Building, Plumbing and Heating Supplies

How to buy gravel and other aggregates in bulk bags

Aggregate Bags

Need sharp sand, gravel or ballast for your project?

Our big poly builders’ bags or bulk bags are a great way to get larger amounts of gravel, sand and other aggregates to your site or garden.

Great reasons to buy gravel in bulk bags

  • Gravel and all aggregates are significantly cheaper in bulk. We save the costs of filling, sealing and stacking plastic sacks on a pallet – and those savings are passed onto you!
  • Health and Safety – lugging a 25kg weight around site isn’t good for anyone’s back.  Loading a barrow with as much as you can comfortably handle is much safer.
  • Plastic sacks can and do split – strong polypropylene bulk bags store aggregates cleanly and securely, which is especially helpful if you’re not planning to use your materials all at once.
Turnbull Bulk Bag Aggregates
Aggregates in Bulk Bags from Turnbull Builders' Merchant

Looking for landscaping or decorative gravel?

Decorative aggregates and gravel make an instant impact in any garden.  Gravel is low maintenance, provides a great weed-free mulch for plants, as well as being vehicle and pet-friendly. It will cover large areas and conceal uneven ground.

Available in bulk bags or grab bags for smaller projects, our branches stock a  range of decorative gravels, pebbles, cobbles and rockery stone in all colours, textures and sizes.

Popular Building Materials available in Bulk Bags

Washed Sharp Sand Bulk Bag is an essential material for patio and landscaping projects.  Our Turnbull Washed Sharp Sand is perfect for using as a part of a tougher mortar mix or laying out a sand screed bed for paving slabs.  Turnbull Washed Plastering Sand is for all your bricklaying needs.

Turnbull Limestone Bulk Bags are a great multi-purpose crushed stone aggregate to create solid foundations for paving, block paving and driveways.

20mm Gravel Bulk Bags will give you the quantity you need for installing drainage or soakaways and laying large pipes. 20mm gravel creates an aerated layer for water to fill before saturation. Its larger particle size also makes it the best choice for driveways and it’s easy to spread over large areas.

20mm Ballast is ideal for projects where a strong mortar is required, and recommended for use in the construction of footings, foundations, pathways and shed bases.

How much sand or gravel does a bulk bag hold?

Most polypropylene bulk bags sit about 90cm high and around 85cm in width. You can store materials conveniently within a square metre footprint, taking  up much less space than a loose load.  Most bulk bags will hold between 700 – 900kg of sharp sand.  Damp material can increase weight of a bag up to 1000kg.

How much do I save if I buy a bulk bag?

You can make savings of over 50% by buying sharp sand and gravel in bulk.  A 25kg plastic sack of sharp sand will cost approx £3.  It’s an ideal way to buy sand for a small garden project, of course, but for anything larger, buying a 850kg (nominal weight) bulk bag of sharp sand will cost approx £53, representing a massive saving on costs for your project. By the way, 850kg is the nominal or calculated weight of the bulk bag, given its dimensions. There is a small tolerance or acceptable variation on this weight depending on the material inside.  Damp sand, for example, will weigh more than dry sand, even though it has the same volume.

Are any of your bulk bag sands suitable for play pits?

Play Sand is builders’ sand that has gone through a number of processes – it’s washed to remove any debris, and pressure-blasted to round and smooth off any sharp particles.

We don’t recommend our builders’ sand or sharp sand for children’s play areas for that reason. You can find suppliers that deliver play sand in bulk bags, but check that it has an EN 1177:2008 certificate to show it’s been tested and is safe for children to use.

How are bulk bags of gravel and other aggregates delivered?

Bulk bags are filled to order from stocks of loose aggregate at our depots, loaded onto flat bed trucks and delivered.  Kerbside delivery for bulk bags is standard.  Our drivers will place bulk bags as near to your property or site as possible.  Our local deliveries are made by HIAB lorries with a crane to lift the bags off the vehicle and onto the ground.  Bulk bags weigh approximately 850kgs or just under a tonne – they’ll do their best to position goods where you want them, but the size and weight of aggregates makes this tricky.

FREE delivery is available if your delivery address is within a 20 mile radius of one of our branches.  We deliver Monday to Friday, between 8am and 5pm and within 5 working days of receiving your order.

Our branches can also deliver loose loads to site (maximum 3.3T to a minimum 0.5T), or if you have a trailer or pick up, and you want to collect yourself, we can load your vehicle in the yard – and that’s it’s definitely the cheapest way to buy aggregates in larger amounts. For either of these services, please contact your local branch directly.