🏖️How much sand does the job take?

✓ Tested & verified Updated: Aug 6, 2026 How we calculate this

Sand calculator

Length ft

Width ft

Depth

Bag size

0.4 cubic yards≈ 0.6 tons

= 12 cu ft · about 24 bags (0.5 cu ft)

Weight, dry: 1,200 lb
Loads in a half-ton pickup: 1
One cubic yard covers: 324 sq ft at this depth

A 50 lb bag of sand holds about 0.5 cu ft — 54 bags to the cubic yard.

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How much sand do you need?

A 12 × 12 ft paver patio bedded with 1 inch of sand takes 12 cubic feet — 0.44 cubic yards, 1,200 lb, or 24 of the 50 lb bags. Area × depth ÷ 12 ÷ 27, then multiply the yards by 2,700 lb for the weight.

The bag arithmetic is unusually tidy with sand. At 2,700 lb per cubic yard, a 0.5 cu ft bag weighs almost exactly 50 lb, and 54 of them make a cubic yard — so bag count and weight are the same calculation twice.

Depth is set by the job and it varies enormously: 1 inch screeded for paver bedding and never more, because sand is not a levelling compound and a thick bed ruts under load; 2 inches under an above-ground pool; 6 to 12 inches in a sandbox, deep enough to dig. Use the right grade too — washed concrete or coarse bedding sand under pavers, play sand in a sandbox, and never masonry sand where children put their hands.

Sand is four different products sold under one word, and the calculator cannot tell you which one to buy. What it can do is stop the two ordering mistakes: bedding a patio too thick, and buying sandbox sand a bag at a time when the box needs half a ton.

Everything below is per 100 sq ft, at the depth each job actually calls for.

Job	Depth	Cubic yards	50 lb bags
Paver bedding sand	1 in	0.31	17
Above-ground pool base	2 in	0.62	34
Sandbox	8 in	2.47	134
Volleyball or play court	12 in	3.70	200

The last two rows are the reason sandboxes get built and then never filled properly. A hundred and thirty-four bags is 6,700 lb — three and a third tons, or one bulk delivery against four trips in a half-ton pickup.

Frequently asked questions

How many 50 lb bags of sand are in a cubic yard?

Fifty-four. A 50 lb bag holds about 0.5 cubic feet because sand weighs roughly 2,700 lb per cubic yard, and 27 ÷ 0.5 is 54. That is 2,700 lb of bags to move for one yard of sand, so bulk delivery wins above about half a yard on effort alone, never mind price.

How thick should paver bedding sand be?

One inch, screeded flat, over a properly compacted base. Never use bedding sand to level a bad base: a thick sand layer consolidates unevenly under traffic and the pavers dip exactly where the wheels run. If the base is out by more than a quarter inch, fix the base.

What kind of sand goes under pavers?

Coarse, washed, angular concrete or bedding sand — the grades sold as ASTM C33 concrete sand. Do not use play sand, mason sand or anything fine and rounded: fine grains migrate under load and the surface settles. Joint filling is a different product again, either the same coarse sand swept in or a polymeric jointing sand.

How much sand for a sandbox?

Six to twelve inches — deep enough to dig without hitting the bottom. A 6 × 6 ft box at 8 inches is 24 cubic feet, which is 0.89 cubic yards, 2,400 lb, or 48 of the 50 lb bags. Buy washed play sand specifically; masonry and concrete sands are not intended for that use.

How much sand goes under an above-ground pool?

Two inches of levelled, compacted sand across the whole footprint, plus a little for the cove around the wall. A 15 ft round pool is 177 sq ft, which at 2 inches is 29.5 cubic feet — about 1.1 cubic yards or 2,950 lb. Check your pool manufacturer’s instructions first; some now specify a foam base instead.

Does sand weigh more when wet?

Yes, roughly 10 to 15 percent more, because water fills the voids between grains. Dry sand is around 2,600 to 2,700 lb per cubic yard and saturated sand can pass 3,000. That matters for hauling rather than volume — a yard of wet sand is already over a half-ton pickup’s payload.

How we calculate this

Volume is area × depth ÷ 12 ÷ 27; one cubic yard covers 324 sq ft at 1 inch, 162 at 2 and 54 at 6. Weight uses 2,700 lb per cubic yard for masonry, paver and play sand from our density table, the working figure inside a published 2,600–3,000 lb range; that is 1.35 US tons per cubic yard. Bag counts use the 0.5 cu ft retail size, which is what a 50 lb bag of sand holds at that density (2,700 ÷ 54 = 50 lb), and always round up. Grade and depth guidance for paver bedding follows hardscape industry practice rather than a horticultural source; sandbox depth comes from our depth preset table.

Worked example

With Length ft 12, Width ft 12, Diameter ft 12, Base ft 20, Height ft 12, Area sq ft 300, Ring diameter ft 6, Gap around trunk (in) 4, Depth 1, Bag size 0.5 cu ft — Pea gravel, river rock, paver sand, this page works out 0.4 cubic yards ≈ 0.6 tons. = 12 cu ft · about 24 bags ( 0.5 cu ft )

Weight, dry1,200 lb
Loads in a half-ton pickup1
One cubic yard covers324 sq ft at this depth

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