How to Calculate the Size of a Stemwall

Actual Footage

• 1

  Draw a diagram of your stemwall. Shade in all horizontal walls on your diagram. You want to be able to measure the corners of the stemwall accurately, so if you measure the inside height, width and depth of horizontal walls, also measure the outside of the vertical walls so you can include the stemwall corners.

• 2

  Position yourself on the inside perimeter of the stemwall. You may have to crawl or bend over a bit for this.

• 3

  Use a tape measure to measure the width of each stemwall that you shaded in. This will be an inside corner-to-corner measurement. Write this measurement down on the appropriate wall on your drawing and label it "width."

• 4

  Measure the height of each of those same stemwalls from the concrete slab up to the bottom of the floor joints or vapor barrier that covers the floor joints. Write those measurements down and label them "height" on your diagram.

• 5

  Measure the depth of the walls. Find an opening or gap in the wall to measure this accurately. Write the measurement down and label it "depth."

• 6

  Move to the outside perimeter of your stemwall.

• 7

  Take the measurements for height, depth and length for the vertically drawn walls and write them down accordingly.

Cubic Yards

• 8

  Measure the length, depth and width as described in the previous section.

• 9

  Multiply the three measurements and write down the number you get.

• 10

  Divide the measurement from the previous step by 27 to convert it to a cubic yards measurement. Concrete is sold in cubic yards. If you haven't poured the concrete for the stemwall, get a bit extra just in case you run out in the middle of your project.