Cubic yard calculator
Enter the length, width and depth of a space to see how many cubic yards it holds, with extra for waste. A second tool turns cubic feet, cubic meters, liters or gallons into cubic yards.
How many cubic yards is the space?
This answer is for the example values in the boxes above. 20 ft by 10 ft by 4 in, 10% extra. Change the boxes to see your own answer.
A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet. Each side is changed to feet first and the three are multiplied.
Turn a volume into cubic yards
A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, a cubic foot is 1,728 cubic inches and a U.S. gallon is 231 cubic inches.
How it works
The calculator changes the length, the width and the depth to feet, multiplies the three, and divides by 27, because a cubic yard is 27 cubic feet. The length and the width share one unit and the depth has its own, so you do not have to turn 4 inches into feet before you type it. Feet, inches, yards, meters and centimeters are on both lists.
The extra covers waste and spills. If you have several beds, holes or piles of the same size, type how many. Type a price per cubic yard to see the cost, which is the amount shown times the price.
A worked example
A bed of 20 by 10 feet and 4 inches deep has a surface of 200 square feet. Four inches is a third of a foot, so the volume is 66.7 cubic feet. That is 2.47 cubic yards, or 1.89 cubic meters. With 10 percent extra you order 2.72 cubic yards. At $45.00 a cubic yard that costs $122.40, the 2.72 shown times the price.
Three beds of 8 by 4 feet and 6 inches deep come to 48 cubic feet, which is 1.78 cubic yards. A space of 5 by 3 meters and 10 centimeters deep is 1.5 cubic meters, or 1.96 cubic yards.
Turning a volume into cubic yards
The second tool takes a volume in cubic feet, cubic yards, cubic inches, cubic meters, liters or U.S. gallons and shows it in all six. A volume of 100 cubic feet is 3.7037 cubic yards, 172,800 cubic inches, 2.8317 cubic meters, 2,831.68 liters and 748.0519 gallons. One cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, 46,656 cubic inches, 0.7646 cubic meters, 764.5549 liters and 201.974 gallons.
The factors are exact. The yard is 0.9144 meter, the foot is 0.3048 meter and the inch is 0.0254 meter by definition, and a U.S. gallon is 231 cubic inches.
What it leaves out
The calculator gives a volume and nothing else. It does not know the weight of a material, how much it settles, or how your supplier sells it. The pages for concrete, mulch and gravel add bags and tons.
Sources
Questions
How many cubic feet are in a cubic yard?
27. A yard is 3 feet, and 3 times 3 times 3 is 27. A cubic yard is also 46,656 cubic inches, because a cubic foot is 1,728.
How do I work out cubic yards from length, width and depth?
Change each side to feet, multiply the three, and divide by 27. A space of 20 by 10 feet that is 4 inches deep is 66.7 cubic feet, which is 2.47 cubic yards.
How do I turn cubic feet into cubic yards?
Divide by 27. A volume of 100 cubic feet is 3.7037 cubic yards.
How many cubic yards are in a cubic meter?
About 1.308. The yard is exactly 0.9144 meter, so a cubic yard is exactly 0.764554857984 cubic meter. Two cubic meters are 2.6159 cubic yards.
How much extra should I order?
That depends on the material and the ground, and your supplier can tell you. The calculator starts at 10%, which is its own starting value and not a rule. Set it to 0 to see the exact volume.
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