Sod Calculator
Estimate sod area and total cost from length and width. Choose units, add price, and get quick numbers for lawn jobs and ordering pallets.
Enter the Details
Lawn Size:
Optionally enter the price per roll of sod - average is $3 to $5 per roll.
Result will appear here...
What the sod calculator does
Laying sod gives you a finished lawn in an afternoon, but only if you order the right amount, and sod is perishable, so leftover rolls are not something you can put back. This works out how much you need. You give it the length and width of the lawn, and it returns the area, the number of rolls and pallets, and a cost if you add a price per roll.
Giving you both rolls and pallets matters, because suppliers price sod either way. Below is how it gets there and how to plan the order.
How to use it
- Enter the lawn width and length. Measure the area you are turfing, each with its own unit, mixed however your measurements come.
- Add a price per roll if you want a cost. The hint in the tool puts the average around $3 to $5 a roll.
- Press Calculate for the breakdown, or Reset to clear it.
How the rolls and pallets are worked out
It starts with the area of the lawn, which is just length times width. From there it divides by the size of each unit of sod:
Rolls = lawn area ÷ 10 square feet, Pallets = lawn area ÷ 450 square feet
A standard roll covers 10 square feet and a pallet covers about 450, so the calculator divides your area by each and rounds the rolls up to whole pieces. The cost, if you add one, is the number of rolls times your price per roll.
Rolls, pallets, and how sod is sold
Sod comes off the farm cut into pieces and stacked on pallets. A common roll is 2 feet by 5 feet, which is the 10 square feet the calculator uses. A pallet then holds a stack of those, and how much it covers depends on the farm and the grass.
That pallet figure is worth a word, because it varies. Warm-season grasses cut as thicker slabs often come on 400 to 450 square foot pallets, while lighter cool-season rolls can run 500 to 600. The calculator uses 450 as a sensible middle, so if your supplier quotes a different pallet size, lean on the roll count and the area, which do not change.
A worked example: a 35 ft by 20 ft lawn
Say the lawn is 35 feet by 20 feet.
The area is 35 × 20 = 700 square feet. At 10 square feet a roll that is 70 rolls, and at 450 square feet a pallet it is about 1.5 pallets.
Since sod sells in whole pallets, you would round up to 2 pallets here, which also gives you the trimming margin the next section talks about.
Ordering, trimming, and laying it fresh
Add about 5 to 10 percent to the bare figure. You will be cutting pieces to fit around beds, paths, and curves, and those offcuts are not always reusable, so the extra covers the trimming. Lean toward 10 percent for a lawn with lots of edges and corners.
The other thing with sod, unlike most building materials, is that it is alive. It starts to decline the moment it is cut, so plan to lay it within about a day of delivery, sooner in hot weather, and keep the pallet out of the sun until you do. Ordering the right amount matters partly so none of it is sitting around waiting.
Questions people ask
How much sod do I need?
Measure the lawn's length and width, multiply for the area, then divide by the coverage of a roll or pallet. A 700 square foot lawn needs 70 rolls, or about 1.5 pallets.
How many square feet does a pallet of sod cover?
Usually somewhere between 400 and 600, depending on the grass and the farm. The calculator uses 450 as a middle figure, but it is worth confirming with your supplier.
How big is a roll of sod?
A common roll is 2 feet by 5 feet, covering 10 square feet, which is the size the calculator counts in.
How much extra sod should I order?
About 5 to 10 percent on top, to cover the pieces you trim to fit around edges and curves. More for a lawn with lots of corners.
References
A quick note on where these figures come from. The roll and pallet coverage follows how sod farms cut and stack their product, as set out by the turfgrass sod industry. The area and acre conversions, including that an acre is 43,560 square feet, follow the US National Institute of Standards and Technology guide.
- Turfgrass Producers International, sod sizing and handling guidance. https://www.turfgrasssod.org
- 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.