Soil calculator.
Beds, lawn and fill in one order, by the bag or the yard.
Soil is rarely bought for one rectangle. A spring project is three raised beds, a round bed, a lawn that wants a thin topdressing and a low corner to fill, and the tools that rank for this search take them one at a time. This calculator adds them into one order by material, reads a bag label in cubic feet, dry quarts or liters, prices bags against a delivered yard, and weighs the load before it goes in the truck.
0302 / Volume
- Total volume
- 139.7 cu ft
- Topsoil or garden soil
- 119.7 cu ft · 4.43 cu yd
- Fill dirt
- 20.0 cu ft · 0.74 cu yd
- Ordered, with extra
- 139.7 cu ft · 5.17 cu yd
- Bags
- 120 bags of 1 cu ft (topsoil)
- Bulk order
- 5.17 cu yd
- Loose weight
- 8,981 lb · 4.49 tons
- Bags or bulk
- Topsoil: no prices entered · Fill dirt: not bought in bags
- Trips
- No payload or bed volume entered
- Wheelbarrow
- 24 loads of 6 cu ft
Bulk is counted in loose cubic yards as delivered and bags are rounded up to whole bags. Weights use the loose figure of the material chosen.
0203 / Areas
EACH TO ITS SCALEVolume area by area
| Area | Shape | Area each | Depth | Copies | Material | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raised beds | Rectangle, 96″ × 48″ | 32.0 sq ft | 10″ | 3 | Topsoil | 80.0 cu ft · 2.96 cu yd |
| Round bed | Circle, 72″ across | 28.3 sq ft | 8″ | 1 | Topsoil | 18.8 cu ft · 0.70 cu yd |
| Lawn topdressing | Known area | 1,000.0 sq ft | 1/4″ | 1 | Topsoil | 20.8 cu ft · 0.77 cu yd |
| Low spot | Triangle, base 144″, height 120″ | 60.0 sq ft | 4″ | 1 | Fill dirt | 20.0 cu ft · 0.74 cu yd |
Bags or bulk
| Material | Net volume | Ordered | Bags | Bulk | Cheaper | Break-even volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Topsoil or garden soil | 119.7 cu ft · 4.43 cu yd | 119.7 cu ft · 4.43 cu yd | 120 × 1 cu ft | 4.43 cu yd · 7,092 lb · 3.55 tons | No prices entered | No prices entered |
| Fill dirt | 20.0 cu ft · 0.74 cu yd | 20.0 cu ft · 0.74 cu yd | Not bought in bags | 0.74 cu yd · 1,889 lb · 0.94 tons | Not bought in bags | Not bought in bags |
NIST’s method-of-sale regulation says topsoil and fill dirt in bulk are sold by the cubic yard or by weight, so the bulk price can be entered either way; a price per ton is converted with the loose weight of the material chosen. Every cubic foot bought in bags instead of bulk costs the difference between the two prices per cubic foot, while the delivery charge is paid once. The break-even column is the volume where the two totals cross: below it bags are cheaper, above it the truck is.
Weight and hauling
Each material is weighed on a row of Caterpillar’s reference table, loose as delivered and at its in-place (bank) density. For a pickup or a trailer the trips are counted twice, by the payload on the door placard and by the bed volume, and the larger count is kept; the wheelbarrow column gives the loads and what each one weighs.
| Material | Weight row | Loose weight | Settled (bank) weight | Settled volume | Trips by weight | Trips by volume | Trips | Wheelbarrow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Topsoil or garden soil | Top soil | 7,092 lb · 3.55 tons | 10,195 lb · 5.10 tons | 83.8 cu ft · 3.10 cu yd | No payload entered | No bed volume entered | — | 20 × 355.6 lb |
| Fill dirt | Earth, dry packed | 1,889 lb · 0.94 tons | 2,370 lb · 1.19 tons | 16.0 cu ft · 0.59 cu yd | No payload entered | No bed volume entered | — | 4 × 566.7 lb |
Bag sizes against the topsoil order
| Bag | Cubic feet | Bags per cubic yard | Bags for this order |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.75 cu ft | 0.750 | 36.0 | 160 |
| 1 cu ft · your bag | 1.000 | 27.0 | 120 |
| 1.5 cu ft | 1.500 | 18.0 | 80 |
| 2 cu ft | 2.000 | 13.5 | 60 |
| 20 dry qt | 0.778 | 34.7 | 154 |
What one unit covers
| Depth | Per cubic yard | Per ton | Per cubic foot |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/4″ | 1,296 sq ft | 1,620 sq ft | 48.0 sq ft |
| 1/2″ | 648 sq ft | 810 sq ft | 24.0 sq ft |
| 1″ | 324 sq ft | 405 sq ft | 12.0 sq ft |
| 2″ | 162 sq ft | 203 sq ft | 6.0 sq ft |
| 3″ | 108 sq ft | 135 sq ft | 4.0 sq ft |
| 4″ | 81 sq ft | 101 sq ft | 3.0 sq ft |
| 6″ | 54 sq ft | 68 sq ft | 2.0 sq ft |
| 12″ | 27 sq ft | 34 sq ft | 1.0 sq ft |
Four areas, two materials, 5.17 cubic yards
The example has four areas. Each raised bed is 4 by 8 feet filled 10 inches deep, 26.7 cubic feet, and there are three: 80 cubic feet. The round bed is 6 feet across, 28.3 square feet, at 8 inches: 18.8. The lawn is typed as 1,000 square feet and topdressed a quarter inch: 20.8. Replacing it with sod would take 4 settled inches or more, the depth the sod calculator spreads under the slabs; beds finished with bark get their top layer from the mulch calculator. Those three take topsoil, 119.7 cubic feet or 4.43 cubic yards. The corner is a triangle 12 feet along the fence and 10 feet out, 60 square feet, raised 4 inches with fill dirt: 20 cubic feet, 0.74 cubic yard.
Bags, read off the label
In 1-cubic-foot bags the topsoil is 120 bags, in 0.75-cubic-foot bags 160, and in 20-quart bags 154, because the quart on a soil bag is the dry quart NIST defines as a thirty-second of the 2,150.42 cubic inch bushel. Gardener’s Supply’s own example fills a 3 by 6 bed with “9 cubic feet of topsoil (9 20-quart bags)”; nine such bags hold 7.0 cubic feet. Scotts states that four 1-cubic-foot bags of its garden soil cover 24 square feet at 2 inches, which is the geometry exactly: 24 times 2/12 is 4.
The weight decides the trip
Caterpillar gives 1,600 pounds per loose cubic yard of top soil and 2,300 once it is back in place. The example’s 4.43 yards of topsoil weigh 7,092 pounds loose, 3.5 tons; the fill, on the “Earth, dry packed” row at 2,550 pounds, weighs 1,889 for its 0.74 yard. A 6-cubic-foot wheelbarrow of that topsoil carries 356 pounds, of that fill 567. If the placard reads 1,500 pounds and nobody rides along, the topsoil is five trips on weight, even though a 60-cubic-foot bed would take it in two.
Settling has a bound, not a number
No source read says how much a raised bed sinks in its first season, so the allowance starts at 0. What Caterpillar’s table does give is the limit: top soil’s load factor is 0.70, so loose soil pressed back to its in-place density fills 70 percent of the space it arrived in. The 119.7 cubic feet of the example would occupy 83.8. The settled volume column prints that bound for the order, and the choice of allowance stays yours.
Questions asked before ordering soil
How do I calculate how much soil I need?
Area times depth, area by area, then add them up. Depth goes in feet, so 10 inches is 0.833: a 4 by 8 foot bed at that depth is 26.7 cubic feet, and dividing by 27 gives 0.99 cubic yard. With beds, a lawn and a fill, each area keeps its own depth and the totals are added by material; that list is what the calculator builds.
How do I calculate cubic yards of soil?
Divide cubic feet by 27, since a cubic yard is 3 feet on each side. 1,000 square feet at 1 inch is 83.3 cubic feet, 3.09 cubic yards; at 3 inches, 9.26. In metric, square meters times the depth in meters gives cubic meters directly, and a cubic yard is 0.7646 of one.
How many cubic feet is a 40 lb bag of potting soil?
The weight does not tell you. Bagged soil is labeled by volume, in cubic feet, dry quarts or liters, and that is the line to read. At Caterpillar’s 1,600 pounds per loose cubic yard of bulk top soil, 40 pounds would be 0.68 cubic foot, but that figure is for bulk soil, and none of the bagged products read publishes a weight per cubic foot.
How much does a 40 lb bag of topsoil cover?
Coverage comes from the volume on the label and the depth. A bag labeled 0.75 cubic foot spread 1 inch deep covers 9 square feet, 4.5 at 2 inches and 36 as a quarter-inch topdressing. The coverage table on this page gives the square feet per cubic foot at eight depths; multiply by the cubic feet on your bag.
How much will 1 ton of topsoil cover?
At Caterpillar’s 1,600 pounds per loose cubic yard, a ton is 1.25 cubic yards, 33.75 cubic feet. That covers 405 square feet 1 inch deep, 135 at 3 inches and 67.5 at 6. A heavier soil covers less per ton; pick another row of the weight table and the figures follow.
How many wheelbarrows is 1 yd of topsoil?
With a 6-cubic-foot contractor wheelbarrow, 27 divided by 6 is 4.5, so five trips. Each full load of loose top soil weighs about 356 pounds at Caterpillar’s figure, and a load of dry-packed earth about 567. Enter another barrow size and the count changes with it.
How much topsoil do I need for 1,000 square feet?
83.3 cubic feet for every inch of depth, 3.09 cubic yards. A quarter-inch topdressing takes 20.8 cubic feet, 21 one-cubic-foot bags or 0.77 cubic yard in bulk. At 4 inches the same lawn takes 12.3 cubic yards.
How many bags of soil do I need?
Divide the cubic feet by the volume on the bag and round up. A cubic yard is 36 bags of 0.75 cubic foot or 27 bags of 1 cubic foot. Quart bags use the dry quart, so a 20-quart bag holds 0.78 cubic foot and a cubic yard takes 35 of them, not 27.
Is there a soil calculator for a raised bed?
The first two rows are raised beds: identical rectangular beds counted by the bed, and a round bed measured by its diameter. Three 4 by 8 foot beds filled 10 inches deep take 80 cubic feet. Enter the depth you will fill rather than the board height; Gardener’s Supply suggests stopping within an inch or so of the rim.
Does it work for a circle?
Yes. The round bed takes a diameter and works π times the radius squared times the depth: 6 feet across is 28.3 square feet, 18.8 cubic feet at 8 inches. A corner is handled the same way by the triangle row, base times height divided by 2.
How many tons is a yard of topsoil?
Caterpillar’s table gives 1,600 pounds per loose cubic yard of top soil, 0.8 ton, and 2,300 pounds, 1.15 tons, for the same soil in place. Loam is 2,100 pounds loose and dry-packed earth 2,550. Soil arrives loose, so the page converts a price per ton with the loose figure.
How much extra fill dirt should I order for compaction?
No normative percentage was found for a homeowner’s fill. Caterpillar’s table gives the bound: dry-packed earth weighs 2,550 pounds per loose cubic yard and 3,200 in place, a load factor of 0.80, so pressing loose fill all the way back to its in-place density takes up to 25 percent more loose volume. Enter the allowance you choose; the bound is printed next to it.
Does it work in liters?
Switch to metric and lengths are read in millimeters, the lawn area in square meters, and volumes come out in cubic meters and liters. A bag size can be typed in liters in either system: a 40-liter bag is 1.41 cubic feet.
What this soil order leaves to you
- Flat areas only: each area has one depth. Slopes, mounds and grading are not modeled.
- Four shapes: rectangles counted by the bed, a circle, a triangle and an area typed in square feet. Anything else is split into those.
- Weights are Caterpillar’s reference figures for loose and in-place material; the source says moisture, grain size and compaction change them, and no figure covers bagged mixes.
- No prices, delivery charges, minimum orders or sale steps are preset.
- Settling is shown as a bound to in-place density, not as a forecast.
- Trips count the payload and the bed volume only; axle ratings, a trailer’s own weight and towing limits are not checked.
- No soil tests, amendments or fertilizer rates.