How to Calculate Sand Bed Thickness

New Construction

• 1

  Push or drive wooden stakes into the ground at the edges of your project and across the center.

• 2

  Mark the stakes at the surface level of the existing substrate.

• 3

  Measure from the surface level to a distance up the side of the stake that equals the desired thickness of the sand bed. Make a second mark.

• 4

  Fill the sand bed up to the second mark on each stake and level it off. You now have a sand bed of the desired thickness over your project area.

Measuring Existing Sand Bed

• 5

  Remove any surface materials in place over the sand bed.

• 6

  Push or drive a wooden stake into the ground.

• 7

  Mark the stake at the surface of the sand.

• 8

  Excavate sand from around the stake until you reach the underlying substrate.

• 9

  Make a second mark on the stake at the surface of the substrate. The distance between the two marks is the thickness of the sand bed.