Fill Sand Delivery
Unwashed, inexpensive, and bought by the load. The volume sand for moving grade around a site.
What fill sand is for
Fill sand is the cheapest way to move a large volume of granular material onto a site. It is natural, unwashed sand — some silt content, variable gradation depending on where it came from — and it is bought when what you need is bulk and compactability rather than cleanliness.
The most common uses in our area are backfill and grade raising. Pool contractors use a lot of it for over-dig backfill. Septic installers use it around tanks and in drainfields. Site contractors use it to bring a lot up to grade before base goes down.
Because it is unwashed, it is not the right choice anywhere fines would cause a problem — not under pavers, not in concrete, not as drainage stone. For those, buy concrete sand or #57 rock.
Fill sand versus fill dirt
Both are bulk fill and people use the terms loosely, but they behave differently.
Fill sand drains freely, compacts predictably with water and vibration, and does not hold moisture or shrink and swell. It is the better choice under anything structural and around anything you do not want sitting wet.
Fill dirt is soil — cheaper per ton, holds moisture, and is used for landscape grade changes, berms and general volume where drainage and bearing are not concerns.
If a slab, a pool or a structure is going on top of it, sand is usually the answer. If you are shaping a landscape, dirt usually is.
Compaction and quantities
Fill sand compacts well but it needs water and vibration to do it. Placed in lifts, wetted and plate-compacted or rolled, it reaches a stable density that will support a slab. Dumped dry and left, it will continue settling for a long time and whatever you built on it will move.
At roughly 1.35 tons per cubic yard, one ton covers about 36 square feet at 6 inches or 18 square feet at a foot. Volume jobs add up quickly — raising a 2,000 square foot pad by a foot is around 74 cubic yards, which is 100 tons, which is five loads. Our tonnage calculator will do the arithmetic and tell you the load count.
Specification
| Property | Detail |
|---|---|
| Material | Natural unwashed sand with some silt content |
| Gradation | Variable by source |
| Washed | No — use concrete or mason sand where cleanliness matters |
| Drainage | Good, though less free-draining than washed sand |
| Approx. weight | 1.35 tons per cubic yard |
| Coverage at 6" | ~36 sq ft per ton |
Figures are typical, not guaranteed. Weights and gradations vary between pits and sources. If your job is specified, send us the relevant plan sheet and we will match it — and confirm quantities against your own scale tickets once you are running.
What it is used for
- General site grading and grade raising
- Backfill around foundations, walls and structures
- Septic system installation and drainfield sand
- Pool backfill and over-dig fill
- Pipe bedding where a washed product is not specified
- Bulk volume fill beneath slabs and pads
Working out how much you need
Material is sold by the ton. Plans are drawn in cubic yards. That mismatch is where most ordering errors come from, and they are expensive in both directions — running short stops a crew, and over-ordering by a large margin ties up money in a pile.
The arithmetic: multiply length by width by depth in feet, divide by 27 to get cubic yards, then multiply by the material's weight per yard. Most rock runs about 1.35 to 1.4 tons per cubic yard; compacted base is heavier at roughly 1.65; topsoil is lighter at about 1.15.
Then allow for compaction. Base and fill lose roughly 20 to 25 percent of their loose volume once they are properly compacted, so the tonnage you order should be above the theoretical plan volume. Our tonnage calculator builds that allowance in and converts the answer into truckloads.
Order slightly heavy. Two extra tons in a pile costs almost nothing and always gets used. Two tons short on a Friday afternoon costs you a whole extra delivery and a crew standing around.
Fill Sand — common questions
What is the difference between fill sand and fill dirt?
Can fill sand go under a concrete slab?
Is fill sand clean?
Where we deliver Fill Sand
From Jupiter down to Key West — Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Monroe counties. Mainland deliveries are same or next day; the Keys are scheduled runs.
Related materials
Stop Babysitting Your
Material Suppliers. Call Us.
A locked quote in under an hour. Trucks on site when you need them. One invoice when the job's done.