Calculate-Compare-Decide
Work out how much sand you need for a sandbox, paver base, pool pad or concrete mix. Enter the area in feet and the depth in inches, pick your sand type, and get cubic yards, tons, bags and truckloads — with dry, damp and wet weights, because wet sand weighs up to 20% more.
Estimate from your inputs. Sand settles and compacts — confirm with your supplier before ordering.
To calculate sand, multiply length × width × depth in feet and divide by 27 for cubic yards. Multiply cubic yards by about 1.35 for tons of dry sand. An 8 × 8 ft sandbox filled 12 in deep needs 2.37 cubic yards, about 3.2 tons, or roughly 128 fifty-pound bags. Wet sand weighs up to 20% more than dry.
Every number on this page comes from the steps below.
This is the figure most calculators get wrong. They apply a single density and ignore moisture entirely. Sand sitting in an open yard after rain can weigh 20% more than the same volume dry — so if you order 5 tons of wet sand you receive noticeably less sand than 5 tons of dry. When buying by weight, ask what condition the stockpile is in.
Worked example — an 8 × 8 ft sandbox, 12 in deep. Depth = 12 ÷ 12 = 1 ft. Volume = 8 × 8 × 1 = 64 ft³. Cubic yards = 64 ÷ 27 = 2.37 yd³. At 100 lb/ft³ that is 6,400 lb, or 3.2 tons of dry play sand. In fifty-pound bags that is 6,400 ÷ 50 = 128 bags — which is exactly why bulk delivery makes sense above half a yard.
Real projects with volume, weight and bag counts, calculated with the same formulas as the tool above. Weights are for dry sand before your waste allowance.
| # | Project | Sand | Area | Depth | Volume | Weight | 50 lb bags |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Children's sandbox | Play sand | 8 × 8 ft | 12 in | 2.37 yd³ | 3.20 t | 128 |
| 2 | Large sandbox | Play sand | 10 × 10 ft | 12 in | 3.70 yd³ | 5.00 t | 201 |
| 3 | Paver patio bedding | Paver sand | 16 × 20 ft | 1 in | 0.99 yd³ | 1.40 t | 54 |
| 4 | Paver driveway bedding | Paver sand | 12 × 40 ft | 1 in | 1.48 yd³ | 2.10 t | 81 |
| 5 | Paver walkway bedding | Paver sand | 4 × 30 ft | 1 in | 0.37 yd³ | 0.53 t | 20 |
| 6 | Patio base leveling | Concrete sand | 14 × 18 ft | 2 in | 1.56 yd³ | 2.21 t | 85 |
| 7 | Pool base | Washed sand | 18 × 36 ft | 2 in | 4.00 yd³ | 5.40 t | 217 |
| 8 | Above-ground pool pad | Washed sand | 16 × 16 ft | 2 in | 1.58 yd³ | 2.13 t | 86 |
| 9 | Volleyball court | Washed sand | 30 × 60 ft | 12 in | 66.67 yd³ | 90.01 t | 3,600 |
| 10 | Beach volleyball (pro) | Washed sand | 40 × 70 ft | 18 in | 155.56 yd³ | 210.02 t | 8,401 |
| 11 | Golf bunker | Silica sand | 20 × 25 ft | 6 in | 9.26 yd³ | 12.00 t | 500 |
| 12 | Horse arena | Concrete sand | 60 × 120 ft | 4 in | 88.89 yd³ | 126.00 t | 4,800 |
| 13 | Riding ring footing | Concrete sand | 40 × 80 ft | 3 in | 29.63 yd³ | 42.00 t | 1,601 |
| 14 | Garden bed amendment | Sharp sand | 10 × 20 ft | 2 in | 1.23 yd³ | 1.75 t | 67 |
| 15 | Raised bed drainage | Sharp sand | 4 × 8 ft | 3 in | 0.30 yd³ | 0.42 t | 16 |
| 16 | Utility trench bedding | Utility sand | 2 × 60 ft | 6 in | 2.22 yd³ | 3.00 t | 120 |
| 17 | Pipe bedding | Utility sand | 3 × 80 ft | 4 in | 2.96 yd³ | 4.00 t | 161 |
| 18 | Septic sand filter | Washed sand | 10 × 40 ft | 24 in | 29.63 yd³ | 40.00 t | 1,601 |
| 19 | Shed base leveling | Concrete sand | 10 × 12 ft | 2 in | 0.74 yd³ | 1.05 t | 40 |
| 20 | Fire pit base | Play sand | 6 × 6 ft | 4 in | 0.44 yd³ | 0.60 t | 24 |
| 21 | Playground surfacing | Play sand | 30 × 40 ft | 12 in | 44.44 yd³ | 60.01 t | 2,400 |
| 22 | Dog run base | Washed sand | 10 × 25 ft | 3 in | 2.31 yd³ | 3.13 t | 125 |
| 23 | Driveway sub-base | Fill sand | 12 × 50 ft | 4 in | 7.41 yd³ | 9.50 t | 401 |
| 24 | Backfill low spot | Fill sand | 20 × 25 ft | 8 in | 12.35 yd³ | 15.84 t | 667 |
| 25 | Under-slab sand | Concrete sand | 24 × 30 ft | 4 in | 8.89 yd³ | 12.60 t | 480 |
| 26 | Brick paver base (metric) | Paver sand | 4 × 10 m | 30 mm | 1.57 yd³ | 2.22 t | 85 |
| 27 | Sandpit (metric) | Play sand | 2.5 × 2.5 m | 300 mm | 2.45 yd³ | 3.31 t | 133 |
| 28 | Pool base (metric) | Washed sand | 5 × 10 m | 50 mm | 3.27 yd³ | 4.41 t | 177 |
| 29 | Arena footing (metric) | Concrete sand | 20 × 40 m | 100 mm | 104.64 yd³ | 148.33 t | 5,651 |
| 30 | Trench fill (metric) | Fill sand | 0.6 × 25 m | 150 mm | 2.94 yd³ | 3.77 t | 159 |
Bag counts show why bulk delivery wins on anything beyond a small job — a volleyball court needs over 3,000 bags.
Suppliers sell bulk sand by the cubic yard and usually deliver in half- or quarter-yard increments. This is the number to give them.
Many yards price by the ton. Weight also decides whether your driveway, trailer or wheelbarrow route can take it.
Bags are convenient for small jobs. Beyond roughly half a cubic yard — about 27 fifty-pound bags — bulk delivery is cheaper and far less carrying.
Wet sand occupies the same space but weighs up to 20% more. It changes what you pay when buying by the ton, not how much you need.
Screed exactly 1 in over a compacted base. Any thicker and the pavers move under load, however well you compacted the sand.
Washed, screened play sand has the silt and fines removed. Builder's sand is cheaper but dusty, and can stain clothes.
They know what their stockpile weighs today, including moisture. It beats any published density table.
A tarp keeps rain out and stops the pile washing across your drive. Wet sand is also much harder to screed level.
Play sand is fine and rounded, so it never locks up. Paver bedding needs coarse angular sand that stays put.
Sand is a levelling course, not a base. Depth belongs in the compacted stone underneath it.
A wet ton contains meaningfully less sand than a dry ton.
Play sand settles a few percent after the first rain. Order a little over and top it up.
Each swatch is drawn to the typical grain size and angularity for that sand, so you can see the difference between fine rounded sand and coarse sharp sand at a glance.
| Sand | lb/ft³ dry | Tons per yd³ | ft² per ton @1″ | ft² per ton @2″ | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fill sand | 95 | 1.28 | 253 | 126 | Backfill, levelling, sub-base |
| Silica sand | 96 | 1.30 | 250 | 125 | Golf bunkers, filtration, industrial |
| Play sand | 100 | 1.35 | 240 | 120 | Sandboxes, play areas |
| Mason sand | 100 | 1.35 | 240 | 120 | Mortar, rendering, pool bases |
| Washed sand | 100 | 1.35 | 240 | 120 | Pool pads, volleyball, play areas |
| River sand | 100 | 1.35 | 240 | 120 | General construction, plastering |
| Utility sand | 100 | 1.35 | 240 | 120 | Pipe and trench bedding |
| Concrete sand | 105 | 1.42 | 229 | 114 | Concrete mix, paver base, arenas |
| Sharp sand | 105 | 1.42 | 229 | 114 | Concrete, screeds, drainage |
| Paver sand | 105 | 1.42 | 229 | 114 | Paver bedding and joints |
Dry values for estimating. Damp sand runs about 8% heavier, wet sand up to 20%, and compacted about 5%. Ask your supplier for their current figure when buying by weight.
| Application | Depth | Sand to use | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paver bedding layer | 1 in | Concrete / paver sand | Screed only — never use sand as the base |
| Paver joint filling | — | Polymeric or jointing sand | Swept into joints then wetted to set |
| Above-ground pool base | 2 in | Mason / washed sand | Level carefully; check pool maker's spec |
| Patio levelling course | 1–2 in | Concrete sand | Over 4–6 in of compacted crushed stone |
| Children's sandbox | 10–12 in | Washed play sand | Deep enough to dig; cover when not in use |
| Playground surfacing | 9–12 in | Washed play sand | Depth relates to equipment fall height |
| Volleyball court | 12–18 in | Washed sand | Pro courts go deeper; drainage layer below |
| Golf bunker | 4–6 in | Silica bunker sand | Angular sand resists fried-egg lies |
| Horse arena footing | 3–4 in | Concrete / washed sand | Too deep strains tendons; too thin is hard |
| Pipe / trench bedding | 4–6 in | Utility sand | Surround the pipe fully; follow local spec |
| Under-slab blinding | 2–4 in | Concrete / sharp sand | Protects the membrane from the stone below |
| Garden soil amendment | 2–3 in | Sharp / horticultural sand | Work in; never add sand alone to clay |
| Bag size | Volume each | Bags per yd³ | Bags per ton | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 lb bag | 0.50 ft³ | 54 | 40 | Sandboxes, small repairs, paver joints |
| 60 lb bag | 0.60 ft³ | 45 | 33 | Mortar mixing, medium jobs |
| 80 lb bag | 0.80 ft³ | 34 | 25 | Larger mixes where bulk isn't practical |
| 25 kg bag | 0.55 ft³ | 49 | 36 | Metric markets, standard builder's merchant unit |
| Bulk (loose) | by the yd³ / tonne | — | — | Anything over about half a cubic yard |
Bag volumes assume dry sand at 100 lb/ft³. Actual bagged volume varies slightly by product and moisture.
Enter the finished volume of mortar or concrete you need and pick a mix ratio. This works out the sand and cement, including the dry-volume allowance that accounts for the mix shrinking as voids fill.
| Material | Volume | Weight | Bags |
|---|
Mortar uses a 1.25 dry-volume factor; concrete uses 1.54. These are standard estimating allowances — batch to your specification for structural work.
Add each area for one combined order, using the sand type and waste allowance from the calculator above.
Sand is granular rock material with particles between roughly 0.06 and 2 millimetres — finer than gravel, coarser than silt. It comes from two sources: naturally weathered deposits in riverbeds, pits and beaches, or manufactured sand produced by crushing quarried rock. That origin determines grain shape, and grain shape determines almost everything about how the sand behaves.
Naturally deposited sand has been tumbled by water for a very long time, so grains are rounded and smooth. Crushed or pit sand keeps sharp angular faces. Rounded grains roll past each other and pack loosely; angular grains lock together and resist movement under load. That single difference explains why one sand is right for mortar and another for concrete.
Sand is classified by particle size distribution, measured by passing it through a stack of sieves. Well-graded sand contains a spread of sizes so the small grains fill gaps between the larger ones, producing a dense, strong mix. Poorly graded or single-sized sand has more void space, which can be a defect or a feature depending on the job.
For concrete, standards set limits on what proportion may pass each sieve, because gradation directly affects workability and strength. For a sandbox, gradation matters far less than whether the sand is clean and dust-free.
Mason sand is fine and uniformly graded, made for mortar and rendering where smooth spreading matters. Concrete sand is coarser and angular, designed to bond with cement and aggregate. Sharp sand is the British term for the same coarse gritty material used in concrete and screeds. Play sand is washed and screened to remove silt and dust, then often further processed for safety. Paver sand is coarse bedding sand for setting pavers; jointing and polymeric sands are separate products for the gaps between them. Fill sand is cheap bulk material for backfilling where nothing structural depends on it. Silica sand is high-purity quartz used for golf bunkers, filtration and industry. Utility sand is used for pipe and cable bedding.
This is the distinction to get right. Sharp sand — also called concrete sand or grit sand — has angular grains and a coarse texture. It grips, drains and provides strength, which is what concrete, screeds and paver bedding need. Soft sand, also called building or mason sand, is finer and more rounded, which makes mortar smooth, plastic and easy to spread with a trowel.
Swap them and both jobs suffer. Mortar made with sharp sand is harsh and difficult to work. Concrete made with soft sand is weaker and prone to shrinkage cracking. If a merchant asks "sharp or building sand?", they are asking which of these you need.
Dry sand runs around 100 pounds per cubic foot — roughly 1,600 kilograms per cubic metre — which puts a cubic yard at about 2,700 pounds, or 1.35 tons. Coarser sands sit a little higher at 105, lighter fill sands nearer 95.
Moisture changes this substantially. Water fills the spaces between grains, so damp sand weighs perhaps 8% more than dry and saturated sand up to 20% more for the same volume. That has a real commercial consequence: buy 5 tons of soaking wet stockpile and you receive noticeably less actual sand than 5 tons of dry. It is one reason this calculator has a moisture selector rather than a single fixed density, and why asking a supplier what their pile weighs today is more useful than any published table.
There is also a counterintuitive effect called bulking. Slightly damp sand can occupy up to 30% more volume than dry sand, because surface tension holds grains apart. This matters when batching concrete by volume, and it is why site mixes are often specified by weight.
Bulk sand is sold by the cubic yard or by the ton, and which one varies by supplier and region. They describe the same pile, linked by density: a cubic yard of dry sand is about 1.35 tons. Confirm which unit a quote uses before comparing prices.
Bagged sand is sold in 50, 60 or 80 pound bags in the US, and 25 kilogram bags in metric markets. A 50 pound bag holds about half a cubic foot, so it takes 54 bags to make a cubic yard. That arithmetic is the whole bags-versus-bulk decision: below about half a yard, bags are convenient; above it, you are carrying and paying for packaging.
Concrete needs coarse, angular, well-graded sand — concrete sand or sharp sand — which acts as fine aggregate filling the spaces between the stone. Typical mixes run 1:2:3 or 1:2:4 by volume for cement, sand and coarse aggregate.
Two practical points. Sand for concrete must be clean: silt, clay and organic matter interfere with the cement bond and reduce strength. And because damp sand bulks, mixes batched by volume on site can end up short of sand without anyone noticing, which is why the calculator applies a 1.54 dry-volume factor rather than using the finished volume directly.
Mortar wants fine, well-graded soft sand that produces a smooth, workable mix a bricklayer can spread cleanly. Common ratios are 1:3 for structural work, 1:4 for general bricklaying, and 1:5 or 1:6 for internal walls and softer bricks where a weaker, more forgiving mortar is actually preferable.
That last point surprises people: mortar should generally be weaker than the units it joins. Over-strong mortar transfers stress into the bricks and cracks them, rather than cracking sacrificially in the joint where it can be repointed.
Paver work uses two different sands for two different jobs. The bedding layer is a one-inch screed of coarse concrete or paver sand over a compacted crushed-stone base, giving you something to set the pavers true in. The jointing sand is swept into the gaps afterwards to lock the pavers together; polymeric versions bind when wetted and resist weeds and washout.
The mistake worth avoiding is treating sand as the base. The load is carried by 4 to 6 inches of compacted stone underneath; the sand is a thin levelling course. A thick sand bed lets pavers rut, rock and sink no matter how carefully you compacted it.
Use washed, screened play sand — the silt and fine dust have been removed, so it is cleaner to handle and much less dusty. A depth of 10 to 12 inches gives children enough to dig in properly. An 8 by 8 foot box at 12 inches takes about 2.4 cubic yards, or 3.2 tons, which is roughly 128 fifty-pound bags and a clear argument for a bulk delivery.
Keep a cover on it. A covered box stays dry, stays clean and does not become a litter tray for neighbourhood cats. Expect to top up every year or two as sand is carried out on clothes and shoes.
Above-ground pools sit on a 2-inch levelling bed of mason or washed sand over compacted, level ground — check the manufacturer's specification, since some require a different base entirely. Volleyball courts need far more: 12 inches for recreational play and up to 18 for competition, over a drainage layer, using washed sand with the fines removed so it drains and does not compact into a hard surface.
Utility sand is used to bed pipes and cables, protecting them from stones in the backfill and providing uniform support along their length. Typical practice is 4 to 6 inches below and above the pipe, fully surrounding it. Requirements are usually set by the utility or local specification rather than left to judgement, so check before you dig.
Horticultural or sharp sand improves drainage in heavy soils and is used in potting mixes and for propagation. One important warning: adding sand alone to clay soil can make it worse, producing something closer to concrete than to loam. Sand improves clay only when added alongside substantial organic matter, and in quantity — a light dressing achieves nothing useful.
Measure the actual area, break irregular shapes into simple ones, and round up to the increment your supplier sells in. Tell them what it is for — they will steer you to the right grade, and they are usually right. Before delivery, check overhead clearance for a tipping truck, whether the ground where it will stand is firm, and exactly where you want the pile dropped, because that determines how far you will be barrowing.
Cover a delivered pile with a tarp. It keeps rain out, stops the pile spreading across your drive, and keeps the sand workable — wet sand is much harder to screed level. Store bagged sand off the ground on a pallet. And when moving it, remember a cubic yard is roughly nine wheelbarrow loads of about 300 pounds each, so plan the route before the truck arrives.
Fine aggregate for concrete is covered by established specifications defining gradation limits and permissible deleterious material, with parallel standards for mortar sand. Play sand and bunker sand are governed more by product specification and safety guidance than by construction standards. For anything structural, the local specification and your supplier's product data govern — this calculator is an estimating tool, not a substitute for a mix design.