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Yard Area0 SQ FT
This section: 0.00 sq ft
Sections measured
Plan View1:SCALE
Faint lines are sod courses at your slab length, drawn to scale so you can see how many rows the yard takes.
Sod To BuyLIVE
Slabs to buy
0 slabs
Waste allowance
5% is the floor, and only for a plain rectangle you can lay in straight courses. 10% is the normal figure. Go to 15% or more when the lawn has curved beds, tree rings, a winding path or lots of narrow strips, because every curve means cutting a slab and throwing most of it away.
How Your Sod Is Sold#SIZES
Slab size
= 2.67 sq ft per slab
16 by 24 inches is the size most often quoted, and it works out to 2.67 sq ft. It is not a standard in any enforceable sense: slab size varies by region and by grower, and some farms cut wider or longer to suit their harvester. Ask your supplier for their actual cut and type it in here before you order.
Big roll size
= 10.00 sq ft per roll
Many growers also sell rolled sod instead of hand slabs, commonly around 2 ft by 5 ft for a roll one person can carry. Sizes vary a lot by supplier, and true big rolls laid by machine can be far larger. Enter whatever your grower actually rolls.
Pallet coverage
A pallet is whatever that grower stacks on a pallet, and it is the number people get wrong most often. Figures commonly quoted run from about 400 to 500 sq ft, and some farms load less and some more. There is no universal pallet, so treat the buttons above as a starting range and replace them with the coverage printed on your grower's own price sheet.
Your Order#BUY
Materials Ticket#SOD
Enter your yard size to build the ticket.
Order the TOTAL TO COVER figure. It already includes your waste allowance, so it is the number to read out at the sod farm.
How This Is CalculatedSHOW WORK
The assumptions, stated
Slab area. A slab is width times length in inches, divided by 144 to get square feet. The commonly quoted 16 by 24 in slab is 384 sq in, which is 2.6667 sq ft, usually written as 2.67. That rounding is why a 1,000 sq ft lawn shows as 375 slabs before waste: 1,000 divided by 2.6667 is exactly 375. If you divide by the rounded 2.67 instead you get 374.5, so this page divides by the exact fraction and only rounds at the end.
Waste is added, never folded in. The base square footage, the waste square footage and the total to cover are three separate lines on every output here. That way you can hand the base figure to a landscaper and still know what you are buying.
Units to buy are always rounded up, because you cannot buy 0.4 of a slab. The leftover line is the difference between what the rounded-up units cover and what you actually need, and it is real: leftover sod is perishable, so plan a spot for it or trim the order.
Pallets are a delivery unit, not a measurement. Coverage per pallet is set by the grower. This page uses your number, defaults to 450 sq ft, and will never tell you a pallet is a fixed size.
Need help measuring an awkward lawn first? Use the square footage calculator, then come back with the total. If you are also building beds, the cubic yard calculator handles topsoil and the gravel calculator handles paths.
Before And After The Sod Arrives#PREP
Sod is a living crop that is cut, stacked and shipped with its roots exposed. Stacked sod heats up. In warm weather the usual advice is to lay it within about 24 hours of harvest, and sooner if it is hot or the pallet is sitting in the sun. That single fact is why prep comes first: if your ground is not ready on delivery day, the sod is losing quality while you rake.
- Grade before you orderKill or strip the old turf, remove rocks and roots, then rake the soil to a smooth final grade sloping away from the house. Finish about one inch low against paths, patios and driveways so the new lawn sits flush once the sod is down.
- Moisten the soil the day beforeSod laid on dry, dusty soil struggles to root. Water the graded bed so the top few inches are damp but not muddy. Damp soil also makes the slabs sit flat instead of bridging over high spots.
- Book delivery for a day you can lay itOrder so the pallets arrive the morning you are ready. If you cannot lay it all, keep the remaining pallets in shade and lightly watered, and lay them first the next morning.
- Lay in staggered courses, tight jointsStart against the longest straight edge, butt the joints without overlapping, and stagger the ends like brickwork. Cut the curves last with a sharp knife, which is exactly where your waste allowance goes.
- Roll and then water deeplyRoll or press the sod to get the roots in contact with the soil, then water immediately and heavily.
- Water deeply every day for the first two weeksNew sod has no root system yet, so it can only drink from the thin layer of soil it came with. Deep daily watering for roughly the first two weeks is what carries it through, then taper to less frequent but heavier watering as it roots in. This is where the prep pays off: sod laid on loose, damp, properly graded soil can push roots straight down and use that water, while sod laid on hard or dry ground sits there wicking away moisture and browning at the seams no matter how much you water.
Timing, watering volume and the best grass type all depend on your climate and the variety you buy. Your grower and your county extension office know your area, so confirm with them rather than with a calculator.
Sod Quick ReferenceSCREENSHOT ME
Lawn size to slabs, rolls and pallets
| Lawn area | Slabs at 2.67 sq ft | Rolls at 10 sq ft | Pallets at 450 sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 250 sq ft | 94 | 25 | 1 |
| 500 sq ft | 188 | 50 | 2 |
| 750 sq ft | 282 | 75 | 2 |
| 1,000 sq ft | 375 | 100 | 3 |
| 1,500 sq ft | 563 | 150 | 4 |
| 2,000 sq ft | 750 | 200 | 5 |
| 2,500 sq ft | 938 | 250 | 6 |
| 5,000 sq ft | 1,875 | 500 | 12 |
| 1 acre (43,560 sq ft) | 16,335 | 4,356 | 97 |
What each slab size covers
| Cut | Square inches | Square feet | Slabs per 1,000 sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 x 24 in | 384 | 2.67 | 375 |
| 15 x 24 in | 360 | 2.50 | 400 |
| 18 x 24 in | 432 | 3.00 | 334 |
| 16 x 36 in | 576 | 4.00 | 250 |
| 24 x 24 in | 576 | 4.00 | 250 |
| 24 in x 5 ft roll | 1,440 | 10.00 | 100 |
Finish The Yard
Sod Calculator FAQ
How many pieces of sod do I need for 1,000 square feet?
375 slabs at the commonly quoted 16 by 24 inch cut, before any waste allowance. The math is 1,000 sq ft divided by 2.6667 sq ft per slab, which comes out to exactly 375. Add a 10% waste allowance and you are ordering 1,100 sq ft, which is 413 slabs.
In rolls of about 2 ft by 5 ft, the same 1,000 sq ft is 100 rolls before waste. On pallets quoted at 450 sq ft it is 3 pallets, and you will have well over a pallet's worth of coverage spare, which is a good reason to ask the grower whether they sell part pallets.
How many square feet is a pallet of sod?
There is no single answer, and any calculator that gives you one number is guessing. Coverage per pallet is set by the individual grower, and figures commonly quoted run from about 400 to 500 sq ft. Some farms load smaller pallets for hand unloading and some load considerably larger ones for machine handling.
Get the number from the price sheet before you order and type it into the pallet field on this page. If you are shopping around, compare price per square foot rather than price per pallet, because two farms quoting the same pallet price can be 20% apart on the sod you actually receive.
Is a sod slab always 16 by 24 inches?
No. 16 by 24 in, giving 2.67 sq ft, is the size most often quoted and is a reasonable default, but slab size varies by region and by grower because it is set by the harvester the farm runs. You will find farms cutting narrower, longer, or rolling instead of slabbing entirely.
It matters more than it sounds. Switching from a 2.67 sq ft slab to a 2.50 sq ft slab adds 25 pieces per 1,000 sq ft. Ask for the cut size, enter it in the slab fields above, and the whole page recalculates.
How much waste should I add for sod?
Between 5% and 10% for a simple rectangular lawn you can lay in straight courses, and 15% or more for anything with curves. Every curved bed edge, tree ring, path and narrow strip means cutting a slab and discarding most of the offcut, and those cuts add up faster than people expect.
The waste allowance on this page is always shown as its own line, so you can see the base area, the allowance and the total separately. If you would rather order tight and go back for a few pieces, remember that sod from a later harvest may not match in color, and the grower may not have the same variety cut that week.
How soon do I have to lay sod after it is delivered?
As soon as you can, and the widely repeated guidance is within about 24 hours of harvest in warm weather. Sod is a living crop harvested with a thin layer of soil and no way to breathe once it is stacked. A pallet sitting in the sun heats from the inside and the sod yellows, then dies from the middle of the stack out.
In cool, overcast weather you have longer, and in hot weather you have less. If you must hold it, move the pallets into shade, keep the edges lightly watered, and lay the oldest pallet first. Plan the grading and the watering before delivery day so the ground is ready when the truck arrives.
How much should I water new sod?
Deeply, every day, for roughly the first two weeks, then taper to less frequent but heavier watering as it roots in. New sod has no root system reaching into your soil yet, so it can only drink from the thin layer of soil that came with it, and that layer dries out fast.
This is exactly why prep matters. Sod laid on loose, damp, correctly graded soil pushes roots straight down and uses the water you give it. Sod laid on hard, dry or lumpy ground sits above the soil, wicks its own moisture away and browns at the seams no matter how much you water. Exact volumes depend on your climate, soil and grass variety, so confirm the schedule with your grower or county extension office.
Should I measure the whole yard or just the grass?
Just the grass. Measure the area you are actually sodding and subtract the driveway, the patio, the deck footprint, the shed, and any planting bed that will stay a bed. Use Multiple Sections mode above to enter the lawn as several pieces, and enter beds and hard surfaces as sections you simply leave out.
For a lawn with a big curved bed cut into it, an easier route is to measure the whole rectangle, then measure the bed as a circle or a triangle, and subtract that figure from the total by hand before entering it. Getting the area right is worth more than any adjustment to the waste percentage.