Bags in a cubic yard
A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet.
| Bag size | Bags per cubic yard |
|---|---|
| 1 cu ft | 27 |
| 1.5 cu ft | 18 |
| 2 cu ft | 13.5 |
| 3 cu ft | 9 |
The table shows volume equivalents, not whole-bag purchases. To buy at least one cubic yard in 2 cu ft bags, round 13.5 up to 14 bags, giving 28 cu ft.
From bed to bags
Multiply the bed area in square feet by the depth in feet to get cubic feet, then divide by the bag size and round up.
Iowa State’s example: 265 square feet of bed at 1½ inches deep (0.125 ft) needs 265 × 0.125 = 33.1 cubic feet. That is 17 bags of 2 cubic feet, or about 1.2 cubic yards in bulk.
Metric
One cubic foot is about 28.3 litres, so a 2 cubic foot bag holds about 57 litres.