Is the 0.6x ratio always correct?

No — it's a common starting point for preliminary sizing on decent soil with a modest wall height. Weak or clay soils, taller walls, or surcharge loads (like a driveway above the wall) typically need a wider base — verify with the Retaining Wall Preliminary Stability Calculator.

Does this account for the wall's stem, only the footing?

Footing only — see the Retaining Wall Block Calculator for the visible wall face material.

Which height do I enter: the visible face or the full height?

The full retained height, from the underside of the footing to the top of the soil behind the wall — the same height the Retaining Wall Preliminary Stability Check asks for. The face showing above the ground in front is shorter by the buried part of the stem and the footing, and because the width here is a straight multiple of height, entering the visible face narrows the base by the ratio times every bit of height left out.

Where on this width does the stem stand?

This page returns one width; how it divides into toe and heel is a design decision. The heel runs back under the retained soil, whose weight on it helps hold the wall down; the toe projects in front and resists the wall tipping forward. On a boundary where you cannot dig beneath the neighbouring land, behind the wall or in front of it, the base may have to be all heel or all toe, and that L-shape changes the stability of the wall and can change the width it needs — a case for an engineer's check rather than this ratio.

Does a block retaining wall need this concrete footing?

Not every kind. A dry-stacked wall of interlocking concrete units — a segmental retaining wall in North America — is normally built on a compacted crushed-stone levelling pad to the block maker's details, not on a concrete footing, so this volume does not apply to it. Mortared brick, blockwork or stone, a reinforced hollow-block wall and a poured concrete wall all stand on a concrete footing; of those, a reinforced wall acting as a cantilever is the one this ratio describes, while a mass wall that holds by its own weight is proportioned differently.

What drainage goes behind the wall, and is any of it in this volume?

None of it is in the volume. Water trapped behind a wall adds its own pressure to the soil's, so the back of the stem is normally lined with free-draining stone, with a perforated pipe at the level of the heel to carry water to an outlet, weep holes through the stem, and a filter fabric (geotextile) to keep soil out of the stone. North American drawings call the pipe drain tile; in the UK it is a land drain. The Retaining Wall Drainage Gravel Calculator counts the stone.

Materials & Quantities

Retaining Wall Footing Sizing Calculator

Get a rule-of-thumb footing width from wall height, then estimate the footing's concrete volume.

Answers as you typeNo submit button
Every formula citedNamed published standards
Calculated in your browserNo account, nothing uploaded

SettingsSettings for this calculationUS

Market

Imperial · sales tax

Who is doing the work?

Waste is set to 5% by hand. Pick a tier above to replace it, or keep your own figure.

Wall Height (Retained Soil)

The height of soil being retained.

Same as the height used in the Retaining Wall Preliminary Stability Calculator.

Base Width Ratio

A rule-of-thumb fraction of wall height used for the footing width.

0.6 is a common starting point; taller walls, weaker soil, or added surcharge loads may need a wider base — verify with the Preliminary Stability Calculator.

Footing Length

The total linear length of the wall's footing.

Measure along the wall's run.

Footing Thickness

The thickness (depth) of the footing slab.

Typically 10-16 in for residential retaining walls.

Waste Factor (%)

Extra concrete for spillage.

5% is standard for a straightforward footing pour.

Recommended footing volume

3.77 yd³

Medium confidence

The base width here is a preliminary rule-of-thumb, not a verified stability result — run the Retaining Wall Preliminary Stability Calculator with your actual soil data before finalizing dimensions.

Recommended footing width: 3 ft
Base volume (no waste): 3.59 yd³

Then change the inputs to see how far the answer moves.

Show calculation logic

How this was calculated

Formula source(s)

Rule-of-thumb preliminary footing sizing: base width = 0.4-0.8x the retained wall height (0.6x used as the default here) — a starting point only, not a substitute for the full stability check in the Retaining Wall Preliminary Stability Calculator

Inputs used

Wall Height (Retained Soil): 5 ft
Base Width Ratio: 0.6
Footing Length: 33 ft
Footing Thickness: 11.75 in
Waste Factor (%): 5

Intermediate steps

Recommended footing width: 3 ft
Base volume (no waste): 3.59 yd³

Final result3.77 yd³

Confidence note: The base width here is a preliminary rule-of-thumb, not a verified stability result — run the Retaining Wall Preliminary Stability Calculator with your actual soil data before finalizing dimensions.

What this calculation does not cover

The 0.4-0.8 ratio describes a CANTILEVER wall, where the stem rises from a base with a heel behind it. A gravity wall, a counterfort wall, or a cantilever with the stem set at the toe rather than mid-base each proportion their base differently, so the same retained height gives a different base width depending on a wall type that is not an input here.
The base width is a fixed fraction of wall height and nothing about the ground enters it. Bearing capacity, friction angle, drainage condition, and surcharge from a driveway, slope or structure above the wall all change the width a real footing needs, and none of them are inputs here — two walls of the same height on very different soil get the same answer.
This sizes a footing, it does not verify one. No sliding, overturning or bearing check is performed, so a width taken from this rule can still fail any of the three, and many jurisdictions require an engineered design and a permit above a threshold wall height regardless of what this returns.
Footing thickness is taken as you enter it rather than sized, and no reinforcement is calculated. Bar size, spacing, cover, the dowels tying the footing into the stem and their lap lengths are all outside this model.
Embedment is not addressed. The result carries no burial depth, so frost depth, minimum depth to bearing, and founding on undisturbed or properly compacted subgrade remain separate requirements you have to settle elsewhere.
The concrete volume is a plain rectangular prism — length by width by thickness. It excludes the stem, a shear key, steps where the footing follows sloping ground, and the extra concrete an over-dug or uneven subgrade swallows when pouring against earth; the waste factor is a spillage allowance and does not cover that.

Estimated cost — your price

Price per yd³ ($)

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.

Schematic, drawn to the proportions you entered — not to scale on screen.

Part of a bigger job

Or plan the space itself: measure it once, doors and windows included, and this figure comes back worked out on that space, with what goes with it.

Retaining wall planner

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 2026-09-02 · in the site-wide review of 2026-09-06 · v1.0.1

Regulatory standards & verification citations1

Rule-of-thumb preliminary footing sizing: base width = 0.4-0.8x the retained wall height (0.6x used as the default here) — a starting point only, not a substitute for the full stability check in the Retaining Wall Preliminary Stability Calculator

Cite this page

Your workspace

Most jobs need more than one number. Add the calculators you need next and they open right here, underneath this one — your figures stay on screen and nothing is lost to a page change.

Tools and safety for this job

To place and finish concrete, erect formwork, fix reinforcement and excavate by hand. Generic types, no brands, no prices.

Protection this work requires

Hardwood dust is a recognised carcinogen: extract at the tool and wear a P2/N95 respirator when cutting or sanding indoors.
Wet cement and lime burn skin and eyes painlessly until the damage is done: waterproof gloves to EN 374, safety glasses whenever the mix can splash, and never kneel in wet mix in permeable trousers.
Saws, grinders and breakers run above 85 dB, where hearing damage accumulates and does not recover: defenders or plugs for every cut, not just the long ones.
Breakers and grinders cause permanent nerve damage: limit continuous trigger time, keep hands warm, and stop if fingers tingle or blanch.
Boards, blocks and bagged material cause most lasting back injuries on small sites: two people or a lifter for full sheets, and never a bag on one shoulder up a ladder.
Nailing, chiselling and cutting all throw fragments: glasses to EN 166 or ANSI Z87.1, and goggles rather than glasses overhead.
Digging blind strikes gas, water and power every day: get the plans, scan with a cable avoidance tool, and hand-dig trial holes over anything you find.

Show the 16 tools this job needs

Essential

Bull float and edger
Cable and pipe detector
Circular saw
Claw hammer
Screed bar or rail
Shovel and spade
Spirit level
String line and pins
Tape measure
Wheelbarrow

Recommended

Cordless drill/driver
Plate compactor
Rebar cutter and bender
Rebar tying tool

Optional

Angle grinder
Power float

Also needed as materials: circular saw blades, cutting and diamond discs, drill and driver bits, tie wire.

what each concrete tool is for and what each groundwork tool is for, and the spec that decides which to buy where one does.

Now that you have the number

These guides cover the work this quantity is for — the first ones run this calculator inside the section that raises the question.

Retaining Wall Sliding: The Check That Fails Before Overturninguses this calculator
Widening a base lifts the overturning factor much faster than the sliding one, and the passive resistance closing that gap is one service trench from gone.
Building a Gabion Wall
Building a Retaining Wall

Still deciding? Retaining Wall Footing vs Stability — the factors that actually differ, with no invented prices.

Already gone wrong? My garden or retaining wall is leaning

The data behind it: Production rates by operation

How to calculate retaining wall footing sizing in 6 steps

Wall Height (Retained Soil)The height of soil being retained.
Base Width RatioA rule-of-thumb fraction of wall height used for the footing width.
Footing LengthThe total linear length of the wall's footing.
Footing ThicknessThe thickness (depth) of the footing slab.
Waste Factor (%)Extra concrete for spillage.
Recommended footing volumeThe tool computes the recommended footing volume from those figures and shows the formula, its sources, and a confidence rating alongside it.

Recommended footing volume by wall height (Retained Soil)

Page defaults, not your figures above.

Wall Height (Retained Soil)	Recommended footing volume (yd³)
2 ft	1.51
4 ft	3.01
6 ft	4.52
8 ft	6.03

Frequently asked questions

Is the 0.6x ratio always correct?: No — it's a common starting point for preliminary sizing on decent soil with a modest wall height. Weak or clay soils, taller walls, or surcharge loads (like a driveway above the wall) typically need a wider base — verify with the Retaining Wall Preliminary Stability Calculator.
Does this account for the wall's stem, only the footing?: Footing only — see the Retaining Wall Block Calculator for the visible wall face material.
Which height do I enter: the visible face or the full height?: The full retained height, from the underside of the footing to the top of the soil behind the wall — the same height the Retaining Wall Preliminary Stability Check asks for. The face showing above the ground in front is shorter by the buried part of the stem and the footing, and because the width here is a straight multiple of height, entering the visible face narrows the base by the ratio times every bit of height left out.
Where on this width does the stem stand?: This page returns one width; how it divides into toe and heel is a design decision. The heel runs back under the retained soil, whose weight on it helps hold the wall down; the toe projects in front and resists the wall tipping forward. On a boundary where you cannot dig beneath the neighbouring land, behind the wall or in front of it, the base may have to be all heel or all toe, and that L-shape changes the stability of the wall and can change the width it needs — a case for an engineer's check rather than this ratio.
Does a block retaining wall need this concrete footing?: Not every kind. A dry-stacked wall of interlocking concrete units — a segmental retaining wall in North America — is normally built on a compacted crushed-stone levelling pad to the block maker's details, not on a concrete footing, so this volume does not apply to it. Mortared brick, blockwork or stone, a reinforced hollow-block wall and a poured concrete wall all stand on a concrete footing; of those, a reinforced wall acting as a cantilever is the one this ratio describes, while a mass wall that holds by its own weight is proportioned differently.
What drainage goes behind the wall, and is any of it in this volume?: None of it is in the volume. Water trapped behind a wall adds its own pressure to the soil's, so the back of the stem is normally lined with free-draining stone, with a perforated pipe at the level of the heel to carry water to an outlet, weep holes through the stem, and a filter fabric (geotextile) to keep soil out of the stone. North American drawings call the pipe drain tile; in the UK it is a land drain. The Retaining Wall Drainage Gravel Calculator counts the stone.

Preliminary estimate, not certified engineering. This tool produces an indicative quantity calculation for planning purposes only — it is not a certified structural analysis, a guaranteed material takeoff, or a substitute for building department approval. Always verify measurements on-site and have a licensed contractor or structural engineer review any load-bearing, code-sensitive, or safety-critical work before purchasing materials or starting construction. Spotted an arithmetic or standards error? Report it to contact@craftquantities.com with your inputs — a confirmed fix gets a permanent check of its own, so the same mistake cannot come back.