Calculator
How much topdressing sand do you need?
Enter the area you are leveling and the depth per pass. One cubic yard covers about 1,300 square feet at a quarter inch, so most single-pass jobs land between one and three yards.
Your numbers
- Bulk volume
- 1.54 cu yd
- Approx. weight
- 2.08 tons
- 50 lb bags
- 84
Depths over half an inch smother the crown and stall green-up, so split anything deeper across two passes two to three weeks apart. Bulk delivery is almost always cheaper than bags past about one cubic yard, and bag counts assume dry material — wet sand weighs noticeably more.
Leveling Rake (Lute)
A wide steel lute is what turns a pile of sand into a flat plane.
Reading the result
- Cubic yards is what a bulk yard sells by. Anything over one yard is cheaper delivered loose than bagged.
- Tons matters for delivery limits and for what your trailer can legally carry. Wet sand can run 15% heavier than the estimate.
- Bags assumes 50 lb bags of dry material. Buy one or two extra — low spots always take more than you planned.
Don’t go deeper than half an inch
Topdressing works because the grass grows through it. Bury the crown and the lawn thins instead of leveling. Deep ruts get two or three thin passes spaced two to three weeks apart, not one thick one.
Full method, mix ratios and grass-type timing: the sand mixture guide and compost vs. sand for Bermuda.
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