Bulk #57 Crushed Stone for Driveways, Drains and Base

Quarries make #57 Crushed Stone by blasting solid bedrock, feeding the pieces through a chain of crushers and shaking the result over screens until only stone from 3/4 to 1 inch is left. The number is a grade from the standard sieve chart that road crews use, and on most job sites the 57 grade is simply called driveway stone. Every piece has fresh broken faces and sharp corners. The color is gray, with the exact shade set by the parent rock: limestone loads look pale, while granite and trap rock loads look darker.^[1]

One cubic yard of #57 Crushed Stone weighs about 2,700 lb, so Gravel Valet sells it by the ton. The stone is washed and screened, which leaves little dust or sand in a load. That clean, open grading matters most. Rain drops straight through the gaps between stones, and the angular faces bite into one another, so a packed layer holds up under tires far better than round gravel of a similar size.^[1]

Driveways come first for most buyers. A layer of this stone over a firm base gives wheels a surface that drains after each storm and never turns to mud. At 3/4 to 1 inch, the pieces are big enough to stay in place under a turning car and small enough to walk across in work boots. Many rural drives use it as the finished top for years at a time.^[1]

Drainage work is the second big market. French drains, footing drains behind a retaining wall and the fill around any perforated pipe all need stone with open space between the pieces, and this grade has a lot of it. Washed stone keeps working longer in a trench, because no fines wash down to clog the pipe.^[1]

Under concrete, the gray stone forms a level bed that lets water escape, so a slab or a shed floor does not sit on soggy ground. Ready-mix plants use the same grade as coarse aggregate, which makes it a fair pick for anyone mixing their own footings. Small jobs suit it too: a clean strip around a shed, a pad for trash bins or an air conditioner, or a dry floor for a dog run.^[1]

Strip the sod and dark topsoil first, because organic soil squeezes down over time and stays soft. Dig until you reach firm subsoil, then shape the floor so water drains toward one edge. On clay or silt, roll out a woven geotextile before any stone goes in. The fabric stops wet subsoil from pumping up into the rock layer.^[1]

A walkway, equipment pad or border needs only a 2 inch layer, and that depth takes about 0.83 tons per 100 square feet. A 3 inch layer, the usual depth for refreshing the top of an older drive that already has a base, calls for about 1.25 tons per 100 square feet.^[1]

A new drive on bare soil needs more. Spread the stone in lifts and compact each one with a plate compactor or the wheels of a loaded truck. A 4 inch layer uses about 1.67 tons per 100 square feet, and a 6 inch layer uses about 2.50 tons per 100 square feet. Leave a slight crown down the middle so rain sheds to the sides and does not pool in the wheel tracks.^[1]

For a French drain, line the trench with fabric, add a bed of stone, set the pipe with its holes facing down and bury it in more #57 Crushed Stone. Fold the fabric over the top before the soil goes back, so silt stays out of the rock for good.^[1]

#67 Stone is the closest relative. It has a few more small pieces in each load, so it fills its own gaps and packs a bit tighter. Pick it when a firm walking surface matters more than the fastest drainage. #89 Crushed Stone is a small chip that fits paver joints, narrow pipe trenches and garden paths better than a driveway grade.^[1]

#4 Crushed Stone sits at the big end. It goes into the bottom layer of a long farm lane, a construction entrance or a culvert crossing, and a common build puts #4 Crushed Stone underneath with this grade on top. 3/4" Crushed Stone is close in size and job, and the choice between those two comes down to what the nearest yard has on hand. 3/8" Crushed Stone suits top dressing and foot paths more than car traffic.^[1]

This stone comes from hard rock quarries. Crews drill and blast a face of limestone, granite, trap rock or a similar bedrock, haul the broken rock to a primary crusher, then send it through smaller crushers and a deck of screens. A wash plant rinses off the dust. What comes off the 57 screen is the stone that lands in your driveway. The gray tone shifts a little from one region to the next, since each quarry works its own bedrock.^[1]

Gravel Valet fills each order from quarries and stone yards near the delivery address. A short haul keeps the truck off the highway for most of the day, and local stone tends to match what the neighbors already have on their drives. Each loaded truck crosses the yard scale before it leaves, so the tons on your order are the tons in the bed.^[1]

Bagged stone is made for patch jobs. Buying enough for a driveway in bags means dozens of trips to the store, a sagging car and a heap of plastic to throw away. A single bulk load replaces all of that, and the stone arrives in one dump at the spot where you plan to start spreading.^[1]

Weight is the quiet expense in any stone job. At about 2,700 lb per cubic yard, this material is heavy enough that the trucking matters as much as the rock itself. A bulk truck carries many tons per trip, so the hauling behind each ton stays small. Ordering the full amount at once also avoids paying for a second trip when the first load comes up short.^[1]

Measure the length and width of the area in feet, multiply them and choose a depth. The area calculator turns that into tons. Enter your ZIP in the order box to check delivery to your address, add the tons to your cart and pick a date. Tell us where the driver should dump the load and how the truck can reach it.^[1]

Round your order up a little. Stone settles as you compact it, and edges and low spots always swallow more than a sketch suggests. On a drive built 4 inches deep at about 1.67 tons per 100 square feet, a small extra saves you from raking thin patches later. Before the truck comes, move cars away from the dump spot, check for low wires and lay a tarp if the pile will land on grass.^[1]