Cubic Yards to Cubic Feet Converter

Yes, exactly. 1 yard equals 3 feet by definition, and volume is length cubed, so 1 cu yd = 3 ft x 3 ft x 3 ft = 27 cu ft with no rounding. The 1959 international yard and pound agreement fixes 1 yard at exactly 0.9144 m, which makes 1 cu yd exactly 0.764554857984 cu m as well. The factor of 27 catches a lot of people because the linear factor is only 3: a cube that is three times longer on each side holds 27 times the volume, not 3 times.

A standard US ready-mix truck (a transit mixer with a rotating drum) carries 8 to 11 cu yd fully loaded, with 9 to 10 cu yd a typical commercial pour. That is the equivalent of 243 to 270 cu ft, or about 6 to 7.5 cu m. For reference, a 4 inch thick concrete driveway slab covering 1,000 sq ft (about a 25 ft by 40 ft pad) needs 12.3 cu yd, slightly more than one full truck. NRMCA pricing usually includes a short-load fee under about 6 cu yd because the truck still has to make the trip.

Bulk landscape material (mulch, topsoil, gravel, sand, compost) is sold by volume because density varies too much to price by weight. Wet topsoil weighs about 2,200 lb per cu yd; dry mulch weighs 400 to 800 lb per cu yd. Selling by the cu yd lets the buyer order the volume they need and lets the supplier load the truck consistently. As a rule of thumb, 1 cu yd of mulch covers about 100 sq ft at a 3 inch depth (or 80 sq ft at 4 inches), so a 1,000 sq ft front yard with a 3 inch mulch layer needs roughly 10 cu yd. Bagged mulch is sold in 2 cu ft bags, so 1 cu yd equals 13.5 bags.

Because volume scales as length cubed. A 10-by-10-by-10 ft room holds 1,000 cu ft. Add 1 ft to each side and the 11-by-11-by-11 room holds 1,331 cu ft, a 33 percent increase from a 10 percent linear change. Triple the linear size and the volume goes up 27-fold (3^3), which is exactly why 1 cu yd (3 ft on a side) holds 27 cu ft (1 ft on a side). The same effect explains why a 16 by 32 ft pool that is 5 ft deep holds 2,560 cu ft (95 cu yd, about 19,200 gallons), while making it just 6 ft deep raises the volume by 20 percent to 3,072 cu ft (114 cu yd).

A standard 25,000 gallon residential pool holds about 124 cu yd (3,342 cu ft, 95 cu m, 94,635 liters). A common 16 by 32 ft rectangular pool at 5 ft average depth is 2,560 cu ft, which is 95 cu yd or roughly 19,150 gallons. A smaller 12 by 24 ft pool at 4 ft depth is about 42 cu yd (8,615 gallons). For comparison, an Olympic pool (50 m x 25 m x 2 m) is 2,500 cu m, which is 3,270 cu yd or about 660,430 US gallons, roughly 25 times the volume of a typical backyard pool.