Are you planning a new driveway, paving a walkway or a large-scale commercial asphalt project? Understanding the materials required and the estimated cost is crucial for efficient planning. In this post, I explain everything essential that you need to know about Asphalt, including the calculator, formula, asphalt uses.

What is Asphalt — types

If you're a paving contractor or asphalt specialist, you may know everything about Asphalt. However, if you're new to it, here’s a brief explanation. Let me explain briefly what Asphalt is and its types. Asphalt (also called bitumen) is a widely used construction material, primarily for driveways, parking lots, and paving roads. It is a black and semi-solid form of petroleum.

Asphalt is flexible, durable, and able to withstand many weather conditions, making it ideal for commercial and residential applications.

Types

There are many different types of Asphalt. So, choosing the right one is crucial for your project. However, each type of asphalt has its own composition, characteristics, and applications. Here are the common and widely used types:

• Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA): This type of Asphalt is most commonly used. It is produced by heating asphalt binder and aggregates at a high temperature (about 275°F to 325°F) before mixing them. It is used for roads and highways, driveways, airport runways, and parking lots.
• Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA): This asphalt type is typically produced at lower temperatures (about 200°F to 275°F) compared to the HMA. Its applications are also common as HMA, including driveways, parking lots, and roads.
• Cold-mix asphalt (CMA): CMA is produced without heating the asphalt. It is used for temporary repair, patching, emergency pothole filling and areas where heating is not available.
• Recycled Asphalt Pavement (RAP): This type of Asphalt utilizes the existing asphalt material by recycling and milling it into new and fresh asphalt. It is used for road rehabilitation and resurfacing projects, and due to recycling, it is cost-effective for asphalt projects.

Asphalt Calculator

Our asphalt calculator is a tool specifically designed to help construction professionals, contractors and homeowners. The calculator requires measured values, such as area size, thickness, and the price of material per ton, to estimate the amount of Asphalt required and its cost.

How to use our Asphalt Calculator?

Using our asphalt calculator is much simpler— nothing else needed, and giving you the most accurate estimate based on your entered values. Here is how the calculator works:

First, you need to determine the length, width, and thickness of the area you want to pave.

1. Length: Enter the length of the area you want to pave (e.g., parking lot, driveway, road). The default unit is feet (ft), but you can change it if needed.
2. Width: Here, enter the width of the area. The default measure unit is feet (ft), you can also change the unit if needed.
3. Thickness: Enter the desired thickness of the asphalt layer. The default unit is inches (thickness is usually measured in inches).
4. Price per Ton (optional): Here, you can enter the price of the asphalt per ton, which you can obtain from local suppliers (e.g., $100 per ton).
5. Review the Result: After entering measured values into the required inputs, the result below will show an accurate estimate and useful information, helping you to make an efficient and effective decision.

NOTE: This calculator basically estimates the required amount of hotmix asphalt and total weight in tons based on your entered measured values to pave. You can give our advanced Asphalt Cost Calculator a try if you also want to include specific details such as the surface you want to pave (e.g. driveway, parking lots, roads etc.) and purpose such as heavy commercial usage, frequent or light usage. Furthermore, it also estimates the total cost per ton based on the average market cost of Asphalt if the cost per ton is not provided in the calculator's input.

Asphalt Calculator Formula

If you're curious to understand the formula behind asphalt calculation for manual calculations and specialized scenarios, here is the formula for calculating asphalt volume (in cubic yards) and weight (in tons).

Formula for Volume in Cubic Yards:

$$$ \text{Volume (cubic yards)}=\left(\frac{L\times W\times \frac{T}{12}}{27}\right)$$$

For that formula, where:

• L is the length in feet.
• W is the width in feet.
• T is the thickness in inches.
• 12 converts inches to feet.
• 27 converts cubic feet to cubic yards.

Formula for Weight in tons:

$$$ \text{Weight (tons)}=\frac{\text{Volume}\times 145\times 27}{2000}$$$

In this formula:

• Volume represents the total cubic yards calculated from the previous formula.
• 145 is the approximate weight of 1 cubic foot of material (in pounds).
• 27 converts cubic yards to cubic feet.
• 2000 this converts pounds to tons since 1 ton = 2000 pounds.

Formula for Calculating Cost based on Price per Ton:

$$$ \text{Total Cost}=\text{Weight}\times \text{Cost per ton}$$$

Where is:

• Total Cost shows the overall cost of the asphalt material.
• Weight is the total weight of the asphalt material in tons.
• Cost per ton is the price per ton of the material.

You may have understood the formula behind the asphalt calculator until now. Let's examine it with an example to grasp it practically.

How to calculate Asphalt — Practical Real World Example

Suppose someone wants to pave a driveway 🚧🏡 with that measurement: 20 feet long and 10 feet wide, with an asphalt layer thickness of 3 inches. According to the local supplier, the cost is 120 dollars per ton.

As we get that:

• 20 feet is length.
• 10 feet is width.
• And 3 inches is the thickness.
• 120 dollars per ton is the cost.

Step 1: Calculate Volume of Asphalt in Cubic Yards

As we know the formula:

$$$ \text{Volume (cubic yards)}=\left(\frac{L\times W\times \frac{T}{12}}{27}\right)$$$

Now, apply the substituting values:

$$$ \text{Volume (cubic yards)}=\left(\frac{20\times 10\times \frac{3}{12}}{27}\right)$$$ $$$ =\frac{20\times 10\times 0.25}{27}$$$ $$$ =\frac{50}{27}\approx 1.85\text{ cubic yards}$$$

Step 2: Calculate the Weight of Asphalt in Tons

Use that formula:

$$$ \text{Weight (tons)}=\frac{\text{Volume}\times 145\times 27}{2000}$$$

Apply the substitute values:

$$$ \text{Weight}=\frac{1.85\times 145\times 27}{2000}$$$ $$$ =\frac{7233.75}{2000}\approx 3.62\text{ tons}$$$

Step 3: Calculate Total Cost of Asphalt

The formula for calculating total cost based on per ton cost is:

$$$ \text{Total Cost}=\text{Weight}\times \text{Cost per ton}$$$

Let's apply the substitute values:

$$$ \text{Total Cost}=3.62\times 120$$$ $$$ =434.4\text{ dollars}$$$

After calculation, Finally:

Amount of asphalt material required = 1.85 cubic yards

The Weight of asphalt required = 3.62 tons

Total cost = 434.40 dollar

Thus, we have successfully estimated that 3.62 tons of materials asphalt are needed, and the total cost for that is about 434.40 dollars, at a rate of 120 dollars per ton to pave the driveway 🚧🏡.