Order loose, place compacted — the gravel compaction factor by material class
Gravel ships loose and densifies under the plate, so you order more than the finished bed holds. Dense-graded crusher run ×1.20 (15–25% settlement), open-graded #57/#67 ×1.10 (~8%), rounded decorative stone ×1.00 (does not compact). Loose order = compacted volume × the material multiplier.
What this diagram shows
A before-and-after comparison of three gravel classes showing why the delivered (loose) quantity is larger than the finished (compacted) bed. Dense-graded crusher run or DGA settles 15 to 25 percent under a plate compactor, so it is ordered at about 1.20 times the compacted volume. Open-graded #57 or #67 stone self-compacts only about 8 percent and is ordered at about 1.10 times. Rounded decorative stone such as pea gravel or river rock does not compact at all, so it is ordered at 1.00 times. The loose order equals the compacted volume times the multiplier, and the tonnage formula always uses the compacted depth, never the loose depth.
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