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Donnie Raines
05-27-2005, 4:09 PM
I need to fill in some landscapeing around the house....honey-do-list stuff. How do you determine the qty needed in terms of yards, being that this is the way the supplier sells it?....I need more then a few bags sadly... :rolleyes:

Jeff Sudmeier
05-27-2005, 4:14 PM
Most suppliers will be able to let you know how much a yard covers. For example a yard covers so many square feet at 2 inches thick. Then you just figure out your square footage and how deep you want it.

You would think that I could figure out the formula myself, but alas I slept through algebra! :)

Donnie Raines
05-27-2005, 4:18 PM
Most suppliers will be able to let you know how much a yard covers. For example a yard covers so many square feet at 2 inches thick. Then you just figure out your square footage and how deep you want it.

You would think that I could figure out the formula myself, but alas I slept through algebra! :)

The last two times I relied upon the dealer to convert the numbers i ended up with enough mulch to do my house plus my folks....and we have a lot of lanscapeing. Plus, on another occassion I asked for 1.5 yards of mulch and got 3...... :rolleyes:

So I think they are as reliable as I am here. I always though that a yard was roughly one Bobcat scoop full... :D

Jeff Sudmeier
05-27-2005, 4:21 PM
Actually I just figured it out, I think.... Correct me if I am wrong:

(L*12*W*12*D)/46656=Yards

L in the formula equals the length in feet of the area you want to cover.
W in the forumla equals the width in feed of the area you want to cover.
D in the formula equals the depth you would like of the mulch

46656 is the number of square inches in a yard.

You can also use the attached spreadsheet and type in your own values of each location you would like to mulch.

The calculator is dependant on the above formula being correct, which I belive it is.

Jeff Sudmeier
05-27-2005, 4:32 PM
So I think they are as reliable as I am here. I always though that a yard was roughly one Bobcat scoop full... :D

Most Bobcat buckets are 1/3rd yards, so that would be 3 buckets to a yard :)

Doug Shepard
05-27-2005, 4:34 PM
Actually I just figured it out, I think.... Correct me if I am wrong:

(L*12*W*12*D)/46656=Yards

L in the formula equals the length in feet of the area you want to cover.
W in the forumla equals the width in feed of the area you want to cover.
D in the formula equals the depth you would like of the mulch

46656 is the number of square inches in a yard.

You can also use the attached spreadsheet and type in your own values of each location you would like to mulch.

The calculator is dependant on the above formula being correct, which I belive it is.

Pretty close - them units will get you every time.:D
46656 is the number of cubic inches in a yard, but otherwise, as long as D is in inches, the math will work.
You can simplify it a bit though by cancelling out the 2 "*12" terms from the numerator & denominator.
(L*W*D)/324=Yards
L&W in feet, D in inches

Ken Garlock
05-27-2005, 4:53 PM
Lets make it easy. First envision a cube 3 ft square on the base, and 3 ft. high for 27 cubic feet (3x3x3). Next decide how deep you want your mulch to be, say 4 inches on average. Divide 4 inches into 36 inches(3ft) high cube. 36/4= 9. 9 is the number of 3x3 ft square areas(aka square yards) that can be covered by one cubic yard of mulch laid 4 inches deep. IF you wanted it 2 in. deep, then divide 2 into 36 for 18 3ft squares of mulch.

So Donnie, measure your garden area and calculate the area in square feet. Divide that area by 9, the foot print of the cubic yard above. This will tell you how many square yards you will need. Next divide the square yards by the number of square yards you can get out of a cubic yard as worked out above. In our case of 4 inches deep, we got 9 square yards, so we would divide by 9 to get the number of yards.

Example: your front foundation garden is 6ft. deep and the total width is 60 ft. We have 360 square feet of garden to cover 4 inches deep. 360/9=40 square yards. We know that a square yard 4 in. deep gives 9 sq. yards per cubic yard. Hence, 40/9= 4 4/9, call it 4.5 cubic yards, and round up to 5 for "spillage."

Tim Morton
05-27-2005, 8:19 PM
generally speaking a full sized pick-up will hold 2 yards of top soil. That will cover an area (ish) 20'x20' x2" thick.....of course YMMV:)

Ernie Nyvall
05-27-2005, 9:27 PM
I determine a yard like this. Anything inside the fence is a yard and anything outside the fence is the field/pasture. :D

Ernie

Michael Perata
05-28-2005, 12:01 AM
A yard of dirt being cut from the ground is not the same as a yard of fill. Difference is anywhere from 5 to 20% and is referred to as the fluff.

If you are buying material that has to be compacted, then you'll end up needing more than a simple calculation provides.

Jerry Olexa
05-28-2005, 12:42 AM
Sometimes I prefer a yard of ale....:D

Bill Lewis
05-28-2005, 2:15 PM
A good friend of mine has a landscaping/mowing business. He buys all my mulch for me. Different places use different size buckets. They can be larger and smaller than a yard. One place he goes to has a yard and half bucket. So he'll ask for 4 yards and get three scoops.

A yard of mulch is very unscientific, unless you buy it in bags. Which, BTW, is what I would do if I didn't have a tractor with a loader. Handling bulk mulch is a pain without the right equipment. It's easier to move bags around than loading a wheelbarrow.

Donnie Raines
05-31-2005, 8:19 AM
Thanks gents.

I posted this to late on Friday to see all of the responses.

In the end I needed two full yards of soil ......that stuff really made the ole' Dodge squat.....but we made it home.