Bark Mulch Cubic Yards to Tons Calculator

What this calculation does not cover

• Bark is light enough that whatever comes up with it decides the weight. Stripping an old bed lifts soil, grit and roots off the underside of the layer, and soil runs three to four times heavier per cubic yard than bark, so a tenth to a fifth of the load coming up as soil already puts it a quarter to a half over the bark figure — an error that would barely register on gravel or hardcore. Allow a margin, or price a stripped-out load as part soil.
• A bark stockpile does not hold the shape a volume formula assumes. Loose as the individual flakes are, the mass keys together, so a heap stands steeper than sand or gravel and holds a cut face and overhangs where those would slump into a clean cone. The error runs both ways — a face dug out of one side leaves volume the cone formula still counts, a squared-off or overhanging pile holds more than it returns — and whichever it is passes straight into the tonnage.
• Grade and wetness move this factor further than any measuring error moves the volume, and they compound: a fine composted grade that has taken rain is a different weight per cubic yard from coarse fresh bark measuring exactly the same. That matters asymmetrically on this page, because under a trailer payload, a skip's weight cap or a weight-banded tipping charge only the heavy end of the range costs anything. Plan the load against that end rather than against the mid figure used here.