Turf Calculator

By Gary Hodson · 15+ years UK gardening experience · Figures cross-referenced against RHS guidance and named UK turf supplier specifications · Last reviewed 4 July 2026

Turf maths is refreshingly simple compared with most garden materials, because the industry settled on a standard unit: one roll covers approximately 1 square metre. Rolawn — a major UK turf grower — cuts its Medallion turf at 610mm wide by 1640mm long, which works out at almost exactly 1m² per roll, around 12.5mm thick, with each roll weighing roughly 15–20kg depending on how wet it is.¹ Other suppliers vary the exact width and length slightly, but the 1m²-per-roll convention holds across the mainstream UK trade — always check the spec on the supplier's product page before ordering.

Why You Add Wastage

You will never lay every roll whole. Edges get trimmed, rolls get cut to stagger the joints, and curves generate offcuts too small to reuse. Rolawn's own measuring guidance is to order at least 5% more turf than your calculated area to cover trimming, shaping around borders and minor measuring inaccuracies, and notes that professional landscapers often allow slightly more for complex layouts.⁴ That is exactly how this calculator works: 5% for straightforward rectangular lawns, and 10% when your lawn has curved borders, island beds or awkward corners — the extra 5% reflects the additional cutting a shaped lawn forces on you.

Measuring an Irregular Lawn

Break the lawn into simple shapes. An L-shape is two rectangles; a lawn with a rounded end is a rectangle plus a half-circle. Measure each piece, then use the "+ Add this area" button in the calculator above to stack them into one running total. If you already know your total area — say from a plan or a previous project — switch the calculator to "I know my area" and type it straight in. Remember to subtract anything inside the lawn that won't be turfed, such as paths, patios or beds.

Pallets and Delivery

Turf is heavy — a 50-roll order is the best part of a tonne — so suppliers deliver larger orders stacked on pallets by lorry, typically to the kerbside. If the calculator gives you more than 50 rolls, check access for a delivery vehicle and plan where the pallet will sit. Turf is perishable: it should be laid the day it arrives if at all possible, so book delivery for a day you can actually do the work.

Turf and seed both get you a lawn — the difference is time, money and the window in which you can work.

Choose turf when you want a usable lawn quickly. Freshly laid turf looks finished immediately and takes light foot traffic after a few weeks, once it has rooted.³ A seeded lawn, by contrast, must germinate and establish before it can take any use — a much longer wait (our grass seed calculator covers sowing in detail). Turf also suits the colder half of the year: the RHS window for laying turf runs from mid-autumn through to early spring,² precisely when soil is too cold for grass seed to germinate.

Choose seed when budget matters more than speed. Turf at £5.89–£12.29 per m² delivered¹ costs several times what the equivalent seed does, and seed gives you far more choice of grass mix — shade-tolerant, drought-resistant, ornamental. The trade-off is patience and a spring or autumn sowing window. Our grass seed calculator works out exact quantities and covers sowing rates, timing and aftercare in depth.

A useful rule of thumb: turf for small, high-visibility areas you want back in service fast; seed for large areas where the material cost of turf would sting. Both need the same honest ground preparation — there is no shortcut on that, whichever you pick.

The RHS recommendation is clear: lay turf from mid-autumn through to early spring, whenever the soil isn't too wet or frosty.² In that window the soil is moist, the air is cool, and the turf roots in with very little help from you.

Autumn (October–November)

The sweet spot. Soil still holds summer warmth, autumn rain does the watering, and the turf has all winter to knit down before anyone walks on it. If you can pick your moment, pick this one.

Winter (December–February)

Perfectly workable in mild spells — the RHS window covers it — but skip days when the ground is frozen or waterlogged. Turf laid onto frost or squelching mud won't make good root contact.

Spring (March to early April)

The tail end of the window. Turf laid in early spring roots quickly as soil warms, but the earlier the better — the later you leave it, the more watering you sign up for as the weather dries.

Late Spring and Summer

The RHS advises avoiding mid-spring to early autumn, because heat stresses newly laid turf and it needs excessive watering to survive.² It can be done — lay the turf the day it arrives, water thoroughly straight away and keep it constantly moist — but you are fighting the season rather than working with it.

Turf hides a multitude of sins for about three weeks, then reveals every shortcut you took underneath it. The preparation is 80% of the job. Here is the full sequence, drawn from RHS guidance and supplier best practice.

Ground Preparation (do this before the turf arrives)

• Clear the area. Strip old grass, weeds, stones and builder's debris. Don't turf over an existing dead lawn — the new roots need bare soil.
• Dig deep. The RHS advises digging or rotovating to a depth of 20–25cm to ensure there is no compaction, working in plenty of well-rotted manure or other organic matter.²
• Check your topsoil depth. Rolawn recommends a minimum of 100mm of topsoil, with 150mm preferred.³ If yours is thin, our topsoil calculator converts the shortfall into bags or bulk tonnage.
• Let it settle, then firm. The RHS suggests leaving the ground to settle for at least a few days — ideally five to six weeks or more.² Then firm by treading on your heels and rake level to a crumbly finish.

Laying Day

• Start from a straight edge — a path or fence line — and work across.
• Stagger the joints brick-bond. The RHS instruction: lay the pieces so the joints are staggered, like bricks in a wall, and push them together tightly so there are no gaps.²
• Work from a plank. Stand on boards laid across the fresh turf, never on the turf or the raked soil — footprints now become hollows later.²
• Dress the joints. Brush a mix of sand and soil or garden compost into the joints so the edges don't dry out.²
• Water in — properly. Water thoroughly straight after laying, enough that it soaks down through the turf into the soil beneath, not just wetting the surface.³

Aftercare — the First Six Weeks

• Keep it moist. Water regularly so the new turf stays constantly moist and roots in well — in dry weather that means checking it every day or two for the first few weeks.²
• First cut at about three weeks. Mow with the blades set high once the turf has rooted well, usually about three weeks after laying. Tug a corner first — well-rooted turf shouldn't lift.²
• Ease back into use. Light use is usually possible after a few weeks once rooted; save full family-and-football use until the lawn is well established.³
• Feed later, not now. Once the lawn is established and growing, our lawn feed calculator works out spreader quantities for the first season's feed.