Sand is sold by weight in Britain and by volume in America, and it weighs almost a fifth more when it is damp — so the same pile is a different order in each market and a different order after rain. This handles both, and helps you pick the right sand before you worry about how much.
For screeds, mixes, bedding and backfill. Pick the sand, enter the area and depth, and get the amount to order.
Works in metric and US imperial — you choose at the start and can switch at any time. Every figure this calculator uses is published with its source, and the result comes with a printable order sheet. No account, no email, and nothing you type leaves your browser.
Related: Paver sand calculator · Concrete calculator · Gravel calculator
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Sand is sold by weight in Britain and by volume in America, and it weighs almost a fifth more damp than dry. Published figures put dry loose sand at about 1,420 kg/m³, damp at 1,690 and saturated at 1,840. So where sand is sold by weight, a soaked stockpile delivers noticeably less material for the same tonnage — and the same sand takes up more space damp than dry, which is why a bulk bag can look generous and measure short once it dries out.
Sharp sand and concrete sand are the same idea in two markets: angular, coarse, graded to ASTM C33 in America and BS EN 12620 in Britain. That is the sand for bedding, screeds and concrete. Soft or building sand is finer and is for mortar. Fill sand is for bulk — cheap, free-draining, compacts well, good under a slab or around a pipe — but it is not graded for a mix and should not go into concrete.
Order the sand first and the cement separately, and order the cement last. Mix ratios are quoted by volume, cement is sold by weight, and that conversion is where most people go wrong. Get the sand quantity settled, then work the cement out against it rather than trying to order both at once from a single ratio.
It depends on how wet it is. Dry loose sand is about 1,420 kg/m3, damp about 1,690, and saturated about 1,840 — a swing of nearly a fifth. Where sand is sold by weight, that difference is material you either do or do not receive.
Sharp sand (concrete sand in the US) is angular and coarse, graded to ASTM C33 or BS EN 12620, and is used for bedding, screeds and concrete. Building or soft sand is finer and is used for mortar. They are not interchangeable.
No. Suppliers who declare a volume sell around 750 litres. Merchants who declare a weight sell a minimum 800 kg bag occupying roughly 0.5 m3. Those are different quantities sold under the same name, so check which one you are buying.
No. Fill sand is for bulk — under a slab, around a pipe — where cheapness and drainage matter. It is not graded for a mix, and concrete made with it will not perform predictably.