Pea Gravel Calculator
Find the tonnes and bags of pea gravel for a path, border or shed base. See what 1 tonne covers.
Measure your project
Your answer
That is 0.50 m³.
If you buy bags
If you buy bulk bags
Pea gravel is 10 mm. Mainland Aggregates says don't use 10 mm gravel on a drive.
Which costs less?
This price is for picking it up yourself. Add a delivery fee in "Change prices" if they bring it.
Bulk bag: £74.44 is the middle of 4 UK sellers (Oct 2026). 1 of them does not say if VAT is in. Small bag: Wickes, £4.10 with VAT.
Quick answers
- What 1 tonne of pea gravel covers
- About 12–13 m² at 50 mm deep. That is 13.3 m² at our 1.5 tonnes per m³, or 12.5 m² at 1.6 like 20 mm gravel.
- Weight of 1 m³
- About 1.5 tonnes, the figure a UK supplier, Gravel Base, uses for pea gravel.
- Per m²
- About 75 kg at 50 mm deep, or 60 kg at 40 mm.
- Bulk bag price
- About £74 a bulk bag, the middle of 4 sellers (3 show VAT in; 1 does not say). That is about £88 a tonne.
- Size
- Pea gravel is a 10 mm single-size gravel, says Heidelberg Materials, a maker.
How to work it out
- Measure the length and width of the area in metres. Multiply them to get m².
- Pick the depth in mm and divide by 1,000 to get metres.
- m² × depth in metres gives the volume in m³.
- Multiply the m³ by 1.5 to get tonnes of pea gravel.
- Divide the tonnes by 0.85 for 850 kg bulk bags. Round up.
5 × 2 × 0.05 = 0.5 m³
0.5 × 1.5 = 0.75 tonnes
0.75 ÷ 0.85 = 0.88 → 1 bulk bag
What 1 tonne of pea gravel covers
Pea gravel is sold by the tonne, so start there. Each row shows the m³, the area at 50 mm deep and the 850 kg bulk bags.
| Pea gravel | m³ | Covers | Bulk bags to buy | Cost of those bags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half a tonne | 0.33 | 6.7 m² | 1 | £74 |
| 1 tonne | 0.67 | 13.3 m² | 2 | £149 |
| 2 tonnes | 1.33 | 26.7 m² | 3 | £223 |
| 3 tonnes | 2 | 40 m² | 4 | £298 |
| 5 tonnes | 3.33 | 66.7 m² | 6 | £447 |
| 10 tonnes | 6.67 | 133.3 m² | 12 | £893 |
| 20 tonnes | 13.33 | 266.7 m² | 24 | £1,787 |
You buy whole 850 kg bags, so a part bag counts as one. At our middle price of £74.44 a bag, pea gravel is about £88 a tonne. Delivery not added.
So 5 tonnes of pea gravel is 6 bulk bags, about £447. Prices ran from £46.80 to £86.28 a bag.
Pea gravel coverage per m² and per bag
We use 1.5 tonnes per m³, from Gravel Base. Heidelberg says one bulk bag covers about 12 m² at 50 mm. Our sums give 11.3 m² for an 850 kg bag, which is close.
| Depth | kg per m² | 22.5 kg bags | Bags to buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 mm | 37.5 | 1.7 | 2 |
| 40 mm | 60 | 2.7 | 3 |
| 50 mm | 75 | 3.3 | 4 |
Wickes sells 10 mm gravel (pea shingle) in 22.5 kg Major Bags. It prints a cover of 0.23 m² at 50 mm. That is less than our sums give, so treat bag covers as rough.
Pea gravel for a shed base
We found no UK guide on how deep pea gravel should be under a shed. Follow the depth your shed or base maker gives. Here is the weight at two depths.
| Shed | In metres | 25 mm deep | 50 mm deep |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6x4 ft | 1.83 × 1.22 m | 84 kg (4 bags) | 167 kg (8 bags) |
| 8x6 ft | 2.44 × 1.83 m | 167 kg (8 bags) | 334 kg (15 bags) |
| 10x8 ft | 3.05 × 2.44 m | 279 kg (13 bags) | 557 kg (25 bags) |
Bags are 22.5 kg small bags. Shed sizes are in feet.
A shed base holds weight. Check your local building rules or ask a builder or engineer.
Paths and borders
JT Atkinson says 40–50 mm of gravel for paths and borders. 10 mm pea gravel is not for drives, says Mainland Aggregates. For a drive, use our gravel driveway calculator, which adds the sub-base.
Pea gravel prices: bulk bags, tonnes and bags
We found 4 UK prices for one bulk bag of pea gravel.
| Seller | Bag | Price | VAT in? |
|---|---|---|---|
| TW Aggregates | 850 kg | £46.80 | Yes |
| JT Atkinson | 850 kg | £70.21 | Yes |
| Turnbull | 850 kg | £78.66 | Not stated |
| A seller on B&Q's website | 800 kg | £86.28 | Yes |
The 800 kg bag is 20 mm pea shingle. The rest are 10 mm pea gravel.
- Bulk bags: about £88 a tonne at our middle price.
- Small bags: Wickes's 22.5 kg bag at £4.10 is about £182 a tonne. That is about 2.1 times the bulk price.
- Lorry load: Fulney Sand & Gravel (Lincolnshire) charges £566.67 plus VAT for 20 tonnes. That is about £34 a tonne with VAT, plus delivery.
Delivery varies. JT Atkinson charges £15, or nothing on orders over £250 before VAT. Turnbull delivers free within about 20 miles.
Questions people ask
How much pea gravel do I need?
Multiply the area in m² by the depth in metres, then by 1.5. A 5 × 2 m path at 50 mm takes about 0.75 tonnes. That is 1 bulk bag of 850 kg.
How much pea gravel per square metre?
About 75 kg at 50 mm deep, 60 kg at 40 mm, and 37.5 kg at 25 mm.
What does 1 tonne of pea gravel look like?
It fills about 0.67 m³. Piled as a cube, that is about 87 cm on each side. It is a bit more than one 850 kg bulk bag.
How much will a tonne of pea gravel cover?
About 12–13 m² at 50 mm. At our 1.5 tonnes per m³, it is 13.3 m² at 50 mm. At 40 mm it is 16.7 m², and at 25 mm 26.7 m². Heidelberg says one bulk bag covers about 12 m² at 50 mm.
How deep does pea gravel need to be?
For a path or border, about 40–50 mm, says JT Atkinson, a builders' merchant. Heidelberg also gives its cover at 50 mm.
How many bags of pea gravel do I need?
By weight, about 3.3 small bags of 22.5 kg per m² at 50 mm, so 4 for a single m². Wickes prints a smaller cover, 0.23 m² per bag, which would mean 5. So buy a spare.
How many tonnes of pea gravel are in a cubic yard?
About 1.15 tonnes. A cubic yard is about 0.76 m³, and pea gravel weighs about 1.5 tonnes per m³.
Can you use pea gravel on a driveway?
Mainland Aggregates says don't use 6 or 10 mm gravel on a drive. It says use 20 mm gravel, no more than 50 mm deep.
Where our numbers come from
- Pea gravel weight 1.5 t/m³: Gravel Base supplier
- Pea gravel bulk bag covers about 12 m²: Heidelberg data sheet
- Pea gravel 850 kg bulk bag: TW Aggregates £46.80
- Pea gravel 850 kg bulk bag: JT Atkinson £70.21
- Pea gravel 850 kg bulk bag: Turnbull £78.66
- Pea shingle 800 kg bulk bags on B&Q (marketplace seller)
- Pea gravel small bag: Wickes 10 mm Major Bag £4.10
- Gravel weight: Wickes UK 20 mm gravel bulk bag (800 kg covers 20 m² at 25 mm)
- 20-tonne loose loads: Fulney Sand & Gravel (+ VAT)
- JT Atkinson: gravel depth guide
- Mainland Aggregates: gravel driveway guide
- Unit sizes: NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C (1 ft = 0.3048 m; 1 US gallon = 231 cubic inches)
Made by BuildersCount. Last checked 4 Oct 2026.
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