Dean Marsico: Hey, I’m Dean.
Derek Stearns: I’m Derek.
Dean Marsico: And we are from DIY Networks.
Derek Stearns: Indoors Out. And we’re going to give you some tips on base material and how to order it.
Dean Marsico: You know where we come from, base material is called crusher run, hard pack, or gravel pack.
Derek Stearns: But down south, they actually call it road rock, or crush, and run. Either way, there is a bunch of names.
Dean Marsico: You know no matter where you live, it’s pretty much made of the same thing, three-quarter inch crushed stone, mix with stone dust, coarse sand, or even ground-up concrete.
Derek Stearns: Base material is basically aggregate that compacts really well.
Dean Marsico: Now, before you order you have to determine your square footage and you do that by multiplying the length times the width.
Derek Stearns: Now, standard formula is one yard of material equals 80 square feet at three inches thick. That’s an eight foot by 10 foot area at three inches thick.
Dean Marsico: But Derek, that’s not three inches compact.
Derek Stearns: That’s right.
Dean Marsico: So, rule of thumb, Derek and I always order and that’s about 20%.
Derek Stearns: We do. Now, this standard formula you can use at any of your paving jobs that you have to do.
Dean Marsico: Now, for walkways or patios, we want about four inches. For driveways, you’re looking at 8 to 12 inches depending on how much traffic you get on there.
Derek Stearns: Now, that you know the formula, it’s time to order. And you are going to do that through a quarry, a landscape supplier, or a gravel pit. Now, we found the most accurate orders come from the yards that have at front and load it with the one yard bucket.
Now remember, this is just for base. You’re always going to have an inch of concrete sand on top of that and whatever product you’re working with.
Dean Marsico: Now, if you follow these simple steps, you too.
Derek Stearns: You can do it yourself.