Sod Calculator: How Much Sod for Your Lawn, in Rolls and Pallets

About

Type the length and width, or draw the lawn on the canvas below as a surface with curved edges and use its area; a 1,200 sq ft lawn with 5 percent waste is 1,260 sq ft, 126 rolls of 10 sq ft, three 500 sq ft pallets, about 9,000 lb on the truck. The roll size, the pallet size and the pallet weight are all set by the farm, so the inputs are editable and the defaults are only the common ones. It is plain arithmetic, not an AI estimate. Sod is cut to order and starts dying on the pallet, so the count has to be right the first time.

01

From lawn area to rolls and pallets

Measure the lawn as rectangles and add them, or draw it on the canvas with the ground tool, read the area and type it into the area box; curves and the odd bed cut out of a corner are the usual reason the tape measure undercounts. Add waste: 5 percent for a simple rectangle, 10 percent for a shape with many curves and edges, because every cut piece leaves a strip you cannot use. Then divide by the roll: the common US roll is 2 × 5 ft, 10 sq ft; some farms cut 16 × 24 in slabs at 2.67 sq ft, some sell big rolls of 4 × 100 ft for machines. Round up to whole rolls.

Pallets are how it is priced and delivered. A pallet holds 400 to 700 sq ft depending on the farm, 500 is the usual quote, and weighs 2,500 to 3,500 lb depending on how wet the soil was when it was cut. The 1,200 sq ft lawn at 5 percent waste needs 1,260 sq ft, 126 rolls, three 500 sq ft pallets and about 9,000 lb; at 10 percent waste it is 1,320 sq ft and 132 rolls, still three pallets. Ask the farm for its pallet size and put it in the box; the third pallet is often half empty, and some farms sell part pallets.

• Square feet to order = lawn area × (1 + waste).
• Rolls = square feet to order ÷ square feet per roll, rounded up.
• Pallets = square feet to order ÷ square feet per pallet, rounded up.
• Weight ≈ pallets × pallet weight; a pickup carries one pallet at most.

02

Topsoil first, then sod

Sod laid on compacted subsoil roots badly. If the ground needs building up, type the depth of topsoil to spread and the calculator adds the cubic yards at area × depth ÷ 27: 2 in over 1,200 sq ft is 7.4 cubic yards, before settling. For the full topsoil arithmetic with settling, bags and tons, use the topsoil calculator; for a bed or a path next to the lawn, the cubic yards and paver base calculators. Grass seed is a different material at a different rate and is not on this page.

03

When to order, and the day it arrives

Searches for sod peak in April and May, and the farms are busiest then; cool-season sod lays best in spring and early autumn, warm-season sod in late spring and summer. Order for delivery the day you lay it: a pallet left in the sun for two days is compost. Lay the first row along the longest straight edge, stagger the joints like brickwork, and cut around the curves you drew on the canvas with a knife. The canvas is a schematic drawing of the lawn, not an AI, and its area is what you ordered against.

04

What this sod calculator does not do

It does not pick the grass: Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue, Bermuda, zoysia and St Augustine depend on your region and your shade, and the farm or the county extension office knows. It has no prices: sod is quoted per roll or per pallet by the farm, delivery by the mile, and installation by the square foot. It also does not count the fertiliser, the sprinkler run time or the roller rental; those come from the farm’s laying instructions.