Turf Calculator
Turf is sold by the roll, and a roll is a fixed size, so the useful answer is a whole number of rolls rather than an area. Enter the lawn dimensions, pick the roll size your supplier uses, and this calculator adds a cutting allowance and rounds up. It separates that allowance from the extra coverage caused by buying whole rolls, and can show pallet counts.
Your measurements
Check your order
Your turf or sod order
- Check the measured lawn area and selected cutting allowance; allowance is not guaranteed reusable offcut material.
- Confirm coverage per roll, rolls per pallet and whether the supplier sells loose rolls.
- Check any soil preparation material separately and arrange delivery for your laying schedule.
Tools for this job
Measure the lawn area before ordering rolls. A garden rake helps prepare loose topsoil and remove small uneven spots before laying turf.
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- Spread loose ground materials
Garden rake
Fiskars Pro garden rake
For spreading loose soil or gravel and preparing an even surface. Raking distributes material; it does not replace any compaction the installation requires.
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Long tape measure
Komelon 6611 100-foot open-reel tape
For measuring longer outdoor runs and marking out areas. Keep the tape straight and use the same units throughout; this listing is for the 100-foot model.
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Already have suitable tools? Reuse them. These are optional product suggestions, not a complete equipment list or a hands-on comparison. Amazon may redirect Amazon.com links to local products or search results. Amazon.nl links search for alternatives, which may differ in brand, size and specification. Check suitability, seller, delivery and any import costs on your chosen store before ordering.
How many rolls of turf do I need?
Measure the lawn, add a cutting allowance, divide by the area of one roll and round up. The rounding is the whole point: a 50 m² lawn with 10% allowance needs 55 m², and since a roll is 1 m² that is exactly 55 rolls. The same lawn in 0.93 m² US rolls needs 60, because 55 ÷ 0.93 is 59.1 and you cannot buy a tenth of a roll.
The allowance is not optional. Every roll that meets a border, path or curve is cut, and the offcut is rarely the right shape to use elsewhere. For a plain rectangle 5% is enough; anything with a curved edge, a border on more than one side or a tree in the middle wants 10%.
The formula
Roll sizes
Roll sizes vary by grower, so read the listing rather than assuming a square metre. If your supplier quotes rolls by weight or by pallet, use the big roll option and enter the coverage they give you.
| Roll | Size | Coverage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK standard roll | 610 x 1640 mm | 1 m² | Nominal; some growers cut 0.8 or 1.2 m² |
| US sod roll | 24 x 60 in | 10 sq ft (0.93 m²) | Also sold as 16 x 24 in slabs (2.67 sq ft) |
| Big roll | 750 mm to 1.2 m wide | 20 to 40 m² | Laid by machine; needs a clear run |
| US pallet | about 50 rolls | 450 to 500 sq ft | Around 2,000 to 3,000 lb (900 to 1,360 kg) |
Worked example
A back garden lawn 10 m x 5 m = 50 m². Add 10% for the curved border along one side = 55 m². Standard UK rolls cover 1 m² each, so 55 ÷ 1 = 55 rolls. That supplies 55 m²: 50 m² of lawn plus a 5 m² cutting allowance. There is no extra coverage from rounding to whole rolls, and the allowance does not guarantee usable offcuts.
In US rolls the same lawn needs 55 ÷ 0.93 = 59.1, rounded up to 60 rolls. If each roll covers 10 sq ft and a pallet contains 50 rolls (500 sq ft), that is one pallet plus 10 loose rolls. Ask whether loose rolls are sold separately; if only full pallets are sold, order two pallets and check their stated coverage.
Preparing the ground
Turf fails far more often from a poor bed than from a poor roll. Strip the old grass and weeds, dig or rotavate to 15 cm, and rake level. Where the existing soil is thin, compacted or full of builders rubble, spread 10 to 15 cm of screened topsoil and firm it by treading before you rake the final tilth. Enter the depth above and the calculator gives the volume. Screened topsoil weighs about 1.1 to 1.4 tonnes per cubic metre and a bulk bag holds roughly 0.7 m³, so a 50 m² lawn at 10 cm is 5 m³: about 8 bulk bags or 6 to 7 tonnes loose. The volume calculator does that conversion for any bed shape.
Lay the first row along a straight edge, stagger the joints like brickwork, and push the rolls tightly together without stretching them. Use a plank to walk on, never the new turf. Water thoroughly the same day and keep it damp for two to three weeks.
Turf or seed?
- Turf: an instant lawn, usable in three to four weeks, and the only sensible option on a slope where seed would wash away. Costs several times more per square metre.
- Seed: cheaper by a wide margin and a far wider choice of mixes, but three to four months before it takes hard wear, and it needs a warm, damp season to establish. Packs quote a sowing rate, typically 35 to 50 g/m² for a new lawn, so the same 50 m² lawn takes about 1.75 to 2.5 kg of seed.
- Either way the bed preparation is identical, and that is where the effort goes. If a patio or path borders the lawn, lay that first and turf up to it: see the paving calculator and the gravel calculator.
Sources and assumptions
Turf rolls are lawn area plus cutting allowance divided by the coverage of one roll and rounded up. The selected cutting allowance and any extra coverage from rounding to whole rolls are shown separately; neither is guaranteed usable leftover turf. Optional topsoil is area × depth; the handling weight uses a broad per-square-metre estimate.
- Rolawn Medallion Turf: product specification: Rolawn describes an approximately 1 m² roll, typically 610 × 1640 mm, weighing about 15 to 20 kg depending on saturation.
Before using this estimate
- Roll and pallet coverage vary between suppliers, especially between UK turf and US sod. Enter the coverage on the actual order.
- The 20 kg/m² handling estimate is not a delivery weight. Soil moisture, harvest thickness, curved boundaries and damaged pieces affect the order and unloading effort.
Source notes reviewed . See how we check calculations and handle corrections.
Planning your order
Check the inputs before buying: measure the surfaces you need, then apply an allowance and round to whole packs. The guides include worked examples you can follow alongside this calculator.
Published by OrderEnough. This is a planning estimate: check the product specification and the assumptions above before ordering. Last updated . Read how we source our figures on the methodology page.