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The length of the wall along its face.
Measure along the line the wall will follow. Baskets are counted whole, so a length that is not a multiple of the basket you choose ends with a basket that runs past the end — the result says so and shows the wall the baskets actually build. Settle the run length before setting out: moving an end peg is cheaper than cutting a basket.
Tools needed: Tape measure
The height of the whole stack of baskets, including a bottom course set below ground.
A wall holding back earth usually has its bottom course buried below finished ground, so the height to enter is the whole stack, not the part you will see. The height is built in whole courses of the basket you choose, so a height between courses rounds up — finishing with a half-height basket on top is the usual way to land closer to a height.
Tools needed: Tape measure
How deep the wall is from its front face to its back, at the base.
A garden wall or a freestanding wall is commonly one basket deep. For a wall holding back earth, the depth of the base is its most important dimension, because it is what stops the wall sliding or tipping; a common first guess for a gravity wall is half to two-thirds of its height, which a design then checks. This page takes one depth for the whole height — for a wall that steps back course by course, enter each course as its own wall one basket high.
The basket your supplier sells, in the sizes of the measurement system you have chosen.
Baskets are made in modular sizes and each market has its own: 1 m wide and 1 m or 0.5 m high where baskets are made to metric sizes, 3 ft wide and 3 ft or 1.5 ft high in the US. They are not interchangeable — a metric basket is about 9% bigger in every direction — so switching the measurement system switches the basket counted, and can change the count. Longer baskets are divided into cells by internal diaphragms. If your supplier's basket is not listed, choose another size and enter it.
The share of a filled basket that is air between the stones.
Gabion design guidance usually takes 30 to 40 per cent. It depends on the crew more than on the stone: a face hand-packed with smaller stone worked in behind leaves close to 30, while stone tipped in by machine and raked level leaves 40 or more. Every five points of voids moves the stone by seven or eight per cent, so use the lower figure if the baskets will be hand-packed, and ask the supplier if they have measured their own stone.
The density of solid rock — not the loose bulk density on a delivery ticket.
This is the density of the rock with no gaps in it: about 2,600 to 2,700 kg/m³ (162 to 169 lb/ft³) for granite and most limestones, and more for basalt. A quarry quotes it as particle density or specific gravity — a specific gravity of 2.65 is 2,650 kg/m³ (165 lb/ft³). Do not enter a supplier's loose bulk density here: that figure already has the voids in it, and entering it would count them twice and under-order the stone by more than a third.
Extra stone for overfilling each basket before its lid closes, and for what stays in the heap.
Each basket's top layer is overfilled by about 25 to 50 mm (1 to 2 in) so the lid closes down onto stone rather than over a hollow that will settle, and some stone is always left in the heap or broken in handling. It adds to the stone only — the basket count is exact and nothing is added to it.
Gabion baskets to order
3 baskets (6 × 3 × 3 ft)
The basket count is exact for the wall and basket entered. The stone is the solid stone less the voids between the stones, so it moves with how the baskets are filled: a hand-packed face leaves fewer voids than stone tipped in by machine.
- Baskets along the wall, in each course
- 3 baskets
- Courses up the wall
- 1 course
- Rows through the wall, front to back
- 1 row
- Stone to order, with the overfill allowance
- 9.15 tons
- Stone that fills the baskets
- 8.71 tons
- Volume of the filled baskets
- 6 yd³
- Density of a filled basket — the stone and its voids together
- 107.53 pcf
They open the calculator with your figures already in it
Gabion Basket and Stone Calculator: 3 baskets (6 × 3 × 3 ft) — shown in imperial, US market. The link sets both, so the result they see is the one on your screen.
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How this was calculated
Formula source(s)
- Gabion baskets are sold in modular sizes: where they are made to metric sizes, 1 m wide and 1 m or 0.5 m high in lengths of whole metres; in the US, 3 ft wide and 3 ft or 1.5 ft high in lengths of whole yards. A wall takes whole baskets along its length, whole courses up its height and whole rows through its depth
- The baskets are specified by BS EN 10223-3 (woven hexagonal mesh) and BS EN 10223-8 (welded mesh gabions) in the UK and Europe, and by ASTM A975 (double-twisted hexagonal mesh gabions and revet mattresses) in the US; the stone that fills them, and the wall they make, are the designer's
- Stone to fill the baskets = volume of the baskets × density of the solid stone × (1 − voids), where the voids are the space between the stones as a share of the basket's volume — the quantity ASTM C29 measures for aggregate. Gabion design guidance usually takes the voids as 30 to 40 per cent, lower for a hand-packed face and higher for stone tipped in by machine
Inputs used
- Wall Length
- 18 ft
- Wall Height, Including Any Buried Course
- 3 ft
- Wall Depth, Front to Back
- 3 ft
- Basket Size (Length × Width × Height)
- 6 × 3 × 3 ft
- Basket Length, Along the Wall
- 3.5 ft
- Basket Width, Front to Back
- 1.5 ft
- Basket Height
- 1.5 ft
- Voids Between the Stones (%)
- 35
- Density of the Stone Itself
- 165.43 pcf
- Overfill and Spillage Allowance on the Stone (%)
- 5
Intermediate steps
- Baskets along the wall, in each course
- 3 baskets
- Courses up the wall
- 1 course
- Rows through the wall, front to back
- 1 row
- Stone to order, with the overfill allowance
- 9.15 tons
- Stone that fills the baskets
- 8.71 tons
- Volume of the filled baskets
- 6 yd³
- Density of a filled basket — the stone and its voids together
- 107.53 pcf
Confidence note: The basket count is exact for the wall and basket entered. The stone is the solid stone less the voids between the stones, so it moves with how the baskets are filled: a hand-packed face leaves fewer voids than stone tipped in by machine.
What this calculation does not cover
- A QUANTITY, NOT A DESIGN. A gabion wall holding back earth is a gravity wall: whether it slides, tips or overloads the ground under it depends on its base depth, its batter, the soil behind it and any slope, drive or building above it — none of which appears here. Get a wall retaining more than about 1 m (3 ft) of earth designed, and check what your local authority requires, which can be less where there is a load above.
- Every basket is counted whole, lengthways along the wall, with one depth from base to top. A wall that steps back as it rises — as most gravity walls do — is counted by entering each course as its own wall one basket high and adding the results; baskets turned across the wall as headers are not modelled.
- The stone rests on the voids figure. Design guidance usually takes 30 to 40 per cent of the basket, and the stone at 30 per cent is about a sixth more than at 40 — which also changes the wall's weight, the figure a stability check is built on.
- Lacing wire or spiral binders, and the internal bracing ties that stop a face bulging, are supplied and scheduled by the basket maker. Woven and welded baskets are joined differently and makers' schedules differ, so they are not counted here: use the maker's assembly instructions.
- The levelled and compacted bed the wall stands on, the filter fabric behind a retaining wall that stops soil washing through the stone, drainage, excavation and backfill are all outside this count. Gabion mattresses laid flat on slopes and channel beds are sized by area and thickness, not by this page.
Estimated cost — your price
This site holds no price list for this material — local prices vary too much to publish honestly. Enter your supplier's price and the result is costed with it.
Computed in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded. Presented in US customary units and US trade terminology. Where a formula follows a published standard, that standard and its edition are cited beside it on this page; where none governs, the page says so. Local amendments override model codes — verify against the code in force where you build.
Sources checked 2026-09-21 · v1.0.0
Regulatory standards & verification citations3
- Gabion baskets are sold in modular sizes: where they are made to metric sizes, 1 m wide and 1 m or 0.5 m high in lengths of whole metres; in the US, 3 ft wide and 3 ft or 1.5 ft high in lengths of whole yards. A wall takes whole baskets along its length, whole courses up its height and whole rows through its depth
- The baskets are specified by BS EN 10223-3 (woven hexagonal mesh) and BS EN 10223-8 (welded mesh gabions) in the UK and Europe, and by ASTM A975 (double-twisted hexagonal mesh gabions and revet mattresses) in the US; the stone that fills them, and the wall they make, are the designer's
- Stone to fill the baskets = volume of the baskets × density of the solid stone × (1 − voids), where the voids are the space between the stones as a share of the basket's volume — the quantity ASTM C29 measures for aggregate. Gabion design guidance usually takes the voids as 30 to 40 per cent, lower for a hand-packed face and higher for stone tipped in by machine
Which documents these citations point at
Standards referenced: ASTM A975, ASTM C29 (ASTM International, United States); BS EN 10223-3, BS EN 10223-8 (European Committee for Standardization, as published in the UK by BSI, European (EN)).
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