Lawn size in — square feet, how many pieces, how many pallets and what it costs, with the offcut waste that turf suppliers assume but rarely mention.
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5% for a plain rectangle · 10% for curved beds and borders · 15% for a lawn broken up by trees, paths or awkward corners.
Pallet size varies by region and grower — check the quote. A full pallet weighs 1,500–3,000 lb depending on how wet the soil backing is.
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Order this much sod
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Pieces needed—
Pallets—
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The calculation
Sod is sold by area, so the maths is simply lawn area + waste allowance, then divided by the size of a piece or a pallet. A 30 × 40 ft lawn is 1,200 ft²; add 8% for offcuts and you are ordering 1,296 ft², which is 130 slabs of 2 × 5 ft, or 2.6 pallets at 500 ft² each.
Why waste allowance matters more than for other materials
Sod cannot be stretched and it will not keep. Every curve you cut against, every tree ring and path edge, produces an offcut too small to use elsewhere. A plain rectangle wastes almost nothing; a lawn with island beds and a winding border can waste 15%. Running short is expensive because a second delivery of two pallets costs nearly as much as the first.
Piece type
Size
Coverage
Slab
16 in × 24 in
2.67 ft²
Slab
2 ft × 5 ft
10 ft²
Hand roll
1.5 ft × 6 ft
9 ft²
Big roll
2 ft × 35 ft
70 ft²
Pallets are the real ordering unit
Most growers sell whole pallets, so a lawn needing 2.6 pallets means buying 3. That rounding is worth knowing before you finalise the bed layout — shaving 40 ft² off a design occasionally drops a whole pallet from the order.
Sod is a perishable product. It is cut, stacked and delivered still alive, and from the moment it leaves the field it is deteriorating. In summer a pallet left standing for two days will be yellow in the middle and dead at the core. Everything about ordering follows from that: measure carefully, order once, and be ready to lay it the day it arrives.
Measure in sections
Few lawns are one clean rectangle. Break the space into rectangles and circles, calculate each separately, and add them together. Subtract anything genuinely large — a patio, a pond, a shed — but do not bother subtracting small beds, because the offcuts around them are waste anyway.
Prepare the ground first
The ground must be graded, raked and lightly firmed before delivery, not after. Sod laid on lumpy or unconsolidated soil telegraphs every bump and settles unevenly. If topsoil is going down first, allow for it to settle before you finalise the levels, and remember that sod itself adds about an inch of height against paths and driveways.
What it weighs
Fresh sod runs roughly 2 to 3 pounds per square foot depending on how thick the soil backing is and how recently it was irrigated. A 500 ft² pallet is therefore around 1,250 to 1,500 lb, and a wet one can approach a ton. That is a forklift delivery, not something to move by hand — plan where it can be set down close to the work.
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Frequently asked questions
How much sod do I need?
Measure the lawn area in square feet and add 5 to 15% for waste depending on how many curves and obstacles there are. A 30 × 40 ft rectangle needs about 1,300 square feet once an 8% allowance is added.
How many square feet is a pallet of sod?
Usually 450 or 500 square feet, though some growers sell 600 or 700 ft² pallets. It varies by region and by grass type, so confirm the coverage on the quote rather than assuming.
How much does a pallet of sod weigh?
Between 1,500 and 3,000 pounds. Sod runs roughly 2 to 3 pounds per square foot, and freshly irrigated turf at the heavy end of that range makes a 500 ft² pallet close to a ton.
How much does sod cost per square foot?
Commonly 0.35 to 0.85 per square foot for the turf itself, plus delivery. Professional installation including ground preparation typically runs 1.00 to 2.00 per square foot.
How long can sod sit on the pallet before laying?
Lay it within 24 hours in warm weather, and within 48 to 72 hours in cool, overcast conditions. Stacked sod heats up and the middle of the pallet dies first. If laying must be delayed, unstack it in a shaded area and keep it damp.