How Much Sod for 500 Square Feet?
Pallets to buy
2 pallets
500 square feet of new lawn, nothing deducted, 10 sq ft pieces, five percent waste.
At 2,888 pounds this is more than a half ton pickup should carry in one trip. Price the delivery before you price the fuel.
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How that number is worked out
These are the figures this page was built with and every line the calculator produces from them. Change anything above and all of it moves.
- Lawn length50 ft
- Lawn width10 ft
- Beds and hardscape to deduct0 sq ft
- Piece sizeRoll, 2 by 5 ft
- Pallet coverage450 sq ft
- Topsoil to spread2 in
- Waste allowance5 %
Pallets to buy2 pallets
At 2,888 pounds this is more than a half ton pickup should carry in one trip. Price the delivery before you price the fuel.
| Gross area | 500 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Beds and hardscape | 0 sq ft |
| Net area | 500 sq ft |
| With waste | 525 sq ft5 percent |
| Pieces needed | 5310 sq ft each |
| Pallets to buy | 245 pieces on a 450 sq ft pallet |
| Left over on the last pallet | 375 sq fta pallet does not divide |
| Sod weight | 1.44 tons2,888 lb at 5.5 lb a sq ft |
| Topsoil to spread | 3.09 cu yd2 in over the net area, order 4 because bulk soil sells by the whole yard |
| Water, one inch | 312 gal0.623 gallons a sq ft |
The material list this produces
| Sod pallets | 2 |
|---|---|
| Or sod pieces | 53 |
| Starter fertilizer, bags | 1 |
| Topsoil, cu yd | 4 |
Lawn area compared
Every small lawn size on this list, at the same piece and pallet coverage. Watch the last column rather than the first: the pallet count steps, and the square feet you pay for and do not use swings from almost nothing to most of a pallet between one size and the next.
| Lawn area | Pallets to buy | Pieces needed | Left over on the last pallet |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 sq ft | 1 pallet | 6 | 397.5 sq ft |
| 100 sq ft | 1 pallet | 11 | 345 sq ft |
| 200 sq ft | 1 pallet | 21 | 240 sq ft |
| 250 sq ft | 1 pallet | 27 | 187.5 sq ft |
| 300 sq ft | 1 pallet | 32 | 135 sq ft |
| 400 sq ft | 1 pallet | 42 | 30 sq ft |
| 500 sq ft | 2 pallets | 53 | 375 sq ft |
| 600 sq ft | 2 pallets | 63 | 270 sq ft |
| 700 sq ft | 2 pallets | 74 | 165 sq ft |
| 800 sq ft | 2 pallets | 84 | 60 sq ft |
| 1,000 sq ft | 3 pallets | 105 | 300 sq ft |
What else matters here
Five hundred square feet is the worst size on this list and it is worth knowing why before ordering. It needs 53 pieces, a pallet holds 45, so it takes two pallets and leaves 375 sq ft on the driveway.
Eight pieces over a pallet costs a whole second pallet. Nothing about the lawn changed between 450 square feet and 500, but the order doubled. This is the single most useful thing to know about buying sod, and it is completely invisible until you have the pallet count in front of you.
There are only three sensible responses. Reduce the area slightly, by widening a bed or pulling an edge in, and land back on one pallet. Or find somewhere else in the yard for 375 square feet, laid the same day. Or ask the supplier whether they will sell one pallet plus eight loose pieces, which many will, at a premium on the pieces that is still far less than a second pallet.
What this calculator assumes
- Sod is bought by the pallet and a pallet does not divide, so the order is rounded up to a whole pallet and the leftover is printed rather than hidden. Pallet coverage is a yard by yard number, from 400 to 600 square feet, which is why it is a field here instead of a constant.
- Waste sits at five percent rather than the ten a sheet material gets. Sod cuts around a curve with a knife and the offcut usually goes somewhere, so the loss is real but smaller.
- Weight is figured at 5.5 pounds a square foot, which is a pallet around two and a half thousand pounds. Freshly cut or wet sod runs heavier, and that is the number that matters when you decide whether it goes in a pickup or on a delivery truck.
- Topsoil is the amount to spread and grade before the sod goes down, not the amount already there. Two inches is the common starting point on a bare or stripped yard and none at all is right on ground that is already good.
- A pallet line and a piece line are both printed because yards sell sod both ways, by the pallet on a big lawn and by the piece on a patch. Only one of those two lines gets bought.
- Starter fertilizer is figured at a bag per five thousand square feet, which is where most starter products land. Read your bag rather than this line, because the spread rate is printed on it.
- The water line is one inch over the whole lawn, which is 0.623 gallons a square foot. New sod wants roughly that much every day for the first week, which is the part of a sod job people underestimate.
Questions people ask
How many pallets of sod for 500 square feet?
2 pallets, because 53 pieces are needed and a pallet holds 45. That leaves 375 square feet over.
How do I avoid buying a second pallet of sod?
Trim the area slightly so it lands under a full pallet, find another use for the surplus the same day, or ask whether the supplier will sell a pallet plus loose pieces. Many will, and the premium on eight pieces beats a whole pallet.
How many pieces of sod are on a pallet?
45 at the coverage this calculator uses, based on 10 square foot pieces and 450 square feet a pallet. Both vary by grower, so confirm before ordering.
The sod calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.