Paver Calculator

How the paver count works

Every paver occupies its own face plus half of the joint on each side, so the space one paver takes up is (length + joint) × (width + joint). Divide 144 square inches by that and you have pavers per square foot. A 4×8 brick paver with no joint would be exactly 4.5 per square foot; with the usual 1/8 inch joint it is about 4.3. That small difference is 4–5% of the order — roughly the whole waste allowance — which is why calculators that ignore the joint leave people either short or with an extra pallet.

The pattern sets the waste. Running bond, stack bond and basketweave only need cuts along the edges, so 5% covers them. A 90° herringbone needs a cut at every other edge paver (10%); a 45° herringbone is cut along every edge (15%). Curves and circles also run at about 15%.

Borders

A soldier course — 4×8 pavers standing on their long side around the edge — frames the patio and stops the field from creeping. It also changes the count: the border takes an 8 inch strip off every side, so the field is smaller and needs fewer pavers, while the border needs one paver for every 4 inches of perimeter. The calculator does both.

What goes underneath

The base should extend about 6 inches past the paver edge on every side so the edge restraint has something solid to sit on, and it loses about a fifth of its loose volume when it is compacted in 2–3 inch lifts — both are built into the tonnage above. Bedding sand is screeded to an even inch; it is not a leveling layer, so fix low spots in the gravel, not the sand.

Worked example

A 16 × 12 ft patio in 4×8 pavers with 1/8 inch joints, running bond, no border: 192 sq ft × 4.30 per sq ft × 1.05 = 867 pavers, 2–3 pallets depending on the pallet size, 4.9 tons of crusher run for a 4 inch base and just under a ton of bedding sand.

For the base on its own, the paver base calculator handles overhang and traffic, the paver sand calculator sizes the bedding layer, and the polymeric sand calculator works out joint sand from your real joint width. To price the whole job, use the paver patio cost calculator.