How much dirt?

HI all,
I realize this isn’t fishing related but we have a lot of smart people on here and the quicker I can get this project done, the quicker I can go fishing again. I just had a new concrete driveway installed. After they ripped out my asphalt and built the forms, I now have roughly a 6″ gap between my yard and the driveway all the way down on each side. Roughly 35ft on each side – the right side curves to accommodate my third stall so it’s a little longer. The trenches are each about 5-6″ deep.

How do I calculate how may yards of dirt would be needed to fill these?

L x W x H = volume

if in inches divide by 36

if in feet divide by 3

Find an online calculator! Looks like you need about .65 yards.

L x W x D gives you cubic feet. Divide by 27 to give you cubic yards. So… .5 X .5 X 35 X 2 = 17.5 cubic feet. Divided by 27 gives you less than 2/3 of a yard.

6″ x 6″ x 420″ (35′) x 2 = 5/8 of a cubic yard.

HRG

36″x36″x36″= 46656 cubic inches in a cubic yard
There are 46656 cubic inches in a cubic yard

3’x3’x3’= 27 cubic feet
There are 27 cubic feet in a cubic yard.

inches
35x12x6x6= 15120
1512/46656= .324 yards per side

feet
35x.5x.5= 8.75
8.75/27= .324 yards per side

Snake ii’s wrote:

L x W x H = volume

if in inches divide by 36

if in feet divide by 3

Using this math it would be almost 6 yards instead of 5/8 of a yard if you use feet!
1296 yards using inches!

Thanks all! I should’ve known there were several online calculator options. I found this one that seem to help me.

https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/construction/cubic-yards-calculator.php

.65 cubic yds seems like what I need. I’m gonna go with a full yard -if I have extra I have some spaces/holes to fill. I’ll find a use for it.

Thanks for all your help!

What she said.

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Order a full yard and use any leftovers to top dress and level your lawn.

I ran pavers along the concrete edge. Would do it again. The extra 1′ – 2′ of width comes in handy and really dresses up the concrete.

Pete

Black dirt compacts a lot. No way is less than a yard (or more) will fill it and look right/level.

My concrete contractor took care of that gap.

When we purchased our house a few years ago there was a big hole in the back yard. The prior owners were planning to pour a patio and had it all prep’d. We decided we would just fill it back in and sod it. Well we worked at filling it with dirt that we get for free from the local compost site for the last 2 summers. We finally decided to get it finished this year. It seemed like most of the dirt we put in the last two summers was gone. We made run after run to the compost site. Got tired of filling it and said its good enough. Sodded it and it now looks like poop. Should have filled it more. It settled more than I thought and the sod was not near as thick as I thought. Going to just let it go and see how bad it turns out. My guess is I will end up pulling up the sod and redoing it this fall or next spring. So to answer the ? – Buy more dirt than you think !!!

Mix it 50/50 or 25/75 dirt/sand. The sand will hold the dirt up better without it becoming a compacted mess. It will also hold more water than plain dirt ever will and won’t wash away. The grass will grow deeper roots in the sand as well.

**edit**
If just top-dressing use a sifted sand like masons sand or whatever you can get that doesn’t contain larger (pea-sized)pebbles. The pebbles can work their way to the top and ruin lawn mower blades and just ruin the lawns appearance.

Just get 2 yards, I guarantee you’ll find a use for whatever you don’t use.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

What she said.

We’re talking about dirt right?!

Get more. When planting grass seed it is a good idea to cover it a bit with some top soil to stop the birds from having a buffet and hold moisture.

Inches needed divided my 12. Take that number times sq ft then divided by 27

Good one Nick

ThunderLund – How much you gonna order?, a lotta dirt aficionados here.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

Good one Nick

ThunderLund – How much you gonna order?, a lotta dirt aficionados here.

AGREE! Gonna start with a yard which should be nearly twice what I need – and if it happens that I do need more, I don’t live far from where I’m getting it. I have a short box Colorado – might be hard to get two yards in it cleanly, anyway. I like the “mix with sand” idea, especially give the slightly downhill application. I will see what I can do with that.

ThunderLund78 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Eelpoutguy wrote:</div>
Good one Nick

ThunderLund – How much you gonna order?, a lotta dirt aficionados here.

AGREE! Gonna start with a yard which should be nearly twice what I need – and if it happens that I do need more, I don’t live far from where I’m getting it. I have a short box Colorado – might be hard to get two yards in it cleanly, anyway. I like the “mix with sand” idea, especially give the slightly downhill application. I will see what I can do with that.

you wont even get a full yard in that truck unless you dont like your springs

Agreed maybe borrow a trailer, thats a lot of weight for that truck.

Ah! you’re right. I was looking at the source I was reading yesterday and I read the totals wrong. I was looking at weight for a pound of mulch, not dirt blends. Yes, a yard would be too heavy. GLAD I POSTED THIS.

We’ll see what the landscaping company recommends. If I have to do a half at a time, I will. Unfortunately, I will not have access to a trailer, gotta figure out something to get this done. Maybe I’ll see if they can deliver, but I’d rather not have a pile anywhere on my new driveway or lawn. Was hoping to shovel it right out of the back of the truck into the gap or at least into a wheel barrow.

if its close to home take multiple trips. i would rather shovel it off the driveway into a wheel barrow rather than out of the truck but thats just me

Just to close the loop for everyone who took a guess or did their own math… As for the job itself, I’d say the online calculator was spot-on at .65 yds. I ended up ordering 1.5 yards and just paid for the delivery. Shoveled in the heat Saturday. Then went back to the Landscaping place and bought a bunch of field rocks and did rock rings around my two black maples. I still have probably 1/4 yard of dirt left. I moved it to my back yard and have a few more projects I can use it for. It all turned out pretty nice. Really have to stay on top of watering the grass seed in this heat. Gonna find some flowering shade annuals for the rock rings and mulch over the dirt.

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I did something similar this spring to a couple trees in my back yard that outgrew the the landscape edging, I used granite corrings and stuck them in the ground so I didn’t have to weed wack around them

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ThunderLund78 wrote:

Gonna find some flowering shade annuals for the rock rings and mulch over the dirt.

Looks good! Make sure you use some landscaping fabric so you don’t have to constantly pick weeds.

BigWerm wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>ThunderLund78 wrote:</div>
Gonna find some flowering shade annuals for the rock rings and mulch over the dirt.

Looks good! Make sure you use some landscaping fabric so you don’t have to constantly pick weeds.

On the advice of a landscaping friend, I don’t use fabric or plastic. He keyed me in on this professional strength pre-emergent called “Snapshot” prevents about 95% of germination, but wont harm existing plants. You’ll get one or two weeds that sprout but pretty easy to stay on-top of. I treat my landscaping twice a year and pluck a few things here and there, but that’s about it. No fabric or plastic.