Sandbag calculator: how many sandbags do I need?
1,050 bags
2,100 bags per 100 ft in the 2 ft row · a pyramid 6 courses high and about 5 ft wide at the base · for 50 ft of wall 2 ft high
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1,050 bags
2,100 bags per 100 ft in the 2 ft row · a pyramid 6 courses high and about 5 ft wide at the base
Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Northwestern Division, Sandbagging Techniques (pamphlet, 2004), read October 20, 2026. Data sheet (PDF)
A sandbag wall 50 feet long and 2 feet high takes 1,050 bags: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers counts 2,100 bags per 100 linear feet of levee at that height, stacked as a pyramid about 5 feet wide at the base.
A worked example
A 37 ft levee raise 2 1/2 ft high, which is the forecast rise plus half a foot needs 1,665 bags. 2 1/2 feet falls between rows, so it is counted in the 3 ft row, 4,500 bags per 100 feet: 37 feet take 1,665 bags in a pyramid 9 courses high and about 7.5 feet wide at the base.
How many sandbags per foot of wall?
6 for a pyramid 1 foot high, 21 at 2 feet, 45 at 3 feet and 78 at 4 feet, from the Corps of Engineers count of 600, 2,100, 4,500 and 7,800 bags per 100 linear feet. A single stack one bag wide and 1 foot high takes 3 per foot. The count grows faster than the height because the base widens with every course.
How wide is the base of a sandbag wall?
As many bags wide as it is courses high, by the Corps rule of thumb: 3 bags high make about 1 foot and 3 bags wide about 2 1/2 feet. A 2 ft wall is 6 courses high and about 5 feet wide at the base; a 4 ft wall, about 10 feet.
How high should a sandbag wall be?
To the forecast crest plus half a foot. In the Corps example, with the water 1 foot below the top of the levee and forecast to rise 3 more feet, the raise is 2 1/2 feet, half a foot of it as a safety factor. A height between rows of the table is counted in the next row up.
What else it is called
A sandbag wall is also called a sandbag levee, sandbag dike or flood wall, and searched as a sandbag calculator or how many sandbags do I need. The pamphlet's bags measure about 14 by 24 inches, filled one-half to two-thirds full and generally left untied.
Sandbags by wall length and height
| Wall length | 1 ft single stack | 1 ft pyramid | 2 ft | 3 ft | 4 ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 ft | 30 | 60 | 210 | 450 | 780 |
| 25 ft | 75 | 150 | 525 | 1,125 | 1,950 |
| 50 ft | 150 | 300 | 1,050 | 2,250 | 3,900 |
| 75 ft | 225 | 450 | 1,575 | 3,375 | 5,850 |
| 100 ft | 300 | 600 | 2,100 | 4,500 | 7,800 |
| 200 ft | 600 | 1,200 | 4,200 | 9,000 | 15,600 |
| 300 ft | 900 | 1,800 | 6,300 | 13,500 | 23,400 |
Bags from the Corps of Engineers count per 100 linear feet: 600 at 1 ft, 2,100 at 2 ft, 4,500 at 3 ft and 7,800 at 4 ft, and 300 for a single stack 1 ft high. The pyramid base is about 2 1/2 ft wide at 1 ft high, 5 ft at 2, 7 1/2 ft at 3 and 10 ft at 4.
Where the numbers come from
- Bags per length of wall: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Northwestern Division pamphlet Sandbagging Techniques (2004), table «Bags Required Per 100 Linear Feet of Levee»: 600 at 1 foot high, 2,100 at 2 feet, 4,500 at 3 feet and 7,800 at 4 feet; a single-width course 1 foot high takes 300. Its rule of thumb for the pyramid: 1 bag in length is about 1 foot, 3 bags in width about 2 1/2 feet and 3 bags in height about 1 foot, with as many rows at the base as there are courses. A single stack is generally not recommended above three courses, about 1 foot. Read October 20, 2026, in the copy hosted by Utah State University Extension. Data sheet (PDF)
- The rest is arithmetic: bags = length ÷ 100 × the row for the height, rounded up, with a height between rows read in the next row up; a single stack is 3 courses per foot of height and one bag per foot of length.
The table stops at 4 feet and this page does not extrapolate past it. It counts bags, not the sand to fill them: the pamphlet gives no volume per bag, only that bags are filled one-half to two-thirds full.
By Javier Miralles · Last updated . How this site is made.
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