How to Calculate Turf for a New Lawn
Laying a beautiful new lawn transforms a garden instantly. Turf is a living product that should be laid relatively quickly after delivery, making it crucial to accurately calculate the number of rolls required beforehand so you aren't left short or burdened with excessive dying offcuts.
Measuring Your Lawn
You need to break your garden down into measurable rectangles or squares. Measure the maximum length and maximum width in metres. Multiplying these together gives you the total square metreage of your lawn area. Because standard UK turf rolls each cover exactly 1m², your total area perfectly matches the baseline number of rolls you need.
Why Wastage Allowance is Critical
You cannot simply order the exact square metreage of your lawn, as cutting the turf to fit the edges will always generate unusable offcuts.
- Square & Rectangular Lawns: A 5% waste allowance is generally sufficient. There are minimal complex cuts required.
- Curved, Circular, or Angled Lawns: A 10% (or sometimes even 15%) waste allowance is recommended. Shaping the edges requires significantly more cutting, which produces a higher volume of strange-shaped scraps that cannot easily be pieced together.
Don't Forget the Topsoil
Turf requires a solid foundation of rich, crumbly topsoil to root properly. If your existing soil is poor, severely compacted, or full of rubble, you should excavate it and lay down at least 100mm to 150mm of screened topsoil before laying your turf rolls.