How much sand do I need?

Take the area you are covering, multiply by the depth of sand, and that volume times the density gives the weight suppliers sell by. A 20 ft by 10 ft area bedded 2 inches deep is about 33 cubic feet, a bit over a cubic yard, or roughly 1.7 tons of dry sand. In metric, a 6 m by 3 m bed at 50 mm is 0.9 m³, about 1.4 tonnes at 1.6 t/m³. Type your own dimensions and the tool works it through.

What does a yard of sand weigh?

Dry sand is around 1.35 tons per cubic yard; damp or wet sand is heavier because the water adds mass, closer to 1.5 tons or more. The default here is a dry figure you can change — if your pit or supplier quotes a density, use theirs, since moisture is the thing that shifts it. In metric, dry sand is roughly 1.6 tonnes per cubic metre.

Is bedding sand the same as fill sand?

Not for pricing or for volume. Coarse bedding sand under pavers, fine fill sand, and mason sand all pack a little differently, so their weight per yard varies. The arithmetic is identical — area times depth times density — so just enter the density for the sand you are actually buying.

Should I add extra for the paver joints or an uneven base?

Yes. A screeded bedding layer is never perfectly flat, and paver joints and edge restraints soak up more than you expect. The waste field starts at 10 percent; nudge it higher on a rough or dished base where the sand has to make up the levels.

Sand calculator

Longueur

Largeur

Profondeur / épaisseur

Facteur de perte

Surplus pour les déversements, la surexcavation et les chutes.

Densité

t/yd³

Varie selon le matériau et l’humidité — remplacez-la par le chiffre du fournisseur.

— yd³

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Voir le calcul — avec vos chiffres

This is a volume weighed at the density you type in. Sand's weight swings with how wet and how coarse it is, and a bedding layer's real depth changes as you screed it, so read the result as an ordering estimate rather than an exact tally. Check it against your supplier's figure before you buy.

Enter the area you are covering and the sand depth, and the tool returns the volume in cubic yards and cubic metres plus the weight in tons, which is how a pit or yard quotes it. The density defaults to a dry-sand figure and is fully editable, so damp or wet sand is one number away.

Exemple détaillé

Bedding a 20 ft × 10 ft paver base 2 inches deep: the area is 200 square feet, and two inches is 1/6 of a foot, so the volume is 200 × 0.167 = 33.3 cubic feet, or 33.3 ÷ 27 ≈ 1.23 yd³. Dry sand at 1.35 tons per yard is about 1.67 tons; with 10% waste you would order close to 1.85 tons.

In metric: a 6 m × 3 m base at 5 cm is 6 × 3 × 0.05 = 0.9 m³. At 1.6 tonnes per cubic metre that is 1.44 tonnes, about 1.6 tonnes with 10% waste.

Sur le chantier

Bedding sand for a patio, screeded to a line. An 18 ft × 14 ft patio on a 1-inch screeded bed: 252 ft² × (1 ÷ 12) = 21 ft³, which is 0.78 yd³ — about 1.05 tons of dry sand at 1.35 t/yd³. That is under a yard, so it is a bagged job or a small scoop, not a truck. Add the 10% for the sand that ends up in the joints and in the wheelbarrow, and what you spread over a rough base beyond the screed rails, and the order is 1.15 tons. (A 5.5 m × 4.3 m patio on a 25 mm bed is 0.59 m³ — about 0.95 tonnes.)

Backfilling a pipe trench. Bedding and surround sand for a 60 ft run, trench 2 ft wide, sand from 4 inches below the pipe to 6 inches over a 4-inch pipe: that is 14 inches of sand less the pipe itself. As a first pass call the pipe nothing and take 60 × 2 × (14 ÷ 12) = 140 ft³ = 5.2 yd³, or about 7 tons. The pipe displaces a little, the trench walls slump a little, and the two roughly cancel — which is why the waste factor stays on. In metric, 18 m of 600 mm trench with 350 mm of sand is 18 × 0.6 × 0.35 = 3.78 m³, about 6 tonnes.

Wet sand on the scale. Sand that sat out in the rain weighs more per yard and you pay by the ton, so a wet load buys fewer yards than a dry one. If the yard is quoting you a density, use theirs in the density field; if they are not, order a touch over on a wet day and expect the pile to look small.

What went wrong?

Quick referencefor sand

A cubic yard: 27 ft³
Depth as feet: 1 in = 0,083 · 2 in = 0,167 · 3 in = 0,25 · 4 in = 0,333
Yards from an area, at 1 in: ft² ÷ 324
Yards from an area, at 2 in: ft² ÷ 162
Tonnes courtes: yards × the yard's density (1.35 t/yd³ dry is only the default here)
A 50 lb bag: about 0.5 ft³ — roughly 54 bags to the yard · a 25 kg bag is about 0.016 m³
m³ from an area: m² × depth in m — at 25 mm × 0.025 · at 50 mm ÷ 20
Métrique: 1 m³ = 1.31 yd³ · 1 tonne = 1.10 short tons

Waste & overagewhat to add, and why

Bedding sand for pavers is ordered 10–15% over: the screed leaves a little in the low spots and the pavers push some down into the joints. The waste field starts at 10%.
Buy bulk by the yard for anything over a few bags — a yard of sand is 54 half-cubic-foot bags to carry.

Mistakes to catchbefore you order

Ordering at the paver depth instead of the sand depth: the sand bed is a thin layer (an inch or so under pavers) and typing the paver thickness as well doubles the order.
Using a dry density on a wet delivery — you pay by the ton, and the same yards weigh more after rain.
Forgetting the joint sand: it is a separate, small quantity of a different (finer or polymeric) product, not covered by the bedding figure.

La formule

weight = area × depth × density

Area times depth is the volume of sand; multiplying by density converts that volume to the weight the supplier charges for. Keep depth in the same units as the area — inches become feet by dividing by 12 — and turn cubic feet into cubic yards by dividing by 27. The density carries the units the rest of the way to tons.

What this tool assumes

Nothing you cannot override. Depth, density and the waste margin are all editable fields, since those are exactly what change between dry mason sand and wet fill. The only fixed figure is that 27 cubic feet make a cubic yard — a definition, not a guess about your sand.

Questions

How much sand do I need?: Take the area you are covering, multiply by the depth of sand, and that volume times the density gives the weight suppliers sell by. A 20 ft by 10 ft area bedded 2 inches deep is about 33 cubic feet, a bit over a cubic yard, or roughly 1.7 tons of dry sand. In metric, a 6 m by 3 m bed at 50 mm is 0.9 m³, about 1.4 tonnes at 1.6 t/m³. Type your own dimensions and the tool works it through.
What does a yard of sand weigh?: Dry sand is around 1.35 tons per cubic yard; damp or wet sand is heavier because the water adds mass, closer to 1.5 tons or more. The default here is a dry figure you can change — if your pit or supplier quotes a density, use theirs, since moisture is the thing that shifts it. In metric, dry sand is roughly 1.6 tonnes per cubic metre.
Is bedding sand the same as fill sand?: Not for pricing or for volume. Coarse bedding sand under pavers, fine fill sand, and mason sand all pack a little differently, so their weight per yard varies. The arithmetic is identical — area times depth times density — so just enter the density for the sand you are actually buying.
Should I add extra for the paver joints or an uneven base?: Yes. A screeded bedding layer is never perfectly flat, and paver joints and edge restraints soak up more than you expect. The waste field starts at 10 percent; nudge it higher on a rough or dished base where the sand has to make up the levels.

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