Calculating how much sand your landscaping project will need is not easy.
It can be difficult to look at a space and estimate how much is required, and this can result in wasted money and time.
That’s why we built our sand calculator.
Use it to calculate the volume of sand you will need, the weight of the material, and if you know the price per unit mass/volume, then the total cost as well.
Contents:
When you enter your measurements into the calculator, it works out the area and volume of the sand required using the below formulas:
$$Area = Length \times Width$$
$$Volume = Area \times Depth$$
In addition
If you know the density of the material you are using (NB: standard sand is 100 lb/ft³), the sand estimator can work out how many tons of sand you will require using the formula:
$$Weight = Volume \times Density$$
Want to know the best part?
If you have the price per unit mass (e.g. cost per pound) or cost per unit volume (e.g. cost per cubic feet), then the calculator can work out the total cost of the required sand:
$$Cost = Price\,per\,unit\,mass \times Weight$$
or
$$Cost = Price\,per\,unit\,volume \times Volume$$
Imagine I am going to fill an area measuring 5 feet by 3 feet using standard sand.
I want equal coverage to a thickness of 2 inches. The sand’s density is 100 lb/ft³ and costs $10 per ton.
The calculator would perform the following calculations:
$$Area = Length \times Width = 5 ft \times 3 ft = 15 ft^2$$
$$Volume = Area \times Depth = 15 ft^2 \times 2\,in = 2.5 ft^3$$
$$Weight = Volume \times Density = 2.5ft^3 \times 100\,lb/ft^3 = 0.125\,t$$
$$Cost = Price\,per\,unit\,mass \times Weight = 10\,$/t \times 0.125\,t= $1.25$$
Let’s say I have an area of 100 ft² that I want to cover with sand to a depth of 3 inches.
The sand’s density is 100 lb/ft³ and costs $15 per cubic yard.
The calculator would perform the following calculations:
$$Volume = Area \times Depth = 100 ft^2 \times 3\,in = 25\,ft^3$$
$$Weight = Volume \times Density = 25ft^3 \times 100\,lb/ft^3 = 2,500\,lb$$
$$Cost = Price\,per\,unit\,volume \times Volume = 15\,$/yd^3 \times 2,500\,lb = $13.89$$
At this point, you’ll likely be asking:
What if I don’t know the density? What if I’m using a different material? 🤔
Well, our calculator has an option for “custom density”, which you can calculate using the following formula:
$$Density = {Mass \over Volume}$$
We will show you how to use this formula in our final example.
Let’s imagine that I want to fill a space measuring 40 ft³ with a custom aggregate costing $20 per ton.
I am unsure of its density, but when buying by bulk the sand weighs 240 pounds per 4 cubic feet.
I can therefore calculate its density:
$$Density = {Mass \over Volume} = {240\,lb \over 4\,ft^3} = 60\,lb/ft^3$$
I enter these values in the calculator.
$$Weight = Volume \times Density = 40\,ft^3 \times 60\,lb/ft^3 = 2,400\,lb$$
$$Cost = Price\,per\,unit\,mass \times Weight = 20\,$/t \times 2,400\,lb = $24$$
You may have noticed that we switch between units.
For example, when calculating the amount of sand and cost in the last example, price is given in dollars per ton and weight is given in pounds.
There are multiple options for length, density, mass and volume.
Our calculator does the conversions for you using the pre-programmed conversions:
$$1\,foot = 12\,inches = 0.33\,yards = 30.48\,centimeters = 0.3048\,meters$$
$$1\,US\,short\,ton = 2000\,pounds = 0.893\,imperial\,long\,ton = 907\,kg$$
It’s that simple! 😉
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