What Is the Paver Calculator?
The Paver Calculator tells you how many pavers you need to cover a patio, walkway, driveway, or any rectangular area. It works for any paver size and adds a waste allowance so you order enough to cover cuts, breakage, and irregular edges. The result is a clean whole number — because you can't buy a fraction of a paver.
How to Use It
Enter your patio length and width in feet, then the dimensions of a single paver in inches. Add a waste allowance (10% is typical; use 15–20% for diagonal patterns or curved layouts). The calculator multiplies to find the total surface area, divides by the area of one paver, applies the waste factor, and rounds up to the nearest whole paver.
The Formula Explained
First the patio area is found in square feet: length × width. A single paver's area is computed in square inches (paver length × paver width) and divided by 144 to convert to square feet. Dividing patio area by paver area gives the base number of pavers. Multiplying by (1 + waste/100) adds the safety margin, and the total is rounded up.
$$N = \left\lceil \frac{144 \cdot L \cdot W}{l \cdot w} \cdot \left(1 + \frac{\text{Waste \%}}{100}\right) \right\rceil$$
$$\text{where}\quad \left\{ \begin{aligned} L &= \text{Patio Length (ft)} \\ W &= \text{Patio Width (ft)} \\ l &= \text{Paver Length (in)} \\ w &= \text{Paver Width (in)} \end{aligned} \right.$$
Worked Example
For a 20 ft × 10 ft patio (200 sq ft) using 12 in × 12 in pavers (each \(144/144 = 1\) sq ft), you need \(200 \div 1 = 200\) pavers. Adding a 10% waste allowance: \(200 \times 1.10 = 220\) pavers. So you should order 220 pavers.
FAQ
How much waste should I allow? 5–10% for straight, square layouts; 15–20% for herringbone, diagonal, or curved designs that require more cutting.
Do I include the joint gaps? This estimate is based on nominal paver size. Sand-set joints are usually small enough to ignore for ordering purposes, but they slightly reduce the count needed, giving you a small built-in buffer.
Can I use metric units? This tool expects patio dimensions in feet and paver dimensions in inches. Convert your measurements first if needed.
