Sod calculator
Sod calculator:
pallets, rolls and weight
Sod is bought by the pallet and the pallet is whatever your farm cuts — 400, 450 or 500 square feet. Enter the lawn, pick the pallet, and get the order with the weight a trailer has to carry.
Enter your lawnOptional
What will it cost?
Every material the calculator worked out gets its own price. Each field starts at a typical US figure so you have something to work from — change any of them to what your own supplier charges.
These prices are approximate. They are national US retail figures, and what you actually pay varies with your region, your supplier, the season and how much you buy at once. Treat them as a starting point, not a quote — always price the job from your own supplier's current figures before you order.
Your prices
More in this series
The rest of the yard
A yard is rarely one material: stone under the path, soil to fill, sod or seed on top, fertilizer after. Each has its own calculator, built for how that material is sold.
- Gravel Calculator Gravel, crushed stone, sand and road base by volume, tons and bags
- Mulch Calculator Cubic yards, bags or bales of mulch for every bed, topped up over the old layer
- Topsoil Calculator Cubic yards, tons and bags of topsoil, fill dirt or compost, with settling
- Grass Seed Calculator Pounds and bags of grass seed by grass type for a new lawn or overseeding, with starter fertilizer and straw
- Fertilizer Calculator Pounds and bags of lawn fertilizer from the nitrogen rate or the bag label, with the N, P and K actually applied
- Crushed Stone Sizes and Coverage What each stone grade is for, and what a ton and a yard cover
- Topsoil Weight and Coverage What a yard of soil weighs dry, moist and wet, and how far it spreads
- Mulch Coverage, Bags and Weight How far a yard and a bag of mulch spread, and what they weigh
- Gravel and Sand Weight per Yard What a cubic yard and a ton of gravel, sand and crushed stone weigh, how far a ton goes, and what a truck carries
- Grass Seed Germination and Planting Times How many days each grass takes to come up, when to plant it, how deep, and how to water a new seeding
- Sod Pallet Sizes and Weights Square feet and pieces on a pallet of sod, what a pallet, roll and slab weigh, what a truck can carry, and how long sod keeps
- Lawn Seed and Fertilizer Rates How often to fertilize, pounds of seed per 1,000 sq ft and per acre, fertilizer by NPK, how much lime, and when to overseed
- New Sod Watering and Rooting A week-by-week watering schedule for new sod, how long it takes to root, and when you can walk on, mow and feed it
Tools for the job
What makes this job easier
Tools and materials that suit this kind of job. These are affiliate links: if you buy through one, Renovimo may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes the figures on this page.
Garvee
Lawn leveling rake, 30 in
Drags topsoil flat before sod or seed goes down, so the new lawn has no dips.
Check price
Garvee
Lawn roller and aerator
Firms new topsoil and seed so the surface does not sink unevenly.
Check price
Garvee
Stainless steel garden hose, 100 ft
Reaches the far corner of the lawn for the twice-a-day watering new sod and seed need.
Check price
Garvee
Cordless tiller
Works new topsoil into the ground below so it does not sit as a layer.
Check price
Garvee
Steel garden cart, 900 lb
A flatbed wagon for bags of stone, soil and pavers; the sides come off.
Check price
Garvee
Broadcast spreader, 70 lb
Spreads seed, fertilizer and lime evenly over new topsoil.
Check price
Not the tool you were after? Browse the whole range at Garvee — the store these picks come from.
Based on your result
What you'll need
Have the soil graded, raked and damp before the pallets arrive — sod waits for no one, and the first roll should go down the morning it lands.
- Sod
- Whole pallets, plus loose rolls for the last part-pallet if the farm sells them
- Calculate above
- Rolls or slabs
- What the pallets hold, counted
- —
- Starter fertilizer
- Spread on the soil before laying; one bag covers about 5,000 sq ft
- —
- Lawn roller
- Presses the sod into the soil once it is down — rent one
- 1, rented
- Sod knife
- Cuts rolls around beds, paths and sprinkler heads
- 1
Pallet sizes
How many square feet in a pallet of sod
Farms cut to one of three pallet sizes. Ask which before you order: the same lawn takes a quarter more pallets at 400 than at 500.
| Pallet | Rolls (2 × 5 ft) | Slabs (16 × 24 in) | Weight, as delivered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 400 sq ft · 37.2 m² | 40 | 150 | 1,956 lb · 887 kg |
| 450 sq ft · 41.8 m² | 45 | 169 | 2,200 lb · 998 kg |
| 500 sq ft · 46.5 m² | 50 | 187 | 2,444 lb · 1,109 kg |
Dry and soaked weights, roll and slab sizes and what a trailer carries are on the sod pallet sizes and weights guide; how to keep the new lawn alive for its first six weeks is on new sod watering and rooting.
The maths
How much sod do I need?
The lawn the calculator opens with is 40 by 25 feet, 1,000 square feet. Five percent for cuts makes it 1,050 — 105 rolls, and 2.33 pallets of 450, which is 3 pallets: two full and 15 rolls loose.
pieces = ⌈ area ÷ piece size ⌉
pallets = ⌈ area ÷ pallet size ⌉
weight = pallets × pallet weight for the sod's moisture
- 01
Measure the lawn
Length and width for a rectangle, diameter for a round lawn, base and height for a corner. A lawn already measured in square feet or acres can go straight into the area field.
- 02
Add waste for cuts
Five percent for straight edges, ten for curves and beds, fifteen for a lawn broken up by paths and trees.
- 03
Pick the pallet the farm cuts
Pallets come in 400, 450, 500 sq ft. The pallet count turns on it, so ask before ordering.
- 04
Round up to whole pallets
Farms sell by the pallet; buy the last part-pallet as loose rolls if they allow it.
- 05
Weigh the order
A fresh pallet weighs about 2,200 lb. Check the trailer before promising to haul it.
Good to know
How this sod calculator works, and other questions
Three. With 5 percent for cuts the order is 1,050 sq ft, and even on 500 sq ft pallets that is 2.1 pallets, which rounds up to 3. Buy the last part as loose rolls if the farm sells them.
About 2,200 lb for a fresh 450 sq ft pallet, 1,500 lb if it has dried out and up to 3,000 lb soaked.
Not a whole pallet. A fresh pallet weighs about 2,200 lb, and a half-ton pickup is rated for 1,500 to 2,000 lb — load the rolls loose, half a pallet at a time, or have it delivered.
400 to 500 square feet, most often 450 — 45 rolls of 2 × 5 ft or about 169 slabs of 16 × 24 in.
The same day if you can. At 70 to 85 °F a pallet keeps about 24 hours before the middle of the stack starts to heat and die.
An inch or two of screened topsoil levels the ground and gives the new roots something loose to grow into. The topsoil calculator works out the yards. Topsoil calculator →