A typical form of dirt used around the home is topsoil. Whether you’re doing landscaping, gardening, or anything else that calls for topsoil, knowing how much a cubic yard of topsoil weighs is vital.
As a result, you’ll know what you can fit into your truck or trailer without being overweight or causing damage.
With ideal conditions, you can find topsoil weighs between 1,080- and 2,000 pounds per cubic yard. Yet, once it gets wet, topsoil will be substantially heavier and can weigh half as much again, causing excessive weight in your vehicle.
Besides weight, you need to know the amount of space it will take up for each cubic yard in your pickup truck.
While you may think this is all the information you need, there is more to know about the actual weight of a cubic yard of dirt. (Learn What Kind Of Soil Do Tomatoes Like)
In our guide, you can learn the definitive answer of how much does a yard of dirt weigh, how much the same amount weighs under different conditions, and how much dirt costs, along with how many yards you will need without using online dirt calculators to do the math for you.
By the end, you’ll learn more important things, such as how many wheelbarrows you will need to move your dump truck load of high-quality topsoil from the front of your home to your yard.
Will a Yard of Topsoil Fit In a Pickup Truck?
Before you determine how much a yard of topsoil weighs, it is good to know the soil you’re dealing with and how much space you need to collect your dirt from your garden center.
Checking the manufacturer’s manual is recommended as you need to know what your vehicle can carry and the size of vehicle bed you have.
Topsoil and fill dirt are the two types of dirt. Fill dirt is used to grade your property’s soil levels, and fill dirt is the soil you find beneath your topsoil. With this, you’ll discover it contains little organic matter and isn’t as good for your plants and crops as the very top layer.
The organic material and other nutrients are found in the topsoil, and which you will have at around 4 to 12 inches deep. Carbon and nitrogen are two vital nutrients you get for plant growth, which you find in high-quality topsoil.
With the increased nutrients and organic matter levels, you can help your plants with more oxygen since there are more air pockets than you get in the supporting layer underneath. In addition, topsoil benefits from added fertilizer and compost to deliver an added boost of helpful nutrients. (Learn How Long Does Roundup Stay In The Soil)
Over a few months, you can transform your topsoil into premium garden soil by adding fertilizer and compost in the right amounts.
- When you need to collect such screened soil for your garden, you’ll see that full-size pickup trucks can carry 2 cubic yards of soil, 2-3 cubic yards of garden mulch, or 1 cubic yard of stone or gravel.
- A small pickup or trailer can often carry 1 cubic yard of soil and possibly 1½ yards of mulch.
It is worth noting, the volume of dirt depends on weather conditions, and if you have to fill dirt or topsoil to carry, and if it is wet.
How Much Does a 1/2 Yard of Topsoil Weigh?
A cubic yard of topsoil weight can be 1400 lbs. up to 2000 pounds or more. A 40-pound bag of topsoil will cover around 0.75 cubic feet of volume. Adding to this, you’ll find one cubic yard equates to 27 cubic feet.
The weight of a yard of topsoil will vary depending on composition, moisture content, and any small rocks in it. Wetter soils will weigh significantly more than good-quality dry soil.
Sifting is possible depending on the supplier and who removes rocks and other material like sticks and small wood chips that can affect quality and weight.
How Many 40lb Bags of Topsoil Are in a Yard?
In response to the question, “How many bags of topsoil in a cubic yard?” a bag of topsoil packed in 40lb weight gives 0.5 cubic feet; hence the number of 40lb bags in a cubic yard = 27/0.5 = 54 bags, implying that a cubic yard contains 54 bags of 40lb topsoil.
You’ll need to think in terms of cubes to figure out how much topsoil you’ll need for your project. This refers to how much topsoil you’ll need to cover in terms of depth, width, and length.
To calculate the overall cubic foot measurement, add the three dimensions together and multiply them. You can always return to this formula to estimate how much topsoil you need and how much your topsoil delivery will weigh as long as you have these dimensions.
While cubic feet may be sufficient for your job, you may need to know how many cubic yards of topsoil is required. Divide the figure you got for feet by 27 to convert cubic feet to cubic yards. The resulting value is the cubic yardage of topsoil you’ll need.
For example, imagine a raised garden that is 4 feet by 5 feet, and it needs to be 0.5 feet deep. Here are the calculations to help break this down and make it easier to understand.
- Soil Volume = area length x area width x soil depth
- Soil Volume = 4 feet x 5 feet x 0.5 feet
- Total Soil Volume = 10 cubic feet
If you need to convert your cubic feet into cubic yards, carry out the following:
- 1 cubic yard = 27 cubic feet
- 10 cubic feet ÷ 27 cubic feet
To get the answer for the above calculation, you’ll find the result is 0.37, which means you’ll need 0.37 cubic yards for your project.
How many tons is a yard of topsoil?
A typical cubic yard of topsoil weighs around 2700 pounds or 1.35 tons. Topsoil is usually sold in cubic yards, but smaller quantities can be purchased in cubic foot sizes.
Bags measured to exact measurements can make things easier. One cubic yard of topsoil is approximately 1,080 pounds when calculated using traditional cubic yard calculations, but it will weigh around 2,000 pounds because of the impact of other factors.
In bags, you may have to live with small debris, yet it can be in the right direction to be cost-effective if it has rained. It also makes it far easier to use around your flower bed when you only need small amounts. (Read Can I Reuse Potting Soil)
One cubic foot of dirt weighs about 40 pounds if purchased in cubic feet.
However, the exact weight is determined by a variety of factors. The amount of moisture in the soil and tiny particles in the topsoil are two of these parameters. Topsoil has less silt than fill dirt, and the weight measurements will be more constant.
Look at some variables that affect the weight of a cubic yard of topsoil.
Wet Or Dry:
Moisture in the soil helps keep it together and is the most crucial factor to consider when calculating a cubic yard of topsoil. A cubic yard of dry topsoil, for example, weighs roughly 2,000 pounds, but the same soil soaked can weigh up to 3,000 pounds.
We recommend buying topsoil on a dry day when rain or other moisture hasn’t changed the weight.
Additives:
Minerals, nutrients, active creatures, and decomposing organic matter are present in variable concentrations in all soils, including topsoil. The weight of one cubic yard of topsoil is substantially determined by its composition.
For example, a cubic yard of sandy, dry soil, weighs roughly 2,600 pounds. Although, a cubic yard of dry clay soil weighs around 1,700 pounds. When buying topsoil, double-check the weight with the provider.
Blended and Unbleached:
Some soils come with compost or small wood chips already mixed in. Wood chips improve drainage, and compost offers additional nutrients to the soil for gardening. The weights of soils that contain extra components, such as these, will vary.
A cubic yard of woodchips weighs roughly 1,000 pounds, whereas a cubic yard of topsoil weighs 2,000 pounds. The overall weight of one cubic yard of topsoil will be reduced by combining these two elements.
When you buy topsoil from a provider, you have two options for getting it to your house or wherever else you need it: loading it into the back of your truck or trailer and transporting it yourself or having it delivered.
If you opt to transport it yourself, you must first determine how much weight your vehicle can hold. Otherwise, you might have to use a different approach.
One to two cubic yards of topsoil can usually be handled by a trailer or vehicle. This is determined mainly by whether the truck is full-size or compact.
A small dump truck can transport five cubic yards of topsoil, whereas a large dump truck can hold over ten cubic yards.
Regardless of how you get your dirt home, attempt to have it delivered to a site as close to where you’ll be using it as workable.
A conventional wheelbarrow can hold around three cubic feet of material but transporting one that weighs over 120 pounds is a different issue. It will take you around nine trips to transfer one cubic yard of topsoil.
Depending on your yard tasks, use none of the earth’s surface where you have added topsoil to build solid structures. It doesn’t matter how much does a yard of topsoil weigh when doing this as it will be too soft and it can’t bear the weight of any heavy structure.
