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Clay Soil tonnage as delivered.
About 1.5 short tons per cubic yard for clay; heavier than loam and highly sensitive to moisture.
Approximate volume
6.667 yd³
About 1.5 short tons per cubic yard for clay; heavier than loam and highly sensitive to moisture. Clay Soil heaps; allow room beyond this figure.
- Conversion factor applied
- 0.67 yd³ per short ton
They open the calculator with your figures already in it
Clay Soil Tons to Cubic Yards Calculator: 6.67 yd³ — shown in imperial, US market. The link sets both, so the result they see is the one on your screen.
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How this was calculated
Formula source(s)
- Inverse of approximately 1.5 short tons per cubic yard
- 1 short ton = 2,000 lb; a metric tonne is about 10% heavier
Inputs used
- Clay Soil weight (short tons)
- 10
Intermediate steps
- Conversion factor applied
- 0.67 yd³ per short ton
Confidence note: About 1.5 short tons per cubic yard for clay; heavier than loam and highly sensitive to moisture. Clay Soil heaps; allow room beyond this figure.
What this calculation does not cover
- Sizing a stockpile bay by dividing this yardage by an assumed heap height will not hold for clay. How it heaps depends on the moisture it carries: wet clay slumps and spreads over more ground than that height assumes, while stiff clay stands in lumps at angles a granular material could not hold. Allow ground for access around the heap, and expect the same tonnage to sit differently after a wet week.
- This volume will not stay where it is put. Clay carries off tyres and boots onto haul routes, hardstanding and the road outside, and what travels that way is cleaned up and handled a second time rather than staying in the total. That second handling is part of moving the volume, not a separate job at the end of it.
- If this volume is going back in the ground, the compaction plant sets the pace, not the excavator. Clay goes in thin layers with each one compacted before the next, so it is placed at a fraction of the rate it can be dug, and the yardage says nothing about how long that takes. Around structures and drainage runs it is rarely the right fill — check what the design calls for before counting spoil as backfill.
Estimated cost — your price
This site holds no price list for this material — local prices vary too much to publish honestly. Enter your supplier's price and the result is costed with it.
Computed in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded. Presented in US customary units and US trade terminology. Where a formula follows a published standard, that standard and its edition are cited beside it on this page; where none governs, the page says so. Local amendments override model codes — verify against the code in force where you build.
Sources checked 2026-08-26 · in the site-wide review of 2026-09-06 · v1.0.0
Regulatory standards & verification citations2
- Inverse of approximately 1.5 short tons per cubic yard
- 1 short ton = 2,000 lb; a metric tonne is about 10% heavier
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Converting a clay tonnage into volume is usually a disposal question, and the number to remember is that clay bulks appreciably on excavation. A trench of a given volume produces meaningfully more loose spoil than its dimensions suggest, so skip and haulage capacity should be planned against the bulked figure. Clay is also poor backfill in most situations: it compacts badly, holds water against structures, and its seasonal movement is a recognised cause of damage to foundations and drainage.