If you’re planning to have a beautiful lawn, you should be aware of what sod is. Sod is a selection of grass that has been pre-grown and is ready to be planted in your lawn. With sod installation, the aesthetically unappealing dirt in your lawn gets easily covered.
Now, the issue is determining how much sod you need for your lawn. Lucky for you, we’ve gathered all the needed information about how to measure for sod. Whether you have a regular or irregularly-shaped lawn, you’ll get the right measurements in no time.
Gathering Materials And Sketching
As with any measurement, you’ll need to execute some calculations. Do not worry, as this doesn’t mean you have to do complex mathematical operations. You will acquire sod measured per square foot. Thus, you have to determine the size of your lawn in square feet. In particular, you should only get the measurement of the areas you want sod to be installed in.
So, what do you need? Get a pen, a piece of paper, and a decent measuring tape. Now, with those materials, go to your lawn. You needn’t measure the entire lawn in one go.
It’s much better to divide the lawn into sections so you can measure shorter distances. This will help you with the sod division once you do buy them by square foot. Of course, you don’t have to measure the areas that do not need sod such as the sheds, decks, patios, and the house itself.
Conducting Calculations
Measuring the sod requires identifying the length and width of the lawn sections in feet. By multiplying the length with the width, you will get the area size in square feet.
Furthermore, dividing the result by 9 would convert the measurement into square yards.For example, a lawn section with a length of 30 feet and a width of 40 feet would result in 1200 square feet. Divide 1200 square feet by 9, and you would get 133.33, which means you need 133 square yards of sod for that particular area.
There are sections that don’t have a square or rectangular pattern. In these cases, simply dividing the length with the width won’t do you any good.
If your lawn has a section in a right triangle shape, you have to understand that it features a 90-degree corner. Thus, figuring out the area here requires multiplying the length with the width, and then dividing the result by 2.
For circular areas, you can get the radius by measuring the diameter, and dividing it in half. This diameter is determined by measuring the straight line that goes through the center of the circle from one point to another. The next step is to multiply the radius by itself, then multiply the result by 3.14, which is the value of pie.
If the section is a half circle, you just have to do the same calculation, then divide the final result by 2. As for a quarter circle section, you divide the result by 4.
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Adjusting For Non-Flat Areas
Your lawn might have sections that aren’t completely flat. Thus, only measuring the length and width won’t be enough. In the case of a bumpy section or one with slopes, you should acquire at least 5 percent more sod than you intended.
This percentage is easily determined by multiplying the area in square feet by 0.05. Then add the 5 percent value to the original result in square feet, which will then be converted to square yards.
As you can see, it’s not that difficult to measure for sod. It will take some time, but computations aren’t hard and you’ll guarantee yourself a precise order of sod.If you have any questions, feel free to drop us a comment.