Sand Calculator for Boxes, Pool Rings and Leveling Work
Enter your project dimensions
Two sand pages sit on this site and they do different jobs. The paver sand calculator sizes one screeded inch under a patio and the bags that go between the joints afterwards, and that inch never changes. This sand calculator is for everything measured in real depth: the box the kids empty into the lawn every August, the ring under an above-ground pool, the horseshoe pit at the end of the lot, the quarter inch of grit worked into a lawn the frost has lifted. Depth is the variable here, so the table comes first.
Depths for a sandbox, a pool ring and a lawn the frost lifted
| Job | Depth to enter | Which sand |
|---|---|---|
| Sandbox or play pit | 6 in | Washed Sand |
| Above-ground pool base, screeded level | 2 in | Mason Sand |
| Horseshoe pit or volleyball refresh | 2 in | Washed Sand |
| Leveling a lawn after a heave winter | 0.25 to 0.5 in, worked in | Mason Sand |
| Bedding under pavers | 1 in, sized on its own page | either, screeded |
| Mortar and concrete mixes | by the ton, not by depth | mason for mortar, washed for concrete |
Checklist before any of those numbers go in the box:
- Lawn leveling is a dressing, not a layer. On the tight clay east of the Fox Valley a solid sheet of sand over clay traps roots instead of helping them, so it goes in a quarter inch at a time and gets raked through.
- Pool ground has to be flat before it is sanded. Sand corrects texture, not grade.
- Play sand and pit sand both want screening, so the load arrives without stones.
- For mixes, allow about a ton of sand to every seven or eight bags of cement and follow the mix ratio.
Circle mode is the one that earns its keep: what the sand calculator asks for
- Shape. Rectangle, circle, or multiple areas, up to five added into one figure. A pool ring is a diameter, not a guess at a square.
- Size. Length and width in feet, or the diameter in feet.
- Depth. Inches, from 0.25 to 24. The bottom of that range exists precisely for topdressing work.
- Material. The select list, which sets the weight behind the tonnage.
- Extra. An optional tick box adding five percent for compaction and spillage. It starts ticked; nothing is added if you untick it.
- Result. Cubic yards, tons and cubic feet, with the option to email the quote to yourself.
A 10-foot sandbox and an 11-foot pool ring, run through
Hypothetical jobs. Your measurements are the ones that count.
The sandbox is 10 by 10 feet and goes 6 inches deep. That is 100 square feet, and six inches is half a foot, so the box holds 50 cubic feet. Divided by twenty-seven that is 1.85 cubic yards, and at 1.35 tons to the yard the order is 2.5 tons of washed sand.
The pool ring is 11 feet across with 2 inches of mason sand screeded under the liner. Circle mode works the area out at 95 square feet. Two inches is a sixth of a foot, so the layer is 15.8 cubic feet, which is 0.59 cubic yards, or 0.79 tons. Round that up to a ton and the spare goes into the low side of the ring, which is where it always ends up.
Run them separately, because one depth applies to the whole run. Added up by hand they come to 2.44 cubic yards and 3.3 tons, which is one delivery rather than two.
Dry at 2,700 pounds, heavier after rain, and the same yardage either way
A cubic yard of dry sand runs about 2,700 pounds, which is 1.35 tons. Mason and washed sand carry the same figure, so switching between them changes nothing on the screen. After rain the same yard is heavier, and that is a shoveling problem rather than an ordering one. The published weight is the material as sold, and the hole still wants the same volume. Tarp the pile if it is sitting more than a day, because wet sand will not screed.
Coverage is easy to keep in your head. One cubic yard spreads over roughly 324 square feet at an inch, 162 at two inches and 54 at six. A ton covers about 240, 120 and 40 square feet at the same three depths.
To check the panel by hand: area in square feet, depth in inches divided by twelve and multiplied through, divide by twenty-seven, then multiply the yards by 1.35.
Which of the two sands, and the layer this page deliberately skips
Mason sand is the fine, uniform one. It suits mortar, pool bases and anywhere a smooth screeded surface matters. Washed sand has had the silt and clay rinsed out of it, which makes it the choice for boxes, pits and concrete mixes. Neither is a substitute for Screenings, which pack hard and are a bedding material rather than a loose-fill one.
The job this page does not size is the layer under pavers. That is one inch, measured across the full base footprint including the skirt of stone outside the pavers, and the paver sand page handles it along with the joint sand. Sizing it here usually produces too much sand, and too much bedding sand is exactly how a patio starts moving.
A quarter ton over beats a second trip up the lane
- Tick the five percent for anything screeded or tamped.
- Round up on a pool base. Coming up short with the liner already unrolled stops the day.
- Keep the surplus dry and covered; sand keeps indefinitely if it is not full of leaves.
- Plan the drop for firm ground. A loaded truck on a soft April lane leaves ruts that outlast the job.
Sand is sold by the ton. Set the tonnage and a delivery date on the product page and check out. Delivery is arranged at checkout by ZIP code, and the truck needs a clear run to a spot it can tip on. The calculator hub has the stone and soil tools if a layer underneath needs sizing too. Anything odd shaped can go through the contact page with your figures.
Common questions
The horseshoe pit was dug out freehand and has no straight side anywhere. What goes in the boxes?
Fit the biggest rectangle you can inside it, then add a narrow strip for the lobe that sticks out, and enter both under multiple areas. Sand is the most forgiving material on this site for that treatment, since a surplus half yard simply goes in a little deeper and gets raked level.
The pit by the lake is still half full of decent sand. Do I measure it empty or as it is?
As it is. Set a straight board across the frame, measure down to the sand in three or four places, average those readings, and enter the shortfall as the depth. The area stays the full footprint, because the whole surface comes up together when you rake it.
A quarter ton short on a leveling job. Does that matter?
Less than anywhere else on the site. A dressing that runs out just means one strip waits for the next order, and the lawn will not show it. On a pool base or a play box it matters a great deal more, because those have to finish level and a part-filled box cannot be handed over.
The tape work was rough. How far out can the figure be?
The arithmetic is exact; the inputs are not. The weight is a published average for dry material, and a depth read by eye across an uneven bottom can easily be off by a quarter inch, which on a big area is most of a ton. Take three depth readings and average them and the estimate lands close.
The tons are settled. Does it matter which of the two sands I buy?
Not to the tonnage, since both weigh the same per yard, but very much to the job. Take the fine, uniform one for anything screeded flat or mixed into mortar, and the rinsed one for boxes, pits and concrete work. The two product pages describe which is which, and the order goes in by the ton either way.
Related calculators
Two sands, one free truck.
Mason and washed sand by the ton, delivered free across Wisconsin.
