Cubic Feet Calculator
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Multiply length by width by height, all in feet, to get cubic feet. A 12 × 10 × 8 ft room is 960 cubic feet, which is 35.6 cubic yards. Divide cubic feet by 27 for cubic yards, and add about 10% for soil, mulch or concrete.
Enter your items
Your result
960 cubic feet is 35.5556 cubic yards, 27.1842 cubic meters, 27,184.2 liters or 7,181.3 US gallons.
What to buy
- Bag counts are hidden above 300 cubic feet. At that size, bulk delivery by the cubic yard is the practical way to buy.
- Bulk delivery: 35.556 cubic yards. Rounded up to a quarter yard, that is 35.75 cubic yards.
Truck check: this load is 125.7% of a 15 ft truck. The smallest listed vehicle with enough volume is the 20 ft truck (1,016 cu ft).
Conversion factors
- 1 cubic foot = 1,728 cubic inches = 0.0370370 cubic yards
- 1 cubic foot = 0.028316846592 cubic meters = 28.3168 liters = 7.48052 US gallons
- 1 cubic yard = 27 cubic feet = 0.764555 cubic meters
- 1 inch = 25.4 mm, 1 foot = 0.3048 m and 1 yard = 0.9144 m exactly (NIST SP 811).
Show the steps
- Item 1 (Room): 12 ft × 10 ft × 8 ft with the formula length × width × height gives 960 cu ft each, 960 cu ft for 1.
- Add the items: 960 cu ft.
- Cubic yards: 960 ÷ 27 = 35.555556. Cubic meters: 960 × 0.028316846592 = 27.184173. Liters: 27,184.173. US gallons: 960 × 1,728 ÷ 231 = 7,181.2987.
Volumes are geometric. Real loads settle, compact and leave gaps, so use the extra box for waste. Bag sizes are common retail sizes, so check your label.
Item by item
| Item | Size | Each (cu ft) | Qty | Subtotal (cu ft) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RoomBox or room | 12 ft × 10 ft × 8 ft | 960 | 1 | 960 | 100% |
Does it fit? Truck and van volumes
Published cargo volumes for U-Haul vehicles. Your load, including extra, is 960 cu ft.
| Vehicle | Cargo volume (cu ft) | Your load uses | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cargo van | 245 | 391.8% | Too small |
| 10 ft truck | 402 | 238.8% | Too small |
| 15 ft truck | 764 | 125.7% | Too small |
| 20 ft truck | 1,016 | 94.49% | Fits by volume |
| 26 ft truck | 1,682 | 57.07% | Fits by volume |
| 29 ft truck | 2,057 | 46.67% | Fits by volume |
Volume only. Furniture and boxes never pack perfectly, so add extra in the box above.
Quick lookup: cubic feet to other units
Fixed reference values from the factors above.
| Cubic feet | Cubic yards | Cubic meters | Liters | US gallons |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.5 | 0.018519 | 0.014158 | 14.158 | 3.7403 |
| 1 | 0.037037 | 0.028317 | 28.317 | 7.4805 |
| 2 | 0.074074 | 0.056634 | 56.634 | 14.961 |
| 3 | 0.11111 | 0.084951 | 84.951 | 22.442 |
| 5 | 0.18519 | 0.14158 | 141.58 | 37.403 |
| 10 | 0.37037 | 0.28317 | 283.17 | 74.805 |
| 20 | 0.74074 | 0.56634 | 566.34 | 149.61 |
| 27 | 1 | 0.76455 | 764.55 | 201.97 |
| 50 | 1.8519 | 1.4158 | 1,415.8 | 374.03 |
| 75 | 2.7778 | 2.1238 | 2,123.8 | 561.04 |
| 100 | 3.7037 | 2.8317 | 2,831.7 | 748.05 |
Coverage by depth: mulch, soil, gravel and concrete
Depth turns an area into a volume. A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet.
| Depth (in) | Cubic feet per 100 sq ft | Sq ft covered by 1 cubic yard | 2 cu ft bags per 100 sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8.3333 | 324 | 4.167 |
| 2 | 16.667 | 162 | 8.333 |
| 3 | 25 | 108 | 12.5 |
| 4 | 33.333 | 81 | 16.67 |
| 6 | 50 | 54 | 25 |
| 12 | 100 | 27 | 50 |
How to calculate cubic feet
Cubic feet measure volume, the space inside or taken up by something. For a box, room or garden bed, multiply length by width by height with all three in feet. If your tape measure is in inches, multiply the three numbers and divide by 1,728, because a cubic foot is 12 × 12 × 12 cubic inches. This calculator does that for you and lets each side use its own unit, so 5 ft 6 in can be entered as 66 inches or as 5.5 feet.
How to use it
- Enter the length, width and height of the first item. Pick the unit beside each number: inches, feet, yards, millimeters, centimeters or meters.
- Change the shape for round tanks, spheres and cones, or press "Add another item" for a second box. Use "Quick add" for a ready-made example size.
- Set the waste or extra box if you are ordering soil, mulch, gravel or concrete. Ten percent is a common starting point.
- Read the total in cubic feet, cubic yards and the other units, then check the bags, bulk delivery and truck lines.
Cubic feet to cubic yards
There are 27 cubic feet in a cubic yard, because a yard is 3 feet and 3 × 3 × 3 is 27. A garden bed that needs 54 cubic feet needs 2 cubic yards. Landscape suppliers usually sell loose material by the cubic yard and bagged material in sizes between 0.5 and 3 cubic feet.
Bags, trucks and weight
- Bagged soil and mulch: divide cubic feet by the bag size and round up. The calculator lets you pick a bag size from 0.5 to 3 cubic feet.
- Bagged concrete: QUIKRETE lists yields of 0.30 cubic feet for a 40 lb bag, 0.375 for 50 lb, 0.45 for 60 lb, 0.60 for 80 lb and 0.675 for 90 lb.
- Trucks: U-Haul publishes cargo volumes from 245 cubic feet for a cargo van to 2,057 for a 29 ft truck. The tool compares your total with each.
- Weight: water is about 62.3 pounds per cubic foot. For soil, gravel or mulch, enter the density your supplier gives you, because moisture changes it a lot.
Practice questions
Quiz complete
Sources
Quick check: test yourself
Question 1. How many cubic feet are in 1 cubic yard?
Question 2. A box is 24 × 18 × 12 inches. How many cubic feet is that?
Question 3. Which is bigger, 1 cubic meter or 1 cubic yard?
Common questions
How do I calculate cubic feet?
Multiply length by width by height, all in feet. For measurements in inches, multiply them and divide by 1,728. A box 24 × 18 × 12 inches is 5,184 cubic inches, which is 3 cubic feet.
How many cubic feet are in a cubic yard?
27 cubic feet. To go the other way, divide cubic feet by 27.
How many cubic feet are in a cubic meter?
1 cubic meter is 35.3147 cubic feet. A cubic foot is exactly 0.028316846592 cubic meters.
How much mulch do I need for a 10 ft by 4 ft bed, 3 inches deep?
10 × 4 × 0.25 ft is 10 cubic feet, which is 5 bags of 2 cubic feet. Add 10 percent for settling and you need 11 cubic feet, so 6 bags.
How many 80 lb bags of concrete for a 10 ft by 10 ft slab, 4 inches thick?
The slab is 33.3 cubic feet. At 0.60 cubic feet per 80 lb bag that is 56 bags, or 62 bags with 10 percent extra.
How many gallons are in a cubic foot?
7.48052 US gallons. One gallon is 231 cubic inches, and a cubic foot is 1,728 cubic inches.
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