Many of our customers visit Timberline to get bulk materials such as soil, mulch, gravel and other crushed rocks. We are unique in that we sell by volume rather than weight, so often times customers need to know how much they need. It really is just simple math, so let’s get started.

There are two pieces of information you must have to calculate how many cubic yards of material you’ll need: The square footage (area) of the coverage area, and how deep you’d like it to be (depth).

So let’s say you have a planter bed you want to cover with mulch and you’ve calculated the total square footage at 500 square feet. And, you want the mulch to be two inches deep. That’s all you need to know.
Area, in this case square feet, is calculated by multiplying width times length.

Break out your calculator and a pen and paper and do the following steps.

1. First you’ll need to convert your depth into inches. This is accomplished by diving your depth by 12.
   Ex: 2″ / 12 = 0.167
2. Next you’ll calculate total volume by multiplying your converted depth times your square footage.
3. Last, divide your total volume by 27, because there are 27 cubic feet in a cubic yard. That’s all there is to it.

If you’re shopping around on Timberline Gardens’ website, we even have a super easy-to-use coverage calculator tool right on our Bulk Materials page under ‘Our Products’. Using our calculator tool, you can get your total without a fuss and compare pricing on our bulk materials page, all in one place.

If you’re having a material delivered, we always suggest two things: 1) That you come to Timberline and touch, feel and look at the material prior to purchasing it, and 2) Make sure to remember there will be additional delivery costs on top of the material cost.

For more information, leave questions in the comments below or give us a call at (303) 420-4060. We’ll be happy to help you with any of your bulk material questions or concerns.