Calc4Living

Gardening & Landscaping · Free calculator

Soil Calculator

Estimate soil volume and bags from area and fill depth, with an optional extra-material allowance for waste or settling.

Your measurements

Prefilled values are editable examples. Measure your own space and check the selected units. Allowance and bed count may be left blank; all other fields are required.

Enter your measured dimension in the selected unit. Zero gives zero area or volume.

Enter your measured dimension in the selected unit. Zero gives zero area or volume.

Uniform material depth, not a dimension in square or cubic units.

Optional: leave blank or enter 0 for none. Adds this percentage to the calculated volume; not an exact shrinkage model.

Use the volume printed on the bag, not its weight. Must be greater than zero.

Changing units converts the current measurements; changing any input clears the previous result.

Your estimate

Material quantities

Review the example measurements, select your units and calculate. No quantities have been calculated yet.

How much soil do I need for an area and fill depth?

Base volume = area × depth. Order volume = base volume × (1 + allowance percentage ÷ 100). Bags = order volume ÷ bag volume, rounded upward.

Worked example

A 10 m × 5 m area filled 5 cm deep has a base volume of 2.5 m³. Adding a 10% allowance gives 2.75 m³. At 50 liters per bag, this requires 55 bags.

Unit conversions

1 ft = 0.3048 m; 1 in = 0.0254 m; 1 cm = 0.01 m. 1 yd³ = 27 ft³ = 0.764554857984 m³; 1 liter = 0.001 m³. 1 acre = 4,046.8564224 m². 1 lb = 0.45359237 kg.

Assumptions & limitations

  • An allowance of 10% means adding 10% to the geometric volume, not predicting an exact 10% shrinkage rate. Enter 0 for no allowance.
  • Assumes uniform fill depth. Existing soil, roots, uneven ground, compaction and soil composition change the amount needed. Bag volumes are nominal; ask your supplier about settlement and delivery basis.