Gravel Delivery for California Drives, Paths and Planting Beds

The order that most often needs correcting is one load of rock for a job that really wants two: something that compacts underneath, and something different on top that you look at and walk on. Sorting that out before you book a gravel delivery saves the second trip, because the two layers are separate products at separate depths, and they do not weigh the same per cubic yard.

Most of this state runs dry and hard for half the year, then takes a large share of its annual rain in a handful of winter storms. Whatever you lay down in September has to still be doing its job in February, on clay that swells when it wets, on the cemented hardpan that sits a few feet under parts of the valley floor, or on a slope where runoff arrives from somewhere above you.

Which layer carries the car, and which one you sweep

Class 2 Base is the structural half. It is a 1 inch minus crushed blend with binding fines, and those fines are the point: rolled in lifts, the small material packs into the voids and the layer behaves as one mass instead of loose stone. Four inches compacted is the usual starting depth for car traffic on firm ground, and a lane taking trailers or delivery trucks wants more. The name itself comes off a Caltrans plan sheet: it is how the layer gets specified in this state, not a grade certified here, so measure your own specification against the size and grading printed on the product page.

On top goes the part you actually see. Driveway Gravel at 3/4 inch holds a lane surface, Walkway Gravel at 3/8 inch suits a garden path, and Decomposed Granite packs into the firm, quiet surface used on so many low-water patios and paths here. None of the three is a substitute for the base underneath.

Clean rock, or rock with fines, decided by where the water goes

The single question that sorts the rock shelf is whether a material carries fines. Base and crusher run do, which is why they compact, and why neither belongs in a drain. Clean stone has the fines washed out, so water moves through the gaps instead of silting them closed.

For a French drain, a soggy trench or the gravel behind a retaining wall, use 3/4" Drain Rock or Drain Rock at 12 inches or deeper. Where a channel or a culvert outlet is cutting into soil after a storm, the answer is weight rather than grading, and that is RipRap at 4 inches and up, laid in thick layers over a separation fabric, which is not part of this catalogue and comes from a local landscape supplier.

Taking a lawn out: soil, blend or fill

These three get ordered interchangeably and should not be. Fill Dirt is clean compactable earth with little organic matter, meant for lifting a low spot or building a pad up to grade. Top Soil is screened and balanced, spread 4 to 6 inches deep before sod or seed goes down. Garden Soil is compost-enriched and belongs in raised beds and planters at bed depth, not spread across a yard.

A regrade usually needs two of them: fill for the bulk of the lift, topsoil kept for the upper few inches where roots live. Shredded Mulch finishes beds in a 2 to 4 inch layer and holds moisture through the long dry months.

What the catalogue carries, sized for dry seasons and wet ones

Twenty-four materials, grouped the way a job uses them. Armor and heavy stone for slopes and channels. Clean crushed rock at 3/4 inch, 3/8 inch and the smaller washed sizes for drainage and bedding. Base materials that compact. Rounded River Cobble at 1 to 3 inches and Large River Rock at 2 to 4 inches for dry creek beds and swales. Pea Gravel for play areas and patio surfaces, mason and washed sand for bedding and joints, and the soils and mulch above. Every product page carries its size, grading and type, so a grade can be checked against a spec sheet before ordering, and the whole range is the place to start if the job has not settled on a material yet.

Booking gravel delivery: a ZIP code, a date and a place to tip

Work out the quantity first with the material calculators, which convert area and depth into cubic yards and tons using each product's own published weight. Then choose the amount and a date on the product page. Delivery is arranged at checkout from your ZIP code, and the load is tipped in one pile where you mark it, so the truck needs a clear route in and firm, level ground to stand on. The delivery page covers access in detail, and anything unusual about your lot is worth raising through contact before you order rather than on the morning. Ordering questions that come up more than once are gathered on the answers page, and the story behind this storefront explains who fills the order once you have placed it.