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Sod Weight Calculator

A pallet of sod outweighs a pickup's payload — the weight of yours, and what it means for getting it home.

An estimate — wet sod weighs more, and your truck's payload is on its door-jamb sticker.

50' · 600 in · 50 ft · 15.24 m

40' · 480 in · 40 ft · 12.192 m

2,000 ft²

Purdue Extension advises ordering about 10% extra, for the pieces cut at corners and edges, which is where this starts; a lawn of curves can want up to 20%. It is added once, to the sod — the soil under it is the size of the ground.

This page recalculates as you type. There is no Calculate button.

Answer

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Weight on the truck

14,507 lb

2,200 ft² with 10% waste · 825 slabs · about 14,507 lb on the truck

Buy 5 × pallet (16 × 24 in slabs)
Pieces, with waste 825 slabs
Whole pallets 5 pallets of 170 slabs
Lawn to cover 2,000 ft²
With the 10% for cuts 2,200 ft²
Soil to work in 12.5 yd³
Ticked items cost $1,150.00
DrawingThe project drawn to scale. Area 1: 50' × 40'.50'40'Area 1

Buying noteLay it the day it arrives: Purdue Extension wants sod down within 24 hours of being cut. Book the delivery for that day.
Buying note14,507 lb is about 10 pickup loads at ~1,500 lb a load, and one pallet is more than a load: have it delivered. Your truck's payload goes under Assumptions.

Breakdown

Area Measurements Qty Area Share
Area 1 50' × 40' Add ×1 2,000 ft²

What to buy

Buying noteLay it the day it arrives: Purdue Extension wants sod down within 24 hours of being cut. Book the delivery for that day.
Buying note14,507 lb is about 10 pickup loads at ~1,500 lb a load, and one pallet is more than a load: have it delivered. Your truck's payload goes under Assumptions.

Pallets or loose pieces

A pallet is a count of pieces, set under Assumptions. Each way is priced; pick the one you will buy.

5 × pallet (16 × 24 in slabs) Pieces 850 Left over 25 slabs Weight 14,507 lb Cost $1,150.00 Reference price $230.00. Type your store's.
4 × pallet (16 × 24 in slabs) + 145 × loose 16 × 24 in slab Pieces 825 Left over 0 slabs Weight 14,080 lb Cost $1,352.10
825 × loose 16 × 24 in slab Pieces 825 Left over 0 slabs Weight 14,080 lb Cost $2,458.50 Reference price $2.98. Type your store's.

Shopping list

5 5 × pallet (16 × 24 in slabs) $1,150.00
12.5 yd³ $522.50 Reference price $35.00. Type your store's. Reference price $85.00. Type your store's.
Ticked items $1,150.00

Untick what you already have. The sod is priced in the table above, the soil and the staples beside their own rows. The soil starts unticked: work it in where your soil test asks for it.

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How this was worked out

Every number below is yours. Each constant links to the row where you can change it.

Area 1 50' × 40' 2,000 ft²
With the waste for cuts 2,000 ft² × (1 + 10%) 2,200 ft²
One piece 16 in × 24 in ÷ 144 in²/ft² 2.6667 ft²
Pieces 2,200 ft² ÷ 2.6667 ft² 825 slabs
Pallets 825 slabs ÷ 170 slabs a pallet 4.85 → 5 pallets

Change:Slabs a pallet, 16 × 24 in

Weight of what you buy 2,266.67 ft² × 6.4 lb/ft² 14,507 lb

Change:Weight of sod

Soil under the lawn 2,000 ft² × 2 in ÷ 12 in/ft ÷ 27 ft³/yd³ 12.35 yd³ → 12.5 yd³

Change:Soil worked in under the sod

What it comes to 5 × $230.00 $1,150.00

Assumptions

Every one of these is editable. Change one and the answer changes with it.

Assumption Value Confidence
Slabs a pallet, 16 × 24 inThe Grass Outlet ships slab pallets of 399, 452 or 503 ft²; 452 ft² is 170 slabs of 16 × 24 in (2.667 ft² each). Purdue AY-28-W: a pallet holds about 50 yd², 450 ft². The count is our division; your farm's ticket says its own. ~ slabs/pallet Derived or single-supplier
Weight of sodThe Grass Outlet: a 450 ft² pallet weighs 2,800-3,000 lb, a piece 15-20 lb - about 6.2-6.7 lb/ft² for Southern slabs. Purdue AY-28-W gives 35-40 lb a square yard (3.9-4.4 lb/ft²) for thin-cut sod. The heavier figure, because it sizes the haul; wet sod weighs more. ~ lb/ft² Derived or single-supplier
Soil worked in under the sodPenn State Extension, Lawn Establishment: a 1 to 2 in layer of compost or peat worked 4 to 6 in into the soil before sodding. The top of that range; your soil test may ask for less. Purdue AY-28-W: compost at 1-3 yd³ per 1,000 ft², mixed 6-8 in deep. ≈ in Trade convention
Your truck's payloadFull-size (1500-series) pickups advertise 2,260-2,440 lb of payload (2026), and ordinary trims carry 600-700 lb less; this is the low end. Your truck's figure is on the driver's door-jamb placard. ~ lb Derived or single-supplier

How much a pallet of sod weighs

About 2,900 pounds. The Grass Outlet puts a 450 square foot pallet at 2,800 to 3,000 pounds and a single piece at 15 to 20; this page uses 6.4 pounds a square foot from that, which makes a pallet of 170 slabs of 16 by 24 inches 2,901 pounds and one slab 17 pounds. A lawn 20 by 20 feet takes 165 slabs with 10% for the cuts, so one pallet — and it weighs nearly twice what a full-size pickup is built to carry.

Purdue Extension gives a lighter figure, 35 to 40 pounds a square yard, for sod cut thin, with half to three quarters of an inch of soil on it. That is about 1,750 to 2,000 pounds a pallet. The page uses the heavier figure because it is the one that decides the truck, and wet sod is heavier than either. The weight a square foot is a box under Assumptions; if your farm states one, type it.

A pallet by the cut

Cut Pieces a pallet One piece A pallet
Slab, 16 × 24 in17017 lb2,901 lb
Slab, 18 × 24 in15019 lb2,880 lb
Roll, 18 × 40 in9032 lb2,880 lb
Roll, 18 in × 6 ft5058 lb2,880 lb
Roll, 2 × 5 ft4564 lb2,880 lb

Every pallet is about 450 square feet, so every pallet weighs about the same; what changes is what one piece weighs in your hands. The weight on the page is what you buy, not what the lawn needs: a pallet of 170 for a lawn of 165 is 170 slabs on the truck.

Getting it home

This page counts a pickup load at 1,500 pounds, the payload of a typical full-size half-ton truck; yours is on the sticker in the driver's door jamb, and it goes in the box under Assumptions. Even one pallet is two loads, and a pallet is not something two people lift: the farm delivers on a truck with a forklift or a liftgate. Ask what the delivery costs, be there when it comes, and say where the pallets go — on the driveway, near the lawn, out of the sun.

Then lay it the same day. Purdue wants sod down within 24 hours of being cut, and Penn State Extension says it spoils in 24 to 48 hours in warm weather, starting in the middle of the pallet where it heats. We are not connected with any farm, store or supplier named here.