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Pool Volume Calculator

Pool Excavation Calculator

Digging an inground pool produces a mountain of dirt that has to be trucked away — far more than the pool's water volume, because you dig wider than the pool and the soil swells when loosened. Estimate the loose cubic yards and the number of dump-truck loads here.

⚠ Call 811 before you dig

Always have underground utilities located before any excavation. In the U.S., call 811 (or visit call811.com) — it's a free service that marks buried gas, electric, water, and communication lines. This is a required step that no calculator can do for you: a calculator has no information about what's buried at your site, so never treat the absence of a warning here as a sign it's safe to dig.

Tip: calculate your exact volume on the pool volume calculator first, then bring that gallons number here.

Why excavation dirt exceeds your pool's volume

Two things make the dirt pile bigger than people expect. First, you excavate larger than the finished pool — an over-dig allowance gives room for the walls, a gravel base, and the crew to work, so the hole is a foot or two wider and deeper than the pool on every side. Second is soil swell: packed earth fluffs up when it's dug, taking up more space loose than it did in the ground — about 12% more for sand, 22% for common earth, 30% for clay, and 50% or more for rock. The calculator applies both, so the loose cubic yards reflect what actually has to leave your yard.

Truck loads and hauling cost

A standard tandem dump truck holds roughly 10 to 12 cubic yards, so the trip count is shown as a range and always rounded up — you can't send a partial load. Heavy, wet soil like saturated clay can hit a truck's weight limit before it fills by volume, which can mean more trips than the cubic-yard math alone suggests, so treat the trip count as a planning estimate. Hauling cost is intensely local — it depends on dump fees, haul distance, and whether the soil is clean fill or contaminated — so enter your own per-load rate for a ballpark rather than trusting a national figure. Some of the dirt may be reusable on-site for grading or berms, which can cut hauling significantly; ask your contractor.

How excavation dirt and truck loads are calculated

  1. Add the over-dig allowance. You dig wider and deeper than the pool — for walls, base, and working room. Add the over-dig to each dimension to get the true excavated box.
  2. Find the in-ground (bank) volume. Excavated length × width × depth, divided by 27, gives cubic yards of in-ground 'bank' soil.
  3. Apply soil swell. Dug soil fluffs up: loose volume = bank × (1 + swell). Sand swells ≈ 12%, common earth ≈ 22%, clay ≈ 30%, rock ≈ 50%.
  4. Convert to dump-truck loads. Divide loose cubic yards by truck capacity (≈ 10–12 yd³) and round up. Always call 811 to locate utilities before any digging.
Worked example

A 32 × 16 ft pool, 5 ft average, 1.5 ft over-dig: excavated box 35 × 19 × 6.5 ft ≈ 160 yd³ bank. With 22% loam swell ≈ 195 yd³ loose, or about 17–20 dump-truck loads.

Questions

This tool, explained

More than the pool's water volume — typically a few hundred cubic yards for a residential pool once you account for over-digging and soil swell. Enter your pool size and soil type to estimate the loose cubic yards.
When packed earth is dug up it loosens and takes up more volume than it did in the ground — roughly 12% more for sand up to 50% for rock. That loose volume, not the in-ground volume, is what you have to haul away.
Divide the loose cubic yards by the truck capacity (about 10–12 yd³) and round up. A typical pool dig runs to the high teens or more in tandem-truck loads. The calculator gives a range from your inputs.
Yes. In the U.S., calling 811 to have underground utilities located is a free and required step before any excavation. A calculator can't see what's buried at your site, so always have lines marked first.