Sand Calculator
Estimate sand needed for a rectangle or circular area. Enter dimensions, depth, and price to get volume and total cost for bedding and fill.
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What the sand calculator does
Whether it is bedding under pavers, fill for a low spot, or play sand for a sandbox, you need to know how much to buy before you order. This works it out. You give it the shape and depth of the area, and it returns the volume in cubic yards and cubic feet, the weight in tons and pounds, and a cost if you add a price.
It handles both a rectangle and a circle, so a paver base and a round sandpit are both covered. Below is how it gets there.
How to use it
- Choose the shape. Rectangular for most beds and bases, circular for a round area, using the buttons at the top.
- Enter the dimensions and the depth. Each with its own unit, mixed however your measurements come.
- Add a price if you want a cost estimate. This is the price per ton.
- Press Calculate for the breakdown, or Reset to clear it.
How the volume and weight are worked out
The volume is the area you are covering times how deep the sand goes:
Volume = area × depth
For a rectangle that area is length times width, and for a circle it is pi times the radius squared. The weight then comes from that volume, using the density of sand. Dry sand weighs about 1.35 tons per cubic yard, and the calculator uses that figure to turn your volume into a weight, since sand is usually sold and priced by the ton.
How deep to lay sand
The depth depends on what the sand is for, and it has a big say in the total. As a bedding layer under pavers or flagstones, sand is usually thin, around 1 inch, just enough to set and level the units on. As fill to bring up a low area, it is whatever the dip needs. For a sandbox, a depth of a few inches gives enough to dig and play in.
For paver bedding in particular, the layer is kept deliberately thin and even, because a thick sand bed can shift and let the pavers settle unevenly over time.
A worked example: a 10 ft by 10 ft bed
Say you are laying a 2 inch sand bed over a 10 foot by 10 foot area, ready for pavers.
The area is 10 × 10 = 100 square feet, and at 2 inches (0.17 ft) deep that is 100 × 0.17 = about 16.7 cubic feet, which is 0.62 cubic yards. At sand's weight that comes to roughly 0.83 tons, a little over 1,600 pounds.
So you would order about three quarters of a ton, rounding up a touch for spread and levelling.
What a yard of sand weighs
Sand is heavier than it looks. A single cubic yard of dry sand weighs about 1.35 tons, which is roughly 2,700 pounds, and damp sand weighs more still because the water adds to it. That matters if you are moving it yourself, since even a half-yard is more than a small trailer or a car boot should really carry.
It is also why suppliers sell sand by the ton. The weight, not the volume, is what they load and charge for, so the tonnage from this calculator is the number that lines up with a quote.
Ordering the right amount
Add a little to the calculated figure, around 10 percent, to cover the sand that spreads past the edges and settles into an uneven base. Running short part-way through levelling a paver bed means stopping to fetch more while the work sits half done.
If the sand is going over soft or uneven ground, expect some to disappear into the dips as you screed it flat, so the higher end of that margin is the safer choice.
Questions people ask
How much sand do I need?
Work out the area, multiply by the depth for the volume, then by sand's weight for the tonnage. A 100 square foot bed at 2 inches deep needs about 0.62 cubic yards, or roughly 0.83 tons.
How much does a yard of sand weigh?
About 1.35 tons, or roughly 2,700 pounds, for dry sand. Damp sand weighs a bit more.
How deep should sand be under pavers?
About 1 inch as a bedding layer. A thin, even bed sets the pavers without letting them shift the way a thick layer can.
How much area does a yard of sand cover?
About 108 square feet at 3 inches deep, or 162 square feet at 2 inches. The shallower the layer, the more ground it covers.
References
A quick note on where these figures come from. The coverage math is pure geometry, the 27 cubic feet in a cubic yard spread over an area at a chosen depth. Sand's weight rests on its bulk density, which is measured by the ASTM test standard for the density of aggregate. The unit conversions follow the US National Institute of Standards and Technology guide.
- ASTM C29/C29M, Standard Test Method for Bulk Density (Unit Weight) and Voids in Aggregate. https://www.astm.org/c0029_c0029m-23.html
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Special Publication 811, Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI). https://www.nist.gov/pml/special-publication-811
Mahendra Thapaliya is a graduate student in Structural Engineering at the University of Bologna, with research interests in structural systems, FEM, earthquake engineering, and numerical modeling. At Eon Tools, he reviews construction tools.