I’ve got to measure my front lawn to buy dirt mix. I’m planning to spread the dirt three inches thick on the entire front yard, but I suck at measurements.
I’m on a corner lot which makes the front yard rectangular at the front, but then it rounds towards the side of the house along the sidewalk.
So, can you all tell me how I can most accurately measure my front yard? 
Break it into rectangles you know exist and then deal with the curvy parts. Is what is left close to a true circle or can multiple small rectangles fit better? Some extra soil won’t hurt, and close is likely good enough accuracy, if they’re bringing it by the dumptruck load.
Shouldn’t the title be … how mulch?
Hee, Hee. I kill me.
It’s usually sold by the yard (a cubic yard, really), which is a lot of dirt. If you spread it out to a depth of 3", that’ll cover a square roughly 127" on a side (about 10 1/2’). So, you don’t need a great deal of accuracy here.
Thank you very mulch, Hamlet… 
The “leftover” part isn’t really a true circle, it’s more of a half-circle, I’m thinking. That portion curves around the side of the house and doesn’t lend itself to the easy measuring I could do with the front part of the yard, which is rectangular. But, the very back portion of it that runs along the fence line could be broken up into a separate rectangle, and I’ll just estimate for the curved portion as best I can.
The landscaper sells the mix by the cubic yard with a 3 cubic yard minimum if they’re going to deliver. I want to lay it down about 3 inches deep across the yard, so I’ll try measuring the rectangles I can easily break up.
Just thought of something - should I take measurements in square feet or yards? I’m not really good at this, unfortunately.
Thanks all!! Much appreciated.
Doesn’t really matter. For simplicity, just use feet and divide the number of square feet of area you work out by the 10.5 figure I gave above, which will directly give you the number of yards you need.
Normaly you measure the lawn in feet and convert for the stuff sold by cubic yards. The garden centers will be selling baged stuff in cu. ft… The fertilizer will give spread in sq. ft. as will things like grass seed.
3 ft per yard is 9 sq. ft. per 1 sq. yard or 3 feet times 3 feet. You could give the measurements to the garden center and have them figure the amount to send over. It’s something thay have to be able to do. They shoul be able to handle the conversion of sq. ft. of lawn covered 3 inches deep into cu. yards of soil to be used.
Imagine (or mark out, if you need to) a rectangle that’s about the same area as the area you’re trying to measure, and use the area of that rectangle. All you need is for the area of lawn you’re excluding be about the same as the area of the rectangle that’s not lawn. You should easily be able to eyball this to the accuracy you really need.
Here’s a wild idea; how about taking to a screenshot of your house from Google Earth or Google Maps, removing any reference to the actual location and uploading it along with a reference dimension, like the length of your driveway. We could take it from there.
Thanks all!
I was worried I’d muck up the measurements and order enough dirt to landscape the eastern states.
Thanks, Q.E.D… I am going to march my butt outside and try this again. I’m a college-educated person - I can do this! said the girl who couldn’t get the tape measure open last night
It is probably easiest to calculate in square feet.
Rectangles are easy. Length X Wdth. Do those first and take them out of the equation, leaving the curve.
Being on a corner lot, determine your approximate included angle of the circle. Measure from the beginning of the curve perpendicular to the street into your lot. Do the same at the end of the curve. Where those two line intersect is the center point of the circle, and your measurement is the radius. (Can you tell that I deal with a lot of site plans? 
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So, let’s say that you measure that you have a thirty foot radius, and that the road makes a 90 degree turn. The area of a circle is calculated by pi x the radius squared. You would multiply 900 (thirty feet squared) by pi, which would give you 2,826 s.f. A ninety degree angle is one quarter of a circle, so multiply that by 0.25 to get 707 s.f.
Now add in your rectangles to get the aggregate square feet. Let’s say that it comes to a total of 4,000 square feet. To get a volume, multiply by the depth. For 3" depth, multiply by .25 (one quarter of a foot). For 4" depth, multiply by .33, etc. In our example, we’ll say 3", so that will yield 1000 cubic feet.
To get from cubic feet to cubic yards (the standard measure for earth deliveries), divide by 27. That yields 37 cubic yards or so in our example. Obviously your number will vary based on the measurements that you come up with.
A few other points:
If this is for seeding, you will sound more knowledgable if you call it loam or topsoil.
Also, get an idea if the volume that you are having delivered is calculated loose or compacted. It is probably loose, which means that it will only be 3" deep when you first spread it. As soon as you roll it, it will be less that 3" deep. You may want to increase your calculations by 25% or so if the final depth is critical to you.
Are you planning to rototill the topsoil into your lawn? You may want to consider that to get a better draining soil. I don’t know where you are located, and soils are different everywhere, but normal practice dictates that the original lawn be tilled when covered by a layer of topsoil.
Good luck.
You don’t show a location.
3" of raked out dirt on any type of slope is going to end up in the gutter after the first few rains. It is spring in most places.
Are you going to sod it right away?