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Building a Stone Foundation

Part 2: Batter Boards
Batter boards are used for building stone walls. They act as a template to help you
build your stones to a certain shape and angle. Without them, you would just be
eyeballing everything, and the shape of your stone walls could easily be distorted.
Batter boards consist of wooden forms shaped to the form you want your walls to
take, and then string lines span from one batter board to another down the lengths
of your walls.
Stone walls normally taper inward as they rise. The batter boards help you build
according to the right upward slope. When they are set into the ground at the edge
of the walls, they give you a quick way to check on the inward slope of the stones.
They can also help to keep the faces of the wall straight if youre building without a
slope.

How to Construct Batter Boards

Determine the width of the bottom surface of your stone foundation, and determine
the width of the top surface. Its good practice to keep the top surface of your stone
foundation no less than 16 inches wide. This will provide you with a wide enough
foundation base.
To determine the height of your stone foundation and batter boards add the height
that you want to have above ground and the amount of the stem wall that will be
below ground. The minimum recommended height for a stem wall to be above
ground is 18 inches. Also, taper your foundation 2 inches inward for each foot
upward in height.
Its best to draw out your plan on paper and do your calculations. Remember that
the inside of your batter board formation is going to represent the size of your
stem wall. You will need two batter boards for each wall section of your building.
For example, a rectangular or square building has 4 walls so you would need 8
batter boards in total.

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1. Cut and prepare your pieces of wood. Leave enough length at the bottom of
your posts to stake into the ground. It also helps to cut the bottom of the
posts to a pointed angle so they drive into the ground better.
2. Draw your batter board template onto a large piece of paper or onto the floor
(if you can erase it later). Use this as your template for constructing your
batter boards.
3. Arrange your pieces of wood onto your drawing and screw them together
tightly.

How to Set Up Batter Boards

After your rubble trench is prepared, you can set up your batter boards. You want
to place them as accurately as you can as they will represent where your stem wall
is going to be built. Hammer them into the ground where you want them to be
located.
Level your batter boards horizontally and vertically to make sure theyre at 90
degree angles with the ground. You can also put up line levels once your string
lines are up to see if your batter boards on each end of the wall are level with each
other. Your string line needs to be tight to do this.
Its helpful to tie your string lines up at this point spanning from one batter board to
the other. Once youve done this, you can use a 90 degree carpenters square to
check that your batter boards are lined up straight with one another. The top of the
batter board and the string should be at a 90 degree angle with each other.
Work with it and get your batter boards set up as accurately as you can. It can take
some time and effort, but you only have to do it once.
When you know that you have a batter board placed correctly you will want to
fasten it into the ground so that it wont move or get knocked over. To do this,
drive a piece of rebar into the ground on both sides of the batter board. Place the
rebar right alongside the board and then wrap wire tightly around the rebar and
batter board stake.
Once all of your batter boards are set up, you should have string lines extending
from one board to the other opposite one. This outlines where your stem wall will
be. One string is tied on each side of the batter boards to mark the interior and
exterior sides of the walls. As you build higher on your stone wall you will move

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these strings upward on your batter boards. They will guide you in tapering your
wall.
Now youre ready to start laying stone!
Heres a list of tools and materials that youll need to construct and set up your
batter boards.

Tools:

Hammer
Level
90 degree carpenters square
Saw
Drill
Ruler and/or tape measure
Pencil
Shovel

Materials:

String line
2x2 pieces of wood
1x2 pieces of wood
Screws
Rebar stakes
Rebar wire

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