How much fill sand do you need?
Enter the size of the hole, trench or pad you are filling. You get tons, cubic yards and truck loads of fill sand.
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How this was worked out
Assumes fill sand at 1.3 tons per cubic yard. Damp sand weighs more than dry, so ask your supplier for their number.
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About fill sand
Fill sand is sand dug and sold as it comes out of the ground, with no washing and only rough screening. It packs well and drains, so it is used to raise low spots, backfill trenches and build pads. Plumbers bed pipe in 4 to 6 inches of it so no rock rests against the pipe.
More about fill sand
Fill sand varies from pit to pit. Some loads are clean yellow or tan sand, while others carry clay, silt or the odd root, and the color can hint at which you have. It takes less work at the pit than washed sand, and it is meant for jobs where nobody will see or touch it.
In a pipe trench, lay 4 to 6 inches under the pipe, set the pipe, then cover it by hand before any machine fills the rest. Under a slab or a shed pad, spread it in lifts of about 6 inches and run a plate compactor over each one while the sand is damp. Bone dry sand will not pack, and soaked sand just moves around under the plate.
Sand with a lot of clay in it holds water and packs less evenly, so ask what you are getting if it goes under a building. Because it is never washed, a pile that sat through a wet week weighs more than a dry one, often by 10 to 15 percent, and the ticket counts that water as sand.