Stone walls - estimating amount needed?!

[Delinquent]

How exactly would you go about estimating how much rough stone you'd need to build a wall of x dimensions? Place I've just phoned sell it by the ton, but they didn't have any advice for how to estimate it either...

 

[chessspy]

Hi, Deliquent,
You don't say which kind of stone or what type of wall.
Do you mean drywalling?
Or flint?
Or what?
Is it a big wall, or a small wall, for what purpose? perimeter, or house?
Retaining? Garden? decorative?
Go on give us a clue.

 

[Trazor]

If you check on the the site I have linked to, you will find rock is averaged out at 2.5 tonnes per cubic metre.
Just work out the volume of your wall in cubic metres, to find the number of tonnes required.

http://www.simetric.co.uk/si_materials.htm

 

[chessspy]

Hmmm...,
Could be riven flint of course, which these days is (normally) built into a brick framework with exmet bedded into the bricks to give the flint a tie.
that's assuming a house wall or similar of course.

 

[Delinquent]

LOL suppose I was a bit lacking on the details, wasn't I

Thanks for the link trazor, will have a trundle over there.

The stone I was thinking of I can't for the life of me remember the name of, but it's grey in colour and contains lots of fossils - very common, Really can't believe I've got a blank on the name of it! Similar in appearance to purbeck.

The walls are all shapes and sizes - some are 1ft high and will need virtually no strength, so just a few inches thick, others are 6ft tall and failry substantial in requirements so I was going to go for a reasonable thickness wall with a reinforced concrete wall behind it.

Ideally I'd have liked to go for a cheaper option, but I just can't think of what would fit in with the garden other than continuing the trend of what's here at the moment. The house has a very cottagey feel with 14 courses brick, white render above and a low roof, it's in a garden full of shrubs and trees - just a shame it's on a massive slope (back garden is 3m below the back patio, but only 1m away from it, then drops a further 2m over the 10m or so it extends...)

 

[chessspy]

You could use conkers behind for strength, with random york stone slabs in front (it comes from old churches and the like and is soldby the m2

 

[Delinquent]

I'm presuming you don't mean the small round nuts that come off the tree?!

 

[JasonHerring]

If you give me details of how thick you want the walls to be and how high I can give you an idea of how much stone you will require. I can also perhaps give you some tips on construction as a 6ft high natural stone wall is not an easy thing to do. You might be surprised at how many tonnes you will get through.
I lay natural stone walls with Macclesfield gritstone/sandstone, Slate and Cotswold stone.
If you have a large area to cover I suggest you ask your quarry what quantities they will deliver in first. If your laying more than just a few tonnes I'd certainly bypass a builders merchant. Then, if you have a vehicle capable of carrying just a couple of tons have a go at a small area to help you gauge amounts further.
Feel free to mail via www.jasonherring.co.uk/contact.asp and I'll help you out.

 

[Delinquent]

Many thanks Jason - I'll get in touch in a mo Just been having a look around your website - some fantastic work there, looks great!