Sand Calculator
The first sand question is not how much — it is which kind. Concrete (sharp) sand is the coarse, gritty one for mixing concrete and bedding pavers; mason sand is finer, for masonry mortar and brick joints; play sand is washed and screened for sandboxes. This sand calculator covers all three, because each carries its own weight and settles differently — so it sizes the type you pick into cubic yards, tons, and 50 lb bags.
Total weight ≈ 1,078.43 lb (0.54 tons). Bulk material is heavy — check your vehicle's payload/GVWR; over ~1 ton, delivery is usually safer than hauling it yourself.
Bag or bulk?
You need only about 0.4 cubic yards (0.54 tons). Under ~2 cubic yards, bagged is usually the better call — you can carry the bags yourself and skip arranging a bulk drop, with no leftover pile to deal with.
- 22 × 50 lb bag
Quantities are planning estimates — confirm with your supplier.
How it works
Depth depends on the job: bedding and mortar beds are often shallow (about 1–3 inches), while sandbox fill is deeper and user-chosen (often several inches), so enter the depth you actually want. The calculator takes the area you enter times that depth to get the in-place volume (area × depth). Enter dimensions in feet, inches, yards, or metric; everything is converted to feet first.
Which sand you choose changes the math, not just the label. The three types carry different densities and pack down by different amounts: concrete / sharp sand is heaviest at about 2,700 lb/yd³ and beds firm, so the calculator settles it roughly 15%; mason sand is lighter near 2,500 lb/yd³ and settles about 10%; play sand is also near 2,500 lb/yd³ but goes in loose and washed, so it gets no compaction allowance. Where a layer is tamped or beds in, ordering only the finished depth leaves you short, so for the firming types the calculator sizes the looser delivered volume that lands at depth — order = in-place ÷ (1 − settlement) × (1 + waste) — with the default 10% waste on top for spillage and screeding. Switch the type and both the weight and the order move with it.
What you get: cubic yards, tons (from the type's density), and 50 lb bag counts — sand sells in 50 lb sacks, so the count is your ordered weight divided by 50 and rounded up (ceil), which is why even a thin bed can be a real pile of bags. What we leave out: delivery trips. Sand is heavy, so we report total weight and let you match it to your vehicle's payload and GVWR rather than guessing loads.
Use case decides the type, and it is the call worth getting right: concrete / sharp sand for mixing concrete and bedding pavers — coarse and angular, so it locks under the pavers; mason sand for masonry mortar and brick or block joints — fine and uniform, for a smooth, workable mix; play sand for sandboxes and play areas — washed and screened for play use. The names and grades overlap regionally (concrete sand is often sold in the same coarse / sharp-sand family — confirm the supplier's label or gradation; mason sand sometimes doubles as a sandbox or paver-joint sand), so treat these as the common fit rather than a rigid rule, and each type carries its own density and settlement here so the numbers follow your pick.
With sand, the wrong type can cause more trouble than a small quantity miss. Play sand stirred into concrete makes a weak mix — too fine, too round, too few sharp edges to grip the cement — while coarse concrete sand in a sandbox is gritty for small hands. So pick by the job first, then size it. For pavers, that means bedding about 1 inch of concrete / sharp sand over an already-built, compacted base (a clean drainage base under the edge is sized on the crushed stone calculator), then filling the joints between pavers with polymeric sand — a separate binder product bought by the bag, not a bulk material this calculator sizes.
Worked example
Paver bedding layer, 10 ft × 10 ft, 1 in of concrete sand
Screeding a 1-inch bedding layer of concrete (sharp) sand over an already-built, compacted paver base. The type matters here: bedding wants coarse, angular concrete sand that locks under the pavers — not fine play sand, which is washed and screened for sandboxes. It is a thin layer, so the volume stays small.
Notice how it adds up anyway: even a thin bedding layer turns into a lot of 50 lb bags to carry and empty, which is exactly the bag-versus-bulk call the shopping list makes for you.
- Area
- 100 sq ft
- Volume (in place)
- 0.31 cu yd
- Order (compaction + waste)
- 0.4 cu yd
- Weight
- 0.54 tons
- 50 lb bag
- 22
Coverage at a glance
| Depth | 1 ton covers | 1 cu yd covers |
|---|---|---|
| 1" | 240 sq ft | 324 sq ft |
| 2" | 120 sq ft | 162 sq ft |
| 3" | 80 sq ft | 108 sq ft |
FAQ
What type of sand do I need — concrete, mason, or play?
Match it to the job. Concrete (also sold as sharp) sand is coarse and angular — the one for mixing concrete and bedding pavers, where the grit locks under the stones. Mason sand is finer and more uniform, for masonry mortar and brick or block joints where you want a smooth, workable mix. Play sand is washed and screened for play use in sandboxes and play areas. The grades and regional names overlap (mason sand is sometimes used as a sandbox or paver-joint sand), so read these as the usual fit rather than hard rules. Each type has its own density and settlement on this page, so switching the type changes both the weight and the amount you order.
How much sand do I need for a paver bedding layer?
Enter the area you are paving and a bedding depth — typically about 1 inch of concrete (sharp) sand screeded over an already-built, compacted base — and the calculator returns cubic yards, tons, and 50 lb bags. The worked example on this page runs a 10 ft × 10 ft bed at 1 inch so you can see how a thin layer still adds up. Note this sizes the sand bedding course only, not the full paver base build-up beneath it — that compacted base is a separate, deeper layer.
What sand goes under and between pavers?
Two different products. Under the pavers is a bedding course — about 1 inch of coarse concrete (sharp) sand, screeded level over the compacted base; that is the sand this calculator sizes. Between the pavers, the joints are filled with polymeric sand, a fine sand blended with a binder that sets up after it is watered in to help lock the joints and resist washout. Polymeric sand is bought by the bag and is not sized by this calculator — follow its own coverage chart, since spread depends on joint width and paver thickness.
How much play sand do I need for a sandbox?
Pick the play-sand type — it is washed and screened for play use — then enter the sandbox length and width and the depth you want, and the calculator returns the weight and the number of 50 lb bags. Play sand goes in loose, so the calculator adds no compaction for it. Sandboxes are often several inches deep — it is your call, so enter the depth you actually want rather than a thin bedding figure: a deeper box holds more sand to dig in but takes proportionally more bags.
How many 50 lb bags of sand are in a cubic yard?
Roughly 50 to 54 bags, depending on the type: a cubic yard runs about 2,500–2,700 lb/yd³ across these sands, so dividing by 50 lb a bag lands in that range (heavier concrete sand near the high end, mason and play sand a touch lower). That is the rule-of-thumb for a full yard; for your actual project, enter the area and depth above and the calculator gives the exact bag total for the volume you need, waste included, so you are not left short.
Does sand compact or settle?
It depends on the type and how it goes down. Concrete (sharp) sand beds firm and settles roughly 15%; mason sand packs about 10%; play sand goes in loose and washed, so it gets no settlement here. That is why the calculator's compaction default changes when you switch the type — for the firming sands it orders a bit more than the finished depth so the layer lands flush once it beds in, rather than sitting low.