Cylinder Cubic Yards Calculator
Calculate cubic yards of concrete for Sonotube columns, deck piers, round footings, cylindrical tanks, mulch cones, and hemispherical domes. Diameter in, cubic yards out — plus bag counts, weight, ready-mix truck loads, and project cost.
Quick presets
One click loads a common cylinder for you.
Shape inputs
Typical ready-mix: $130–$200/yd delivered.
Cross-section reference
Vcylinder = π × r² × H | cu yd = cu ft ÷ 27
Total volume
Weight & cost
Cylinder cubic yards for concrete pours
Concrete is ordered, delivered, and billed in cubic yards. Whether you are pouring a single Sonotube column for a porch post or twenty deep frost-protected deck footings, the supplier wants one number: yards. Most onsite measurements, however, are in inches — Sonotube diameters are stamped in inches, trench depths are pulled with a tape, and excavated pier holes are scoped with a folding ruler. This calculator exists to do the unit conversion that every contractor and DIYer does dozens of times a season: take a diameter and a height, push them through the cylinder volume formula V = π × r² × h, and emit a clean cubic yard figure that a ready-mix dispatcher can act on.
Cylindrical concrete shows up everywhere on a residential job. Sonotube columns form deck piers, pergola posts, sign bases, mailbox anchors, fence-line gate posts, and porch supports. Round footingshold up everything from elevated cabins to greenhouse columns. Cylindrical tanks serve as rain cisterns, septic risers, and process vessels. Even non-concrete cylindrical volumes — mulch piles (cones), gravel stockpiles, round above-ground pools, hot tub footings — get measured in cubic yards because that is the unit landscape suppliers and dump trucks use.
The calculator above accepts inputs in inches, feet, or meters; converts internally to feet; applies the appropriate formula for solid cylinders, hollow pipes, cones, or hemispheres; then divides by 27 to convert cubic feet to cubic yards. It adds a configurable waste factor (default 10%), converts to bag counts for 40 lb, 60 lb, and 80 lb pre-mix bags, calculates the load weight in pounds and tons, estimates how many 10-yard ready-mix trucks you need, and produces a project cost from a user-supplied dollar-per-yard rate. Everything runs entirely in your browser — no signup, no upload, no telemetry on your numbers.
If you only need the raw volume (no concrete logic), pair this tool with our cubic feet volume calculator or general cubic yards calculator. For a full slab or grade-beam pour, the concrete calculator and concrete footing calculator handle rectangular geometry, rebar, and cost in one place.
Sonotube standard size reference
Most lumber yards and big-box retailers stock these standard inside-diameter sizes. Use this table as a quick spot-check or sanity-check against the calculator output.
| Diameter | Typical height | cu ft per linear ft | cu yd @ 4 ft | cu yd @ 8 ft | Common use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8" | 4 ft | 0.349 | 0.052 | 0.103 | Light deck post / fence anchor |
| 10" | 4 ft | 0.545 | 0.081 | 0.161 | Standard deck pier / mailbox base |
| 12" | 8 ft | 0.785 | 0.116 | 0.233 | Deck footings, porch posts, sign bases |
| 14" | 8 ft | 1.069 | 0.158 | 0.317 | Heavy deck pier / small column |
| 16" | 8 ft | 1.396 | 0.207 | 0.414 | Carport / pergola column |
| 18" | 8 ft | 1.767 | 0.262 | 0.524 | Light commercial column / pavilion |
| 20" | 8 ft | 2.182 | 0.323 | 0.647 | Foundation pier / structural post |
| 24" | 6 ft | 3.142 | 0.465 | 0.931 | Heavy column / deck-on-grade footing |
| 30" | 6 ft | 4.909 | 0.727 | 1.454 | Bridge pier / heavy structural |
| 36" | 6 ft | 7.069 | 1.047 | 2.094 | Heavy column / industrial pier |
| 48" | 6 ft | 12.566 | 1.862 | 3.723 | Bridge column / large foundation |
Values assume a perfect cylinder filled to the full inside diameter. Real-world pours typically lose 5–10% to spillage, settling, and over-excavation — the calculator's waste factor handles this.
How to use the calculator — 5 steps
- 1
Measure the cylinder
Outer diameter (across the widest part of the tube) and full height (or depth below grade plus stub-up). Use whichever unit you measured in — inches, feet, or meters.
- 2
Pick the shape mode
Most pours are "Cylinder (solid)". Use "Hollow pipe" for a column that wraps a steel sleeve or void. Use "Cone" for a mulch / sand / gravel stockpile and "Hemisphere" for a dome or planter cap.
- 3
Add additional shapes
For multi-footing projects (eight pier footings, six perimeter columns, etc.) click Add shape and enter each one. Use the quantity field to multiply identical shapes — set quantity to 8 for eight identical Sonotubes and skip the duplicate rows.
- 4
Set waste and price
Default 10% waste is appropriate for DIY pours. Experienced contractors with tight forms can drop to 5–7%. Replace the default $165 per cubic yard with a quote from your local ready-mix supplier for a true cost.
- 5
Read the totals & export
Total cubic yards, bag counts (40/60/80 lb), weight (lb / tons), ready-mix truck loads, and dollar cost update live. Use Export .txt for a printable material list, or Save snapshot to compare multiple scenarios side-by-side.
Common use cases
Deck pier footings
Residential decks rely on Sonotube piers spaced every 6–8 ft. A typical 24-ft × 12-ft deck needs 6–9 piers, each 10–12 in diameter and 36–48 in deep. Multiply pier count × per-pier yards to size the order — usually under 1 cu yd, perfect for bagged concrete.
Use the concrete footing calculator →Sonotube structural columns
Carports, pavilions, and pole barns use 16–24 in Sonotubes from grade to beam height. A single 24" × 10 ft column needs about 0.58 cu yd of concrete — three columns push you to a small ready-mix order.
Pair with the concrete calculator →Round pools and water features
A 24-ft above-ground pool 4 ft deep holds ~67 cu yd of water (≈ 13,500 gallons). Use the cylinder mode to size liner volume, drain time, or chemical dosing — and the gallons output on the results card to plan a top-up.
Open the cubic yards calculator →Mulch & stockpile cones
Bulk mulch, sand, and gravel pile into a cone. A 10-ft-diameter cone 5 ft tall is only 4.85 cu yd — far less than the cylinder of the same footprint. Switch to "Cone" mode to avoid over-ordering.
See cubic feet conversions →Pro tips
- Brace Sonotubes before pouring. Plumb the tube, then secure with at least three 2×4 kickers screwed to grade stakes. Wet concrete is heavy and will float a tall, unbraced tube out of plumb in minutes.
- Pour speed matters for tall columns. A 36" × 8 ft Sonotube takes ~2.1 cu yd. Pour it in continuous lifts no taller than 3–4 ft, rod or vibrate each lift, and never let the column sit more than 20–30 minutes between lifts or you create a cold joint.
- Always pour below the frost line. In Minnesota the line is 48–60 inches deep. In Atlanta it is 5 inches. Your local building department publishes the figure — set the calculator's height equal to (frost line depth + above-grade stub-up) for an accurate yard count.
- Round up bag counts, not down. The calculator already does
Math.ceilon bags, but if you are mixing on-site, buy one extra bag for every 10 — bags pick up moisture, get torn, or fall off the pallet. - Order ready-mix once you exceed 1 yd. 45 × 80 lb bags is two pallets, ~3,600 lb, and 6–8 hours of mixing for one person. A small ready-mix delivery (often 1–2 yd minimum) costs more per yard but saves a full day of labor.
What contractors and DIYers are saying
“I lay out a dozen pier footings a week. This is the cleanest cylinder-to-cubic-yard tool I have used — the Sonotube presets and 10-yard truck math save me a spreadsheet every Monday morning.”
“The hollow-pipe mode is exactly what I needed for ringed footings around steel sleeves. Outer minus inner, multiplied by height, divided by 27. Quick, correct, and the metric/imperial toggle is a lifesaver on international projects.”
“I needed three 24" deck footings 4 ft deep and had no idea how many bags to grab. The 80 lb bag count was spot on — I had two bags left over after a clean pour and the cost estimate came within $11 of my receipt.”
“Use cone mode for mulch piles and cylinder mode for round retainer pots — the multi-shape sum lets me total a whole project on one screen. Best free volume tool on the internet, hands down.”
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