Substrate and Container Volume Takeoff
Converts container count and filled volume into bulk cubic yards and compressed bales.
Example
You enter
- Containers to fill 5000
- Filled volume per container (cu in) 160
- Compaction and spill allowance (%) 10
- Bale label volume, compressed (cu ft) 3.8
- Bale loose yield (cu ft) 8
- True US gallon (cu in) 231
You get
- Loose volume 463.0 cu ft = 17.15 cu yd
- Loose volume (yd³) 17.1468
- With the allowance 509.259
- Ordered volume (yd³) 18.8615
- Compressed bales 64 bales at the loose yield
- What the label volume would order 135
- The trade-gallon mistake 27.2312
- True gallon over (%) 44.375
No published worked example is on file for this calculation. It is checked against a hand-worked derivation of its method and an independent reference test.
Details, formula, and sources
ScopeConverts container count and filled volume into bulk cubic yards and compressed bales, and prices the trade-gallon error beside it. A compressed bale opens to about twice its label volume, and a true gallon assumption orders 44% too much; both errors over-order.
Formula or tableloose volume = containers x filled volume per container, at 1,728 cubic inches per cubic foot and 27 cubic feet per cubic yard, plus a compaction and spill allowance.
Source and editionThe supplier's own loose-yield figure and a measured container fill govern.
Free accessPublic arithmetic; loose yields are published by substrate suppliers.
What governsEstimate. AHJ and licensed professional govern.
API field namescontainer_count, filled_volume_in3, allowance_pct, bale_label_ft3, bale_loose_yield_ft3, true_gallon_in3, loose_volume_ft3, loose_volume_yd3, ordered_volume_ft3, ordered_volume_yd3, bale_count, label_bale_count, true_gallon_volume_yd3, true_gallon_over_pct
- Filled volume varies with the container and how it is filled; a measured fill beats a nominal sizeyard measurement
- Bale yield the loose yield, not the compressed label volume, is what fills containers; it is about twice the labelsupplier data (Colorado Materials: 3.8 cu ft opens to about 8)