Sand is sold two ways. A landscape yard sells it by the cubic yard or by the ton, and a garden center sells it in bags labelled in cubic feet. The calculator works out the volume from your measurements, then converts it to tons and bags so you can compare quotes in whichever unit you are given.
Sand types and the weight we use
Play sand, paver sand, mason sand and fill sand are all sold by suppliers, and they are not identical. We have not found separate published weights for each type, so the calculator uses one typical figure for sand: 1.35 tons per cubic yard (2,700 lb). The supplier pages we read range from 1.1 to 1.5 tons (2,200 to 3,000 lb), and wet sand sits at the top of that range.
If your supplier quotes a weight per yard for the sand they sell, type it into the supplier field below the calculator. It replaces our figure in every result.
Yards to tons to bags
The sum is the same as for any loose material:
- Cubic feet: length in feet times width in feet times depth in feet. For a depth in inches, divide it by 12 first.
- Cubic yards: cubic feet divided by 27.
- Allowance: add a percentage for spillage and uneven ground. The calculator starts at 10 percent, the buffer one supplier's own calculator adds automatically. Change it if you prefer.
- Tons: cubic yards times the weight per yard. At 1.35 tons per yard, one ton of sand is 20 cubic feet (about 0.74 yards).
- Bags: cubic feet divided by the bag size, rounded up. A cubic yard is 54 bags of 0.5 cubic foot or 36 bags of 0.75 cubic foot.
Worked example: a 10 x 10 ft area, 2 inches deep
- Area: 10 x 10 = 100 sq ft.
- Volume: 100 x 2 / 12 = 16.67 cubic feet, which is 16.67 / 27 = 0.62 cubic yards.
- With the 10 percent allowance: 16.67 x 1.1 = 18.33 cubic feet, or 0.68 cubic yards.
- Weight: 0.68 x 1.35 = 0.92 tons, about 1,830 lb. Across the 1.1 to 1.5 ton range it is 0.75 to 1.02 tons.
- Bags: 18.33 / 0.75 = 24.4, so 25 bags of 0.75 cubic foot. In 0.5 cubic foot bags it is 37.
Without the allowance, the same area takes 23 bags of 0.75 cubic foot or 34 of 0.5 cubic foot. In metric, 18.33 cubic feet is about 0.52 cubic meters.
Bags or bulk?
Bagged sand is sold by volume, and the bag label is what the calculator uses. Sky Nursery lists its 0.75 cubic foot sand bags at 65 lb or more each, so a few dozen bags is a lot of lifting. For larger jobs, compare the bag total with a bulk quote; the guide on bags versus bulk shows how.
Common mistakes
- Mixing up yards and tons. A quote per ton and a quote per yard are not the same price. Use the weight your supplier gives to convert between them.
- Measuring depth in the wrong unit. Two inches is 0.17 ft, not 0.2 ft. The calculator converts for you if you pick the unit next to the depth box.
- Forgetting that wet sand is heavier. A yard of wet sand weighs more than a dry one, so a load sold by the ton gives you less volume when it is wet.
- Assuming every sand weighs the same. Ask your supplier for the weight of the exact product, and enter it in the supplier field.
Values this calculator uses
Weights are loose, dry, typical figures in US tons (2,000 lb). Your supplier's numbers win if they differ.
| Item | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Sand | 1.35 tons / cu yd (range 1.1 to 1.5) | stonecenters.com, skynursery.com, blog.harborsoils.com; confidence: medium |
| 0.5 cu ft bag | 0.5 cu ft | sakrete.com, skynursery.com, travis-tx.tamu.edu |
| 0.75 cu ft bag | 0.75 cu ft | sakrete.com, skynursery.com, travis-tx.tamu.edu |