[stonecalc id=”dga”]
DGA Calculator Guide
DGA — dense-graded aggregate — is what New Jersey and New York contractors order when a drawing says “compacted aggregate base,” and the term describes an engineering idea rather than a rock type. A dense gradation means the particle sizes are proportioned so each smaller size fills the gaps left by the larger one, all the way down to dust. Compact that blend and there is almost nowhere left for anything to move. This calculator prices it at 1.55 tons per cubic yard with a 15% compaction allowance.
Around the mid-Atlantic the same truckload answers to several names — DGA at one scale house, QP or quarry process at the next, quarry blend at a third. If the ticket describes 3/4-inch stone graded down to fines, you are buying the product this page is about.
How Many Tons of DGA Do You Need?
Per 100 square feet at the standard compacted depths, before the 15% allowance:
| Application | Compacted depth | Per 100 sq ft |
|---|---|---|
| Walkway or patio base | 4 in | 1.23 yd³ / 1.9 tons |
| Car driveway | 4–6 in | up to 1.85 yd³ / 2.9 tons |
| Parking pad | 6 in | 1.85 yd³ / 2.9 tons |
| Truck lane / soft subgrade | 8 in | 2.47 yd³ / 3.8 tons |
One cubic yard of DGA is about 1.55 tons, so a quick field conversion is tons ÷ 1.55 = yards — useful when the quarry quotes weight and your spreadsheet thinks in volume.
Why the Gradation Curve Is the Whole Product
Picture filling a jar with golf balls, then pouring in peas, then sand: each pour occupies space the previous one could not. DGA is that jar, engineered — roughly 8–12% of it is true fines, just enough to fill the last voids and lubricate compaction without turning the mix muddy. The payoff is a base that spreads loads sideways through stone-on-stone contact while the packed matrix stops individual stones from rotating out of place.
The trade-off is drainage: a properly compacted DGA layer is nearly waterproof from above, which is a feature under pavement and a bug anywhere water needs to pass. That is why specifications pair DGA with clean stone rather than choosing between them — dense base below the surface, open-graded stone wherever a drain, pipe, or wall needs water moved away.
Readers outside the DGA states will find the identical material in the crusher run calculator, and Pennsylvania’s flavor of the spec — with its own naming table — lives in the 2A modified stone calculator.
[stonecalc_faq id=”dga”]