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ABC stone calculator: tons of base, stone and asphalt

Square yards and a compacted thickness to tons, loads and cost, for ABC, washed stone, screenings and NCDOT's asphalt mixes. An 8-inch ABC base runs about 0.44 tons a square yard at a Carolinas producer's average weight; your quarry's tested figure makes it exact.

By Ryan Lindsey, founder of AggradoHow we write

Calculator

Updated October 4, 2026
1. The area
2. The material

NCDOT's lab publishes each quarry's tested ABC unit weight. Look up your quarry and enter its figure.

3. Ordering (optional)
Weights vary by quarry and by plant
The stone weights are a Carolinas producer's published averages, and the asphalt rates are the ones NCDOT states on its plans. Stone from another quarry, or a mix design from another plant, weighs differently, so use your supplier's figure for the order.

Tons per 1,000 square yards

Compacted in place, before any allowance for waste.

Stone4″6″8″10″12″
ABC (aggregate base course) (145 lb/ft³)218326435544653
Washed stone (#57, #67) (105 lb/ft³)158236315394473
Screenings (110 lb/ft³)165248330413495
Asphalt1.5″2″2.5″3″4″
Asphalt surface, S9.5B (110 lb/SY per inch)82.5110.0137.5165.0220.0
Asphalt intermediate, I19.0C (114 lb/SY per inch)85.5114.0142.5171.0228.0
Asphalt base, B25.0C (114 lb/SY per inch)85.5114.0142.5171.0228.0

ABC, #57 and screenings

  • ABC (aggregate base course, often called crusher run) is graded from coarse stone down to fines, so it packs into a dense, firm base. In North Carolina its gradation is NCDOT's; local specs such as Gastonia's call for it by that name.
  • Washed stone such as #57 is sized and washed, with the fines taken out. It doesn't pack the way ABC does, which is why it's used where water has to move: pipe bedding, drains and underground detention. It weighs less per cubic yard because of the voids between the stones.
  • Screenings are the fines left from crushing, used as a leveling course or for bedding pavers and some pipe.

Base is bought by the ton and placed by the inch, so the weight per cubic yard is what turns the plans into an order. For ABC, NCDOT's lab tests each quarry's product; its lookup lists the tested unit weight by quarry.

How the calculator works

  1. Volume. A square yard an inch deep is 9 × 1/12 = 0.75 cubic feet, so cubic feet = square yards × inches × 0.75.
  2. Tons. Cubic feet × pounds per cubic foot ÷ 2,000. NCDOT states asphalt as pounds per square yard per inch instead; divide that by 0.75 for pounds per cubic foot, so 110 lb/SY per inch is 146.7 lb/ft³.
  3. Allowance and loads. Tons × (1 + allowance), then ÷ payload, rounded up, for loads.

Site Bid carries the tons into the estimate and lines up each supplier's quoted price against them.

A worked example

A parking lot of 800 square yards on 8 inches of ABC at 145 lb/ft³, with a 5% allowance, in 20-ton loads:

  • Volume: 800 × 8 × 0.75 = 4,800 ft³, 177.8 CY in place.
  • Tons: 4,800 × 145 ÷ 2,000 = 348, plus 5% = 365 tons.
  • Loads: 365 ÷ 20 = 19.

Sources

  • Stone weights: Hedrick Industries tonnage calculator, "an average unit weight per product … for estimating purposes". hedrickind.com. Checked October 4, 2026.
  • Asphalt rates: NCDOT sample roadway plans, pavement schedule (S9.5B at 110 lb/SY per inch; I19.0C and B25.0C at 114). connect.ncdot.gov. Checked October 3, 2026.
  • Tested ABC unit weights by quarry: NCDOT Materials and Tests, Aggregate Base Course Density.

Found a figure that's wrong? Tell us at support@aggrado.com.

From the makers of Aggrado Site, sitework estimating and job management software: takeoff and crew-based bids, the won bid as the job's budget, and the crew's phone app on one record.