So our backyard is under renovation. The wife wanted to repot several plants into bigger containers and we needed a couple bags of soil

I decided to get two bags, two cubic yards each. These things are back breakers.

Reading the packaging, it says "dry weight 26 pounds, net weight 48." These things were $7 each.

I have water at home, come straight out of the hose. Why on earth are they paying for shipping 2x the weight from point A to point B. As a consumer, I would prefer to carry half the weight.

A cubic yard of soil will weigh a LOT more than 26 lbs dry.

4 cubic yards of soil will cover an area 20’ X 11’ to a depth of 6”

Just reading the packaging. I wouldn't want to buy wet concrete either.

Just a guess, they can compact soil when it is damp easier than when it is dry and fluffy.

I’m sure it soaks up moisture sitting outside at HD or Lowe’s

Dood! If you can pick up a cubic yard of soil, dry OR wet, you da MAN!

I suspect you meant cubic feet...

I suspect the bags are in cubic feet, not yards.

A yard of soil, dry, will weigh over 1,000 lbs.

From my days of working at a concrete batch plant, A yard of concrete including the water is + - 4,000lbs. 440 cement, around 1600 stone and 1700 sand. It varied with the moisture content of the sand. Water was around 40 gallons.

This is for a 3,000 PSI load.

Yes, it is cubic feet.

Still doesn't answer the question of why they package it wet

quote:

Originally posted by dlc444:

Still doesn't answer the question of why they package it wet

Maybe they don't. Maybe it get's wet in transit?

quote:

Originally posted by rtquig:
Just a guess, they can compact soil when it is damp easier than when it is dry and fluffy.

That and/or it's easier to dig and pack it when it's damp, with less blow-off.

I'm thinking back to shoveling clumps of damp dirt vs. piles of dry dirt and the resulting clouds of dust.

Like others, I'd say it's to keep the dust down and limit product loss during the packaging process.

You really do not want to know. You assume that the wetness is water, think of other liquids.

The only thing that I could think of would be packaging size. Damp would be smaller. Able to ship more packages wet than dry.

My guess is there are live organisms living in the soil and all living things need water.

quote:

Originally posted by rtquig:
From my days of working at a concrete batch plant, A yard of concrete including the water is + - 4,000lbs. 440 cement, around 1600 stone and 1700 sand. It varied with the moisture content of the sand. Water was around 40 gallons.

This is for a 3,000 PSI load.

What does this have to do with the question ?

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:

quote:

Originally posted by rtquig:
From my days of working at a concrete batch plant, A yard of concrete including the water is + - 4,000lbs. 440 cement, around 1600 stone and 1700 sand. It varied with the moisture content of the sand. Water was around 40 gallons.

This is for a 3,000 PSI load.

What does this have to do with the question ?

Because everyone is so focused on a simple typo where the OP said yards instead of feet. Even though everyone knows what he meant to say they have to point out how much 1 yard of dirt weighs.