket.
Either. A belly dump can windrow it along a road as it drives. A transfer dumps in a pile and needs a machine to spread it. Tell us which you want when you order, because it changes which truck comes.
Extra base rock is not wasted, it is a pad or a shoulder. Extra soil is a problem, because getting rid of it is another haul. Round up on rock and round down on dirt.
Photos are stand-ins until our own job photos are up: public domain images from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Park Service, plus freely licensed photos from Wikimedia Commons (CC0 and CC BY-SA 4.0).
Put a number on your job
Scope, rough quantities, the town, and when the site is available. If there is a bid date on it, put the date and time in and we will confirm receipt the same day.
- The yard
- (530) 555-0142
- Bids and plan sets
- bids@northstateconstruction.com
- Where we work
- Butte, Glenn, Tehama, Colusa, Shasta, Sutter, and Yuba counties
- Yard at 4180 Midway, Chico, CA 95928
CSLB Class A General Engineering · license pending, expected June