Play Sand vs Mason Sand vs Concrete Sand

They are not interchangeable

All three are “sand” on a receipt and completely different on a job. Grain shape, grain size, and how the pit washed the material decide whether a pile is safe for kids, useful in mortar, or stable under a paver. Buying the cheapest pile and hoping is how a sandbox gets mortar sand and a patio gets beach-round play sand.

HomeGuide 2026 sand-delivery table. This calculator’s $15–$40/ton default spans fill to the low end of play sand. Delivery is extra (HomeGuide often $50–$150).

Play sand

Play sand is washed and screened so it is less dusty and has fewer pebbles. It is rounded, which is why it feels good in a box and why it is a poor structural bed. If you put it under pavers, the units can creep. If you put unwashed fill sand in a sandbox, you get silt, unknown rock, and whatever washed into the pit.

Some play-sand bags print a playground or washing spec. That is a label to read, not a claim this site has tested. “Natural sand” from a landscape pile is not automatically play sand.

Mason sand

Mason sand is fine and consistent so it mixes into mortar. Masons like it because it trowels. Landscapers sometimes use it as a smoother bedding layer. It can hold water and it can get slick. For a dry-laid patio, concrete sand is usually the better bedding choice. For brick mortar, mason sand is the product.

Concrete sand

Concrete sand is coarser. The grains interlock. That is what you want under pavers and in a concrete mix. It will feel harsher in a sandbox and it is not what most parents want kids sitting in, even if it is clean.

How the calculator treats them

Volume math does not care which sand you bought. Area × depth ÷ 324 is the same (NIST: 1 yd³ = 27 ft³). Density is close enough at 1.35 tons per yard for planning, with damp sand running heavier. Price is where they split. The sand calculator defaults to $15–40 per ton, which spans HomeGuide fill ($15–$30) into the low end of play sand ($35–$55). Type the actual product price so the total is not a blend of three materials.

A simple buying rule

Kids touching it: play sand. Stones sitting on it: concrete sand. Trowel involved: mason sand. Hole in the yard you just want full: fill sand, and only if nothing structural or edible depends on it.

Washing and dust

Unwashed sand makes dusty joints and dirty kids. Washed sand costs more and is usually the right call for play areas and for bedding you will see. If a cheap pile stains the water brown when you hose a handful, it has fines. Those fines migrate into paver joints or into lungs in a sandbox. Pay for washed when the sand is the finished surface.

If a ticket only says “sand,” ask which of the four rows in the table you are buying. A patio crew and a parent standing at the same pile want different trucks. Volume is the easy part; the sand calculator will not save you from the wrong grain.