Sod is a layer of grass and its attached soil, held together by a dense root system, that is harvested and sold in rolls or slabs for immediate installation. For landscaping projects, this material is stacked onto wooden pallets for transport. The square footage contained on a single pallet is the most important measurement for planning. A standard pallet of sod typically covers an area ranging from 400 to 500 square feet.
The Standard Pallet Coverage
The most common coverage for a pallet of sod is 450 square feet, although 400 and 500 square feet are also widely available. This total square footage is achieved by stacking a specific number of individual sod pieces, which can be slabs or rolls, onto the pallet. The size of the individual piece dictates how many are required to meet the pallet’s total coverage.
For example, where sod is sold in small, rectangular slabs (16 inches by 24 inches), each piece covers approximately 2.66 square feet. A 450 square foot pallet would require around 165 of these individual slabs. Conversely, if mini hand rolls are common, each roll may cover 5 square feet, meaning a 450 square foot pallet would contain about 90 rolls.
Some suppliers offer larger rolls, often measuring 2 feet by 5 feet, which cover 10 square feet per piece. A pallet containing 500 square feet of this material would be stacked with 50 rolls. The total square footage remains consistent because the industry standardizes the pallet as the unit of sale, despite variations in piece size.
Factors Influencing Pallet Size
The square footage on a pallet is not universally fixed because it is constrained by the physical weight and density of the harvested material. A full pallet of sod can weigh anywhere from 1,500 to over 3,500 pounds. This weight is the main factor limiting the total square footage that can be safely stacked and transported, and moisture content is the largest variable affecting this weight.
Sod harvested immediately after heavy rain will be saturated with water, making it significantly heavier than sod cut during a dry period. To stay within safe transport limits, a pallet of wet sod must contain fewer rolls or slabs. This reduces the total square footage, often toward the lower end of the 400 to 450 square foot range.
Denser, warm-season grasses like St. Augustine or Zoysia tend to be heavier per square foot because they have thick root systems that hold more soil. To maintain a manageable weight, suppliers may reduce the number of pieces on a pallet of these grass types compared to lighter grasses like Fescue. Additionally, varying harvesting equipment used by different sod farms can result in slight differences in the thickness of the soil layer cut, influencing the final weight and square footage per pallet.
Calculating Your Sod Needs
To accurately determine the number of pallets required, the first step is to measure the area to be covered. For simple square or rectangular spaces, multiply the length by the width to find the total square footage. Irregularly shaped lawns should be broken down into smaller, measurable geometric sections, calculating the area of each section and adding them together for the total.
Once the total square footage is calculated, account for a waste factor. This is the extra material needed for trimming around curves, obstacles, and edges. Industry professionals recommend adding a 5 to 10 percent buffer to the total area measurement to ensure enough sod is available to complete the installation.
The final step before ordering is to confirm the exact square footage of the pallet with the specific supplier. Since pallet sizes are not a universal standard, verifying whether the supplier’s pallet contains 400, 450, or 500 square feet is necessary for an accurate order. Divide the total required square footage (including the waste factor) by the supplier’s pallet size to determine the number of pallets to purchase.