Topsoil Calculator

Extra material covers small dips, settling, spillage, and measurements that are not perfectly square. The calculated amount remains visible so you can compare both figures.

Both are shown. “Calculated” bags cover the measured volume; “Order” bags include the 10% allowance and round partial bags up to whole bags.

Volume comes directly from your dimensions. Weight is a range because moisture, particle size, composition, and compaction change bulk density.

The uppermost layer of soil, typically the top 2–8 inches, where organic matter, nutrients, and biological activity concentrate. It’s the layer plants root into and the layer sold in bags and bulk for lawns, beds, and grading.

Around 2,000 lb on average, with a practical range of roughly 1,900 to 2,800 lb depending on moisture, texture, and compaction. Loose, dry topsoil sits at the light end; moist or compacted soil sits at the heavy end.

Multiply the area in square feet by the depth in inches, divide by 12 to get cubic feet, then divide by 27 for cubic yards — or let the calculator above do it from your length, width, and depth directly, with a 10% buffer added for settling.

Price depends on region, supplier, and screening quality — organic topsoil blended with compost typically costs more than plain screened fill-grade soil. Bulk delivery is usually cheaper per yard than bagged topsoil once a job needs more than two or three yards.

Starting new lawns, filling and leveling garden beds, topdressing existing grass, raising low spots in a yard, and building the finished grade around a new build or renovation.

The same figure as a “yard” of topsoil — a cubic yard is the unit suppliers mean when they say “yard.” Expect roughly 2,000 lb on average, moving several hundred pounds either way with moisture and compaction.

A blend of mineral particles — sand, silt, and clay — plus organic matter from decomposed plant and animal material, along with the air and water held in the pore space between particles. Screened topsoil has larger debris removed; unscreened topsoil may still contain small rocks, roots, or clumps.

A thin 1/4–1/2 in topdress can go directly over healthy, mowed grass before overseeding. A full topsoil layer should not be piled straight onto living turf — it smothers the grass beneath it and settles unevenly as the buried turf decomposes. Kill or strip the existing grass first for anything deeper. The grass seed calculator gives the pounds of seed for the area.

Topsoil passed through a screen to remove rocks, roots, debris, and large clumps, leaving a finer, more consistent texture. It’s the standard choice for lawns and planting beds where an even surface matters; unscreened topsoil is cheaper but coarser.

They describe different things. Screened is about processing: the soil has been passed through a screen to take out rocks, roots, and clumps. Organic is about content: topsoil blended with compost or other organic matter, or certified for organic growing. A product can be both. Screened topsoil is enough for a lawn base; for vegetable beds, an organic blend — or screened topsoil with compost worked in — feeds the first season better. Neither word has a universal standard, so ask the supplier what the blend contains.

Not on its own — plain topsoil compacts too densely in a container, restricting drainage and root growth in a way it wouldn’t in open ground. Blend it with compost, perlite, or a bagged potting mix for containers, or use a dedicated potting soil instead.

At a 4 in depth, 1,000 sq ft needs about 12.3 cubic yards; at 6 in, about 18.5 cubic yards; and at a ½ in lawn topdress, about 1.5 cubic yards. The calculator above gives an exact figure for your depth, plus the 10% ordering buffer.

A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, so it takes 36 bags of 0.75-cubic-foot topsoil, 27 bags of 1-cubic-foot bags, or 13.5 bags of 2-cubic-foot bags to equal one yard.

It’s the layer that holds the nutrients, water, and microbial and root activity plants depend on. Losing topsoil to erosion or stripping it during construction removes the soil’s most fertile layer, which is slow to rebuild naturally.

“Soil” is the general term for the earth material at any depth; “topsoil” specifically means the uppermost, most fertile layer — usually the top 2–8 inches — where organic matter and biological activity concentrate. Subsoil below it has less of both.

Yes, by working compost and organic matter into native soil over one or more seasons, or by blending native soil with compost and sand yourself. It’s slower than buying screened topsoil but costs less and uses material you may already have.

Dark color from organic matter; a loose, crumbly texture rather than dense or compacted; the presence of organic matter and nutrients; support for microbial life and earthworms; and a structure that holds moisture while still draining reasonably well.