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I was in the middle of moving rock into the patio area till the wee hour of midnight last night when I realized I knew my 4" mark for the paver base depth. But I have no idea how much the base is going to compact when I use a mechanical plate compactor.

The rock I'm using is 22A Stabilized Gravel. Any ideas?

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  • The compation for this ended up being much more than I'd hoped. The 4yds ended up not being sufficient for a 4" layer for ~324sqft despite being told it would be by the landscape company. But the compaction ended up being around an inch or so. But is now looks and feels as tight as cement. – Tim Meers May 23 '11 at 16:51
  • Unfortunately the link to 22A is not working – StayOnTarget May 11 '18 at 12:17
  • @DaveInCaz I've updated the link to a new page. – Tim Meers May 11 '18 at 12:51
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Don't put down a zillion inches of stone, then expect it to compact nicely anyway. You simply won't get as good of a result, as solid compaction as you will by laying down a couple of inches, compacting, then more stone. And you will spend less time compacting each layer anyway.

If you do it in layers, it will be clear how much you need to lay down to get your desired depth.

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  • Perfect idea!!! Now to go give it a try. – Tim Meers May 21 '11 at 17:39
  • Thanks again for the perfect answer to such a subjective question. The tip proved to be the perfect solution. – Tim Meers May 23 '11 at 16:52
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I looked at the gravel you are using. I would suspect you might see 1/2 to 3/4 inch of compaction, especially if you just laid it down. All you can do is start compaction, see what it looks like and add or rake off a bit to meet you needs. Pretty subjective answer, sorry.

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