Material takeoff
How much topsoil do I need?
Enter the area and how thick you want the soil. Results come as cubic yards for delivery and bags for smaller jobs.
How the math works
cubic yards = square feet × depth in inches ÷ 324
For weight, screened topsoil runs about 1.0 to 1.3 tons per cubic yard dry, more when wet. A cubic yard of damp topsoil can exceed 2,200 pounds, which is over the payload of most half-ton pickups. Take two trips.
How deep should topsoil be?
One inch is a topdressing pass over an existing lawn, to level minor dips or work compost into the surface.
Two inches is the usual base for overseeding into thin turf.
Three to four inches is what you want under new sod or a seeded lawn, assuming there is reasonable soil underneath.
Six inches and up is for raised beds and vegetable gardens, where the roots live entirely in what you bring in.
Filling a low spot in a lawn is a special case: go no more than an inch at a time and let the grass grow through between passes. Burying turf under four inches of soil kills it, and then you have a bare patch instead of a dip.
Where people get it wrong
- Confusing topsoil with fill dirt
- Fill dirt is subsoil for bulk volume and grading. Topsoil is the screened, organic-rich layer that plants grow in. Fill is much cheaper — use it for the bottom of a deep fill and topsoil only for the top few inches.
- Ordering unscreened soil for a lawn
- Unscreened topsoil comes with rocks, roots, and clumps. For seeding or sod, pay for screened.
- Assuming a pickup holds two yards
- A cubic yard of moist topsoil often weighs more than 2,000 pounds. Know your truck payload.
- Not testing before amending
- A soil test costs a few dollars through your county extension office and tells you whether you actually need soil, or lime, or just compost.
Background
Topsoil is heavy, cheap by the yard, and expensive by the bag. The break-even is lower than people expect: about one cubic yard, which is 18 bags at 1.5 cubic feet. Above that, delivery wins on both price and your back.
If you need to raise grade before adding topsoil, use fill dirt for the bulk of the depth and save topsoil for the top few inches where things need to grow.
What you need for the job
Common questions
How much does a yard of topsoil cover?
At 2 inches deep, one cubic yard covers about 162 square feet. At 3 inches, about 108 square feet.
How many bags of topsoil in a cubic yard?
18 bags at 1.5 cubic feet, or 27 bags at 1 cubic foot.
How much does a yard of topsoil weigh?
Roughly 2,000 to 2,600 pounds depending on moisture and organic content. Wet soil is substantially heavier than dry.
How much topsoil do I need for a new lawn?
Three to four inches over the whole area if the existing soil is poor. For 5,000 square feet at 3 inches that is about 46 cubic yards, which is a dump truck delivery rather than a trailer.
Can I put topsoil over existing grass?
A thin topdressing of under an inch is fine and is a normal lawn care practice. Anything deeper smothers the grass, so either kill and remove the turf first or build up in stages.
Measuring by hand is where estimates go wrong
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