A ton of riprap covers less ground the thicker it's spread — light riprap covers about 17.4 sq ft per ton, medium about 11.1, heavy about 8, each at its own standard thickness. This guide breaks down coverage by class and thickness independently, shows why doubling thickness always halves coverage, and warns against thinning a layer just to stretch a fixed tonnage further.
Riprap density figures vary by source because "density" can mean solid rock weight or placed bulk weight — two genuinely different numbers due to the 20-40% void space between stones. This guide explains that distinction, gives density tables by both material and rock class, and covers full bidirectional conversion between tons and cubic yards with worked examples.
Riprap's weight and stone size often call for bigger delivery trucks than standard gravel work uses — tri-axle and quad-axle trucks are common specifically for heavy riprap loads. This guide compares truck capacity by axle configuration, explains why actual loads often run below rated maximums, and covers site access considerations before committing to a larger truck.
Riprap thickness starts with a simple base rule — 1.5 to 2 times the stone size — but wave attack, ice, floating debris, and the slope's toe all call for their own adjustments on top of it. This guide covers the base rule by rock class, exactly how much to add for exposed conditions, the separate toe keyway calculation, and how to verify thickness after placement.
Riprap "size" is really a graded mixture centered on a median stone size (D50), not one uniform rock. This guide explains what that gradation actually means, compares light, medium, and heavy classes on stone size, thickness, and density, and covers stone quality factors like specific gravity and angularity that matter as much as size alone.
Riprap is priced by weight, not volume, which trips up planning that starts in square feet. This guide covers the three numbers you need — area, thickness, and rock class — walks through the full formula with worked examples, and gives ready-to-use tonnage tables for common project sizes across all three rock classes.
Shoreline length alone can't tell you how much riprap to order — width up the bank is the dimension most estimates miss. This guide gives ready-to-use tonnage figures for 50, 100, 200, and 500 ft shorelines across all three rock classes, explains how slope steepness changes the width you actually need, and walks through worked examples for calm, moderate, and steep bank conditions.
Most fence post holes are close enough to round or square for a simple formula — but a genuinely tapered hole, wider at the top than the bottom, needs its own frustum calculation to get right. This guide covers all three volume formulas, a full inches-to-feet conversion reference, and worked examples showing exactly how much a tapered hole's volume differs from a straight cylinder.
A calculator is only as accurate as what you enter into it. This guide walks through every input the Fence Post Concrete Calculator needs — post size, hole diameter, depth, and count — explains the math happening behind the result, and links out to a dedicated deep-dive for getting each individual input right.
Most fence projects need more than one calculation — line posts, gate posts, and sometimes different materials all need to be added together into one shopping list. This guide walks through building a complete post inventory, choosing one bag size for the whole project, when pallet pricing kicks in, and a full worked example totaling 47 bags for a mixed 10-post fence.