How To Easily Calculate How Many Pavers You Need For A Walkway

Are you planning a paver DIY installation to improve your walkway? Congratulations — you're about to elevate your home's appeal with a visually captivating (and highly durable) hardscaping element. Fortunately, laying pavers is also a relatively straightforward DIY project, so you don't need to call in professionals if you're well-prepared and have the tools, materials, and skills to get the job done yourself. Getting the paver quantity right is a critical part of getting ready to tackle paver installation. After all, you don't want running out of the stones partway through, only to find that your local store is also out of stock. Nor do you want to be left with too many stones and start googling ways to repurpose your old pavers after the project is finished. That's just wasteful!

The good news is that with some very basic math skills, you can tackle your paver stone quantity survey quickly. Whether you're laying pavers on a walkway that's rectangular, circular, or triangular there is a formula out there to calculate the total area that needs paving. Then it's just a matter of dividing the product of this formula by the surface area of the pavers you intend to use — a value you can easily find by visiting your local store and checking the paver package. Below, we'll walk you through these calculations and make sure you're covered in case some pavers get damaged.

Regardless of the shape of your walkway, start by figuring out its area. If the surface you want to cover is rectangular or square, start by measuring the width and length, in feet. Then, multiply the width by the length, and the product of this calculation is the area. If the spot you're paving is irregularly shaped, but can be broken down into several rectangles or squares, perform the same calculation for each of these shapes, then add the products — you'll get the total area.

If you're dealing with a triangular shape anywhere in the walkway, measure the width of the triangle. Then, quantify the height — i.e., the shortest distance from the apex to the base. Now, multiply the width by the height, and divide the product by two, and you've got your area! If the walkway has a circle, start by measuring the radius. Then, multiply this dimension by 3.14159 and raise it to the power of two, and you have the area value.

Now, multiply the number you got above by 144 — this will convert the area from square feet to square inches. For example, if your walkway is 100 square feet, multiplying 100 by 144 leaves you with 14,400 square inches. Next, figure out the area of the pavers. For example, if the pavers you've chosen are 4 by 8 inches, then multiply 4 by 8 to get the area — 32 square inches. Finally, walkway area (14,400 square inches) by the paver area (32 square inches), and you get 450 — that's how many pavers you need. Now, add 10% to this number to account for waste (say, if you're forced to cut some paver stones), and you're ready to go paver shopping.