When laying pavers, a correctly prepared sand bed is what keeps the surface level and stable over time — and the Paver Sand Calculator tells you exactly how much bedding sand to order. Enter your project's length, width, and sand depth (1 inch is the standard recommendation) to get the sand needed in cubic feet, plus the equivalent in cubic yards, project area, and the number of 50 lb bags required.
Sand Needed
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Sand Volume
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50 lb Sand Bags
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Project Area
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The amount of sand depends on your project area and desired depth. Typically, you need 1 inch of bedding sand under pavers. For a 200 sq ft patio, that would be about 16.7 cubic feet or 0.6 cubic yards of sand.
Coarse concrete sand or mason sand works best for paver bedding. It provides good drainage and compaction. Avoid fine sand or play sand as they don't compact well and can shift over time.
For most residential paver projects, a 1-inch layer of bedding sand is recommended. This sits on top of a 4-6 inch compacted gravel base. Commercial or heavy-traffic areas may need deeper bases.
Multiply your project area (length × width) by the sand depth to get volume. Convert to consistent units - for example, area in square feet times depth in feet gives cubic feet of sand needed.
No, polymeric sand is designed for filling joints between pavers, not as bedding sand. Use regular concrete sand or mason sand for the base layer, and polymeric sand only for the joints.
A 50 lb bag of sand covers approximately 2-3 square feet at 1 inch depth. For accurate estimates, calculate your total cubic feet needed and divide by the coverage per bag listed on the product.