Stone calculator
Stacked Stone Wall Calculator
Dry-stacked walls are built without mortar and need more stone than they look. Enter the wall dimensions for tonnage and cost.
Your project
Rule of thumb: at least half the wall height.
Packing efficiency — how much of the wall volume is actually stone.
Wall stone needed
13.1
US tons
- Wall face area
- 120 sq ft
- Buried first course
- 6" below grade
- Total wall volume
- 210 cu ft
- Base trench gravel
- 2 tons
- Estimated stone cost
- $2,490
- Coverage rule
- ~9.2 sq ft of face per ton
Dry-stacked walls over 3 feet, or any wall retaining soil, should be engineered or built as a segmental block wall with geogrid.
The shareable link reopens this calculator with your exact inputs.
Building a dry-stacked wall that stays up
Set the first course in a compacted gravel trench, buried at least 10% of the finished height. Every stone should touch three others, run long dimension into the wall rather than along it, and land on two stones below — one over two, two over one.
Batter the faces inward about 1 inch per foot of rise, and drop a through-stone spanning the full thickness every 4-6 feet of length and every 2 feet of height. Those ties are what turn two stacked piles into a wall.
How much stone per square foot of face
A dry-stacked wall typically takes about one ton of stone per 12-18 square feet of face, depending on thickness and how well the stone squares up. Round field stone is at the heavy end because it packs poorly.
Order 10% extra and expect it: you will reject stones for shape, and the last course always needs specific pieces you would otherwise have used lower down.
Wall stone coverage
| Wall thickness | Sq ft of face per ton | Tons per 10 ft of 3 ft wall |
|---|---|---|
| 12" | 22 | 1.4 |
| 16" | 17 | 1.8 |
| 18" | 15 | 2.0 |
| 24" | 11 | 2.7 |
Frequently asked questions
+How many tons of stone for a dry stack wall?
About one ton per 15 square feet of wall face at 18 inches thick. A 40 ft × 3 ft wall needs roughly 8 tons.
+How thick should a dry stacked wall be?
At least half the height, with a minimum of 12 inches. A 3 foot wall wants 18 inches of thickness at the base.
+Do dry stacked walls need a footing?
Not a concrete one. A compacted gravel trench 6 inches deep and wider than the wall gives drainage and a stable, frost-tolerant bed.
+How high can a dry stone wall be?
Three feet is the usual DIY limit for freestanding walls, and lower for anything holding back soil. Above that, get an engineered design.