How much paver base for a 10x10 patio?

Q: How much paver base for a 10x10 patio?

About 473 pavers, including a waste allowance. 4.5 per sq ft (pavers per square foot). 1.87 cu yd (base gravel to order). 2.75 tons (base gravel by weight). 121 sq ft (area to excavate). 8.3 cu ft (bedding sand volume). 2,793 lb (weight of the pavers).

About 473 pavers, with a waste allowance included.

4.5 per sq ft — pavers per square foot
1.87 cu yd — base gravel to order
2.75 tons — base gravel by weight
121 sq ft — area to excavate
8.3 cu ft — bedding sand volume
2,793 lb — weight of the pavers

Change the numbers to match your project

Patio length Patio width Paver length Use the module size — the paver plus its joint. A "4x8" brick is 8 x 4 here. If the spec sheet gives pallet coverage instead, use that (see below); it runs a few percent higher. Paver width Square pavers: enter the same number twice. 12 x 12 gives 1 per sq ft, 6 x 6 gives 4. Paver thickness Only affects the weight figure. 60 mm is what big-box stores stock; 80 mm is required where cars drive. Extra for cuts and breakage % 5% for running bond, 10% for 90° herringbone, 10-15% for anything laid at 45°, where every border cut leaves an offcut you cannot reuse. Aggregate base depth, compacted ICPI/CMHA minimum after compaction: 4 in for patios and walks over well-drained soil, 6 in for a residential driveway, more over clay or in hard-freeze regions. Base extends past the paver edge CMHA Tech Spec 3 wants the base to run past the edge restraint by at least its own thickness. Set 0 to see the paved area alone. Base compaction allowance Loose crushed stone loses about a fifth of its volume under the plate. Order the finished depth and you run short.

Pavers to buy 473 pavers Includes the waste allowance, rounded up. Buy them in one delivery — colour varies between production batches.

Pavers per square foot 4.5 per sq ft

Base gravel to order 1.87 cu yd Loose volume, compaction allowance included.

Base gravel by weight 2.75 tons At 2,950 lb/cu yd for crusher run. Ask your quarry for its own figure — that is what the ticket is priced on.

Area to excavate 121 sq ft Larger than the patio, because the base has to run past the edge restraint.

Bedding sand volume 8.3 cu ft A nominal 1 in screeded bed. For bag counts and joint sand, use the [paver sand calculator](/calculators/paver-sand).

Weight of the pavers 2,793 lb The patio as designed, before the waste allowance. Paver concrete is about 142 lb/cu ft.

How the count is worked out

Pavers per square foot is 144 divided by the paver's area in square inches. A 4 x 8 module is 32 sq in, so 4.5 pavers per square foot. A 10 ft x 10 ft patio is 450 pavers before waste, 473 with 5% for cuts.

Nominal or actual size? Neither answer is always right

Every calculator page tells you to ignore the nominal size and divide by the real one. That advice is wrong about half the time, and here is why.

Pavestone's 60 mm Holland stone actually measures 7.87 x 3.94 in (200 x 100 mm). The ICPI/CMHA construction specification calls for joints between 1/16 and 3/16 in (2–5 mm) wide, and 7.87 in plus a 3 mm joint is 7.99 in — the stone is designed so that unit plus joint fills an 8 x 4 in module. Divide by the module and you get 4.5/sq ft, which is correct for the laid pavement.

Divide by the bare face instead and you get 4.66/sq ft. That is also a real number: it is what the pallet label says, because 480 pieces covering 103 sq ft counts face area with no joint allowance. It is the more conservative order by about 3.5%.

So: use whichever figure your product sheet gives you — published coverage, or actual dimensions plus your joint width. Do not apply a blanket "always use the actual size" rule, and do not mix the two.

The related myth is that certain patio dimensions force cuts. They don't, by themselves — 12 ft is 144 in, which divides evenly by both 4 and 8. Cuts come from the pattern: a 45° layout or herringbone leaves a triangular offcut at every border that cannot be turned around and used on the other side, which is why those patterns need 10–15% instead of 5%.

The base is the bigger material order

Weigh a 10 x 10 patio: the 60 mm pavers come to about 1.4 tons, and the 4 in compacted base under them is about 2.8 tons. Most paver calculators return only the paver count and call that a material list. Two things drive the base number:

Compaction. Loose crushed stone carries 35–40% air voids and compacts to 20–25%, so a dense-graded base is ordered about 25% over the finished volume. Place it in lifts, not one deep layer.
Extent. CMHA Tech Spec 3 states that "the base should extend beyond the restraint at least the same dimension as the thickness of the base material." For a 10 x 10 patio, adding 6 in on each side means excavating 121 sq ft, not 100 — a 21% jump. Skimp on it and the edge restraint spikes sit in soil, the perimeter drops, and the whole field walks outwards.

The same Tech Spec is blunt on two related points: edge restraints must never be installed on top of the bedding sand, and soil backfill is never a suitable edge restraint.

What this leaves to other pages

Bedding sand is quoted here as a volume only — the paver sand calculator does bags, and joint sand by joint width. Base depth minimums are ICPI/CMHA: 4 in compacted for patios and walkways over well-drained soil, 6 in for a residential driveway, and 80 mm pavers rather than 60 mm wherever a vehicle will drive.

Open the full paver calculator →

Last reviewed 2026-07-30