Moving material
How Many Wheelbarrows Are in a Yard?
A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, so a 6 cu ft wheelbarrow moves it in 4.5 full loads (5 trips) and a 4 cu ft wheelbarrow in about 7 trips.
By Kumar Baniya, MEng in Structural Engineering (University of Leeds) · Published
How many wheelbarrows are in a cubic yard?
Divide 27 by the wheelbarrow’s capacity in cubic feet. A 6 cu ft wheelbarrow holds a cubic yard in 4.5 full loads, so 5 trips; a 4 cu ft wheelbarrow needs 6.75 loads, so 7 trips. The capacity is usually stamped on the tray or listed by the maker.
How many loads for each wheelbarrow size?
| Wheelbarrow capacity | Full loads per cubic yard | Trips | Trips for 3 yd³ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 cu ft | 9.00 | 9 | 27 |
| 4 cu ft | 6.75 | 7 | 21 |
| 5 cu ft | 5.40 | 6 | 17 |
| 6 cu ft | 4.50 | 5 | 14 |
| 8 cu ft | 3.38 | 4 | 11 |
Stated capacities can refer to a level (struck) or a heaped load; check which your wheelbarrow uses.
Why do gravel and wet soil take more trips?
Volume is only half the limit — weight is the other. Gravel and wet soil are heavy for their volume, so many people carry them in part loads they can control safely, which increases the number of trips. Light materials such as bark mulch can usually be carried in full loads.
How many wheelbarrow loads for a 10 × 10 area?
At 3 in deep, a 10 × 10 ft area needs 100 × 3 ÷ 12 = 25 ft³. That is 5 trips with a 6 cu ft wheelbarrow (4.17 loads) or 7 trips with a 4 cu ft one (6.25 loads).
How many wheelbarrows of concrete are in a yard?
The volume is the same — 27 ft³ — but mixed concrete is heavy, so partial loads are common and the trip count rises. Count by the volume you can actually move per trip: at 3 cu ft per trip, a yard is 9 trips.
Related calculations
To know how many yards you are moving, start with how much a yard of mulch covers or how much soil is in a cubic yard. For gravel, the gravel calculator gives cubic yards and tons.