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The total length of the barrier you're building.
Measure along the planned barrier line.
How many bags high the barrier will be stacked.
2-3 courses is common for a basic flood barrier; higher water threats need more courses (and a wider, stepped-back base for stability).
Sandbags needed
98 sandbags
This is a rough planning estimate — taller barriers need a wider, pyramid-shaped base (each course set back slightly) for stability, which uses more bags per unit of length than a simple straight stack.
- Barrier length
- 49 linear ft
They open the calculator with your figures already in it
Sandbag Calculator: 98 sandbags — 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)
- A standard filled sandbag covers approximately 1 linear ft of wall per stacked course; total bags = barrier length x number of courses
Inputs used
- Barrier Length
- 49 ft
- Number of Courses (Layers)
- 2
Intermediate steps
- Barrier length
- 49 linear ft
Confidence note: This is a rough planning estimate — taller barriers need a wider, pyramid-shaped base (each course set back slightly) for stability, which uses more bags per unit of length than a simple straight stack.
What this calculation does not cover
- Counts a single-width stack — one bag per foot of run in every course. A barrier that actually has to hold water is built as a stepped pyramid with a base several bags wide, so the real bag count is a multiple of this figure, and the multiple grows with height.
- Takes the length you enter as the finished barrier. It adds nothing for the end returns that have to climb onto ground standing above the water level, or for the extra run around bays, driveways and gates — and the ends are where barriers of this kind usually fail, not the crest.
- This is a bag count, not a flood defence design. It says nothing about seepage through and under the stack, piping in the ground beneath the toe, or the hydrostatic load a barrier stacked hard against a wall puts into that wall, and it cannot address water arriving through drains, air bricks or other below-ground routes that no surface barrier blocks.
- No waste allowance is included. Bags split on the pallet, burst when they are dropped, and get spent ballasting sheeting and holding laps down; none of that is in the number.
- Courses are entered directly. Nothing relates them to the water level you are protecting against or to freeboard above it, and nothing here gives the sand volume, the delivery weight or the crew-hours to fill this many bags — on a long barrier the fill rate, not the material, is usually what decides whether the job finishes.
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 2026-09-02 · in the site-wide review of 2026-09-06 · v1.0.1
Regulatory standards & verification citations1
- A standard filled sandbag covers approximately 1 linear ft of wall per stacked course; total bags = barrier length x number of courses
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