Sand calculator guide

Sand in a home landscaping context is usually one of three things: a leveling and bedding layer under pavers or a patio, a fill material for a play area or sandbox, or a drainage layer under other materials in a wet part of the yard. Each use case has its own typical depth, and sand is heavy enough that weight is worth checking before ordering more than a bag or two.

Paver and patio base

A bedding layer of coarse sand under pavers is typically 1 inch, screeded flat and level right before the pavers go down, sitting on top of a compacted gravel base rather than directly on soil. This 1 inch figure is specifically for the leveling layer, not the structural base underneath it, which is usually a different material like crushed gravel calculated and ordered separately.

Play areas and sandboxes

Play sand for a sandbox or play area is usually installed 6 to 12 inches deep depending on the intended use, deeper for a play area meant to cushion falls near play equipment, shallower for a simple sandbox. Play sand should be a washed, finer grade sold specifically for that purpose rather than construction or paver sand, which can be coarser or contain dust.

Drainage layers

Sand is sometimes used as a drainage layer under a shed, patio, or in a low spot prone to standing water, typically 2 to 4 inches, sometimes combined with gravel below it for a two layer drainage system where each layer is calculated separately at its own depth.

Worked example

A 10 foot by 10 foot patio, 100 square feet, needs a 1 inch sand bedding layer: at 1 inch deep, one cubic yard covers about 324 square feet, so 100 divided by 324 comes out to roughly 0.3 cubic yards, an amount many suppliers sell bagged rather than as a bulk delivery given how small the total is.

Weight

Sand weighs approximately 1.3 tons per cubic yard, in the same range as gravel and river rock, which matters for anyone carrying it by bucket or loading a vehicle rather than having it delivered directly to the work area.

Calculate your project

The gravel and mulch calculator includes sand among its nine materials, returning cubic yards, cubic feet, bag counts, and weight for your specific area and depth.

Sand depth and coverage guide

Use this table to estimate sand for common paver, play, and drainage projects.

Use	Depth	1 cubic yd covers
Paver bedding	1 inch	324 sq ft
Thin drainage	2 inches	162 sq ft
Mid drainage	3 inches	108 sq ft
Thick drainage	4 inches	81 sq ft
Sandbox	6 inches	54 sq ft
Play area	12 inches	27 sq ft

Divide your project square feet by the coverage number to get cubic yards, then multiply cubic yards by 1.3 tons for weight.