Tons of recycled crushed concrete from area and depth — the cheapest base material most yards sell.
Crushed Concrete Calculator
Inputs
Depth is in inches. Entering feet here is the most common ordering mistake.
Recycled concrete compacts like virgin base. 10–20% is typical.
Results
Delivered weight
19.93 tons
V = L × W × (depth ÷ 12) ÷ 27, then × 1.3 tons/yd³
Calculated with BuildCalculators.com
Calculated with BuildCalculators.com · buildcalculators.com/crushed-concrete-calculator
Estimates are for planning only — confirm quantities with your supplier or contractor before ordering.
Crushed concrete — recycled concrete aggregate, RCA, recycled base — is demolition concrete crushed and screened back into a base material, and it is the cheapest thing most yards sell that you can drive on. The arithmetic is the standard base-layer calculation: area × compacted depth, plus a compaction allowance, converted to tons at 2,600 lb per loose yard. That lighter-than-quarry-rock density is worth noticing: a ton of recycled concrete covers a little more ground than a ton of crusher run.
V = L × W × (depth ÷ 12) ÷ 27order = yd³ × (1 + compaction ÷ 100)tons = order yd³ × 1.3 tons/yd³1 ton ≈ 62 ft² at 4 in compactedOld slabs, driveways and demolition rubble, crushed to size, with steel pulled out by magnet at the plant. Screened 1.5 inch minus — stone plus concrete fines — is the base grade this calculator assumes. It compacts like virgin aggregate, and the residual cement in the fines gives a bonus: after a few rains the surface stiffens as unhydrated cement rebinds slightly.
The producer was paid to take the concrete away before selling it back crushed — the raw material cost is negative. That is the whole economics. Quality tracks the recycler’s screening discipline rather than the concept: good yards produce consistent graded base, careless ones sell rubble with brick and oversize in it. Look at the pile before you book the truck.
Driveways, farm lanes, parking pads, path bases, backfill behind walls, base under sheds and non-structural slabs — all excellent. Under engineered structural work, only where the spec explicitly allows RCA. And avoid clean crushed concrete for drainage around pipes with pH-sensitive surroundings: fresh RCA is alkaline and its runoff can carry lime early on.
Delivered loose, installed compacted: 10–20% allowance, laid in 3–4 inch lifts with a plate compactor. Everything the crusher run page says about lifts and thin layers applies unchanged here — the material is different, the physics is not.
Recycled base for a full-length residential driveway.
About 20 tons
The same base in virgin crusher run runs about $160 more at typical 2026 prices. On a farm lane that saving scales by the hundred feet.
A boat or trailer pad on firm ground.
About 7.4 tons
Half a truckload. If a neighbour needs material the same week, sharing the delivery fee is the easiest money either of you will save.
The job recycled concrete was born for.
About 55 tons — three truckloads
At virgin-stone prices this lane would cost $400–$700 more. Have the driver tailgate-spread each load down the run; a skid-steer does the rest in an afternoon.
At 2,600 lb per loose cubic yard, compacted in place.
| Compacted depth | Coverage per ton |
|---|---|
| 2 in | ≈ 125 ft² |
| 4 in | ≈ 62 ft² |
| 6 in | ≈ 42 ft² |
| 8 in | ≈ 31 ft² |
| Material | Per ton | Best use |
|---|---|---|
| Crushed concrete, 1.5 in minus | $15–$30 | Driveways, lanes, general base |
| Crusher run, virgin | $25–$45 | Spec work, structural base |
| Clean 57 stone | $35–$55 | Drainage, pipe bedding |
| Crushed asphalt millings | $10–$25 | Driveway surfacing that rebinds |
Crushed concrete runs $15–$30 per ton delivered in most US markets in 2026 — reliably the cheapest drivable material at the yard. Supply is local by nature: prices dip where demolition is busy and recyclers have stock, and rise where they do not.
Screened 1.5 inch minus with fines is base material. Unscreened crusher-out — cheaper again — can carry brick, oversize lumps and the odd wire tail, fine under deep fill, wrong for a surface you drive on. The $4-a-ton difference is not the place to economise on a driveway.
Crushed asphalt millings cost about the same and behave differently: the residual bitumen rebinds in summer heat into a semi-solid surface. For a driveway wearing course, millings edge it; for a base under something else, crushed concrete compacts stiffer. The cold patch mode handles the repair end of that material.
Same flat-fee truck economics as any aggregate: a full 15–18 ton load spreads the fee thinnest. Under about 5 tons, check whether a landscape yard sells RCA by the scoop for pickup — often the cheaper route for pads and patches.
A price that beats every other quote by half is usually unscreened. Ask the grading — “1.5 minus with fines” is the phrase — and glance at the pile for brick and rebar before booking.
Recycled concrete is 1.3 tons per yard, not gravel’s 1.4 or crusher run’s 1.5. Use a virgin-stone conversion on an RCA order and you over-buy by 8–15% — real money at three truckloads.
Base-grade crushed concrete has fines that block drainage, and fresh RCA leaches lime. Drains want clean washed stone; recycled base wants to be a base.
The low price tempts people to treat it as loose fill. Compacted in lifts it is a hard base; tipped and left, it is a soft heap that ruts. Same plate compactor, same 3–4 inch lifts as any aggregate.
About 2,600 lb — 1.3 US tons — loose. It runs lighter than virgin crushed stone because recycled concrete is less dense than quarried rock, so a ton of it actually covers slightly more area.
Usually 20–40% cheaper — typically $15–$30 a ton against $30–$45 for virgin crusher run, because the raw material is demolition waste. Availability depends on what local recyclers have processed.
Yes — screened crushed concrete with fines compacts into a hard, stable surface and is widely used for driveways, farm lanes and as base under new pavement. Residual cement in the fines even rebinds slightly with rain. Avoid unscreened rubble with rebar or oversized chunks.
Most recyclers sell 1.5 inch minus with fines (the base material this calculator assumes), a coarser 3 inch minus for deep fills, and clean 57-size chips without fines for drainage. For anything you will drive on, take the graded material with fines.
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