Topsoil Calculator
Estimate soil volume for lawn or garden coverage.
Calculate topsoil calculator from clear inputs
Topsoil Calculator gives a focused worksheet for home & diy questions where a quick deterministic estimate is more useful than a spreadsheet. The topsoil calculator fields mirror the variables in its formula, and the output separates the main result from supporting values so you can sanity-check this calculation before reusing it.
300 square feet at 3 inches plus 10 percent waste needs 3.05556 cubic yards.
Keep the estimate private in your browser
For Topsoil Calculator, every calculation runs in your browser with no upload, account, cookie, live lookup, or server-side storage. The topsoil calculator result is best treated as a planning number because the real-world constraints behind this estimate can change the answer. Adjust the topsoil calculator assumptions and confirm important decisions against the relevant source of truth for that exact situation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much topsoil do I need?
Area × depth in feet gives cubic feet, divided by 27 for cubic yards, plus waste. 300 sq ft at 3 inches with 10% extra is about 3.06 cubic yards.
How deep should topsoil be?
About 1 to 2 inches to top-dress a lawn, 4 to 6 inches for new lawns, and 8 to 12 inches for vegetable beds.
Why add a waste percentage?
Topsoil settles and compacts after spreading and watering. 10 to 15% extra avoids a second delivery for a small top-up.
Related tools
Browse the full set of free, private, in-browser tools.