Stone wall measurments

[trappermcnutt]

I need some clarity.

Why are stone walls often measured by the square foot?
I assume that is a measure of the face, (length x height).

Is cubic footage not a much more meaningful measure, (length x height x width)?

A linear foot is a 1 foot section of wall correct? Isn't that basically a cubic foot measure granted you know the height and width?

Thanks for the help, i tried some searches but couldn't find a clear answer.

[glaciator]

Face foot is used. It doesn't matter how deep the wall is, as long as it is deep enough to handle the height/load. I do dry stack moss rock, so the depth is irregular. Larger stones go on the bottom, smaller as you go up. So face foot is how I bid.

[trappermcnutt]

So when i am ordering my stone I figure out how many cubic feet it will be and covert that to tons. I guess it's not that hard to then convert cubic feet to face feet for pricing.

But how do you do it?

[Stonehenge]

A linear foot is only a cubic foot if the wall is 1' high.

In general, because on a wall all you see is the face, you charge by the face foot. In the cases of freestanding walls (that have a front and back) I charge 2X the face foot, because they're getting 2X the wall.

As for calculating materials, it's just a matter of knowing the density of the material you're bidding, figuring the size (depth) of the stones you'll use, and then the length and height of the wall. L X H X D = cubic feet, multiply that by the density of the stone (pounds per cubic feet) and you have the quantity you need to order (I like to order at least 10% more than that). You can Google just about any stone density in a few seconds, granite is around 180 pounds per cubic foot, limestone by us is around 150.

But pricing the wall is a different animal than measuring it. Not sure if that's what you're after or not.

[Fine Edge]

Having worked with many different types of stones will help greatly. You'll find that you can use almost every bit of one type but have to chisel and cut other types of stone a bit more. It may be different coverages for face feet of wall vs. linear / square footage of cap using the same stone. Then of course, your coverage will decrease using a thicker stone.
I'm not sure of your installation methods either but I hope it helps.