How to Find Out How Many Patio Stones You Will Need for an Area
When constructing a patio or walkway, many people will choose to build the project with paver stones. These durable stones can provide an attractive, long-lasting addition to your yard. When planning the project, one of the pieces of information that you will need is how many stones you will have to purchase to complete the project. A good rule of thumb is to add 15 percent to the number of stones you estimate that you will need, as this allows for extras should any stones become damaged, you miscalculate or you need to cut stones for smaller spaces or curved areas. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Measure the perimeter of the area to be constructed. For our purposes, we'll use a patio 20 feet long by 20 feet wide.
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Multiply the length and width of the patio to get the area. In the example, this works out to length (20 feet) times the width (20 feet), which equals 400 square feet.
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Measure the length and width of your preferred paver stone. For this example, the stone will be 4 inches long and 4 inches wide.
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Multiply the length and width of the paver stone to learn its area. In the example, the length (4 inches) times the width (4 inches) is equal to 16 square inches.
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Convert the area of the patio from square feet to square inches by multiplying the area by 12. When you do so, you will find that 400 square feet times 12 is equal to 4,800 square inches.
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Divide the area of the patio in square inches (4,800) by the number of square inches in a stone (16). When you divide 4,800 by 16, you arrive at 300. This is the amount of stones you need to exactly pave the area.
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Add 15 percent to the total of stones needed. When you multiple 300 by .15, you arrive at 45, which is the number of extra stones needed. For the example, the total number of stones needed is 345.
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Tips & Warnings
When multiplying the total number of stones by 15 percent, remember to put the decimal point before the 15 when entering the numbers into the calculator.
References
- Photo Credit Creative Crop/Digital Vision/Getty Images
