Sand Calculator
Calculate cubic yards, tons and bags of sand for levelling, bedding, sandboxes and paver joints.
What you need
1.3cu yd
Sand needed — Order this much loose material, including your waste allowance.
- Same amount in cubic feet
- 35 cu ft
- Approximate weight
- 1.75 US tons
- Area you are covering
- 200 sq ft
- Bags needed
- 70
Useful for checking trailer, truck or wheelbarrow limits.
Rounded up — you can only buy whole bags.
Estimates for planning. Confirm quantities with your supplier before ordering — see the assumptions below for the figures used.
Shop this project
The supplies a sand job usually takes. Quantities come straight from your calculation above — check them against your supplier's pack sizes before ordering.
Your shopping list
- All-purpose sand
- 1.3 cu yd
- Landscape fabric
- 200 sq ft
Materials
All-purpose sand
Prep & extras
Landscape fabric
Blocks weeds under mulch, stone and paver base. Skip it under soil you plan to plant.
Tools & equipment
Wheelbarrow
A 6 cu ft barrow carries roughly 4.5 loads per cubic yard.
Shovel
Landscape rake
A wide head levels gravel and stone far faster than a garden rake.
Hand tamper
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How to use the sand calculator
Sand is dense and cheap, and the type matters as much as the quantity — bedding sand, mason sand and play sand are not interchangeable. Enter your area and depth for volume, weight and bag counts.
What this calculator assumes
Every estimate depends on figures that vary by supplier and conditions. These are the ones used here, so you can sanity-check the result against your own quote.
- Bulk density is assumed to be about 2,700 lb per cubic yard. Loose material varies with moisture and how finely it is ground, so treat the weight as an estimate.
- One cubic yard is 27 cubic feet. Suppliers almost always sell loose material by the cubic yard.
- Results include whatever waste allowance you entered. Bag counts are rounded up.
- Dry sand is about 2,600 to 2,800 lb per cubic yard. Saturated sand can exceed 3,200 lb.
- Bedding sand for pavers should be coarse and angular — never use rounded play sand, which will not lock up under load.
Frequently asked questions
How many pounds of sand are in a cubic foot?
About 100 pounds dry, so a 50 pound bag holds roughly half a cubic foot. That means 54 bags to the cubic yard, which is why bulk delivery wins quickly on any real quantity.
What kind of sand goes under pavers?
Coarse concrete or bedding sand, laid 1 inch thick over a compacted crushed stone base. Do not use play sand or mason sand — the rounded, fine grains never lock up and the pavers will rut. Joints get polymeric sand, which is a different product again.
How much sand do I need for a sandbox?
A 4 by 4 foot box filled 8 inches deep needs about 10.7 cubic feet, or roughly 1,070 pounds — about 21 fifty-pound bags. Set the shape to rectangle, the depth to 8 inches, and use certified play sand.
How do I measure my area for sand?
Measure the length and width in feet at the widest points and multiply them. For an irregular bed, break it into rectangles, circles and triangles, calculate each one separately and add the results together. Rounding up slightly is safer than rounding down.
Should I order bulk or bags?
Bulk is almost always cheaper per cubic yard once you need more than about 1 cubic yard — roughly 54 bags. Bags win when you need a small amount, have nowhere to dump a pile, or want to spread the job over several weekends.
Will a cubic yard fit in my pickup truck?
A half-ton pickup can usually carry about 1 cubic yard of light material like mulch, but only around half a cubic yard of wet soil or gravel because of the weight. Check the weight figure above against your vehicle's payload rating before you load up.
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