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Cubic yards for any rectangle, circle or known area at any depth — the unit soil, mulch, gravel and concrete are sold in — plus cubic feet, cubic meters and bags.
With these inputs:
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Cubic yards | 1.11 yd³ |
| Cubic feet | 30 cu ft |
| Cubic meters | 0.85 m³ |
| Bags of 2 cu ft | 15 bags |
| Area | 120 sq ft |
| Depth | 3 in |
| One cubic yard covers at this depth | 108 sq ft |
1 cubic yard = 27 cubic feet = 0.7646 cubic meter exactly (NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C). To turn yards into tons, use the material's density — the gravel tons and tons to yards calculators have them.
Landscape yards, quarries and ready-mix plants all sell by the cubic yard. Enter the length and width (or the diameter of a round bed, or a total area) and the depth in inches, and the calculator returns cubic yards, cubic feet, cubic meters and how many bags of your chosen size the same volume fills. It uses the exact definition of 27 cubic feet to the yard from NIST Handbook 44.
Multiply length (ft) × width (ft) × depth (ft), then divide by 27. Depth in inches goes in as inches ÷ 12. A 12 × 10 ft bed 3 in deep is 12 × 10 × 0.25 = 30 cu ft, and 30 ÷ 27 = 1.11 cubic yards.
Exactly 27 — a cube 3 ft on each side (3 × 3 × 3). NIST Handbook 44 also gives 1 cubic yard = 0.764 554 857 984 cubic meter.
324 sq ft at 1 in deep, 162 sq ft at 2 in, 108 sq ft at 3 in, 81 sq ft at 4 in and 54 sq ft at 6 in. Divide 324 by the depth in inches.
27 bags of 1 cu ft, 13.5 bags of 2 cu ft (so 14), 9 bags of 3 cu ft and 54 bags of 0.5 cu ft. Bulk delivery usually wins once a job needs more than a yard or two.
Area = 3.1416 × (diameter ÷ 2)², then multiply by the depth in feet and divide by 27. A round bed 10 ft across and 3 in deep is 78.5 sq ft × 0.25 = 19.6 cu ft, or 0.73 cubic yards.
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