Board Foot Calculator
Enter every measurement Board Foot Calculator asks for, then press Calculate. The result stays blank while you are still typing.
Press Calculate after the entries are in.
What Board Foot is for
Board Foot Calculator is the page to open when you need board foot from measurements you already have. It belongs with the other construction calculators because that is the work this arithmetic supports. Type the entries first. The result stays hidden until you press Calculate, so a half-finished form never flashes a number you might mistake for the answer.
How to fill in this calculator
- Thickness. Enter the value this part of the job needs. The unit list on this field includes in, ft, yd, cm, m.
- Width. Enter the value this part of the job needs. The unit list on this field includes in, ft, yd, cm, m.
- Length. Enter the value this part of the job needs. The unit list on this field includes in, ft, yd, cm, m.
- Lumber Price (optional). Enter the value this part of the job needs.
- Quantity. Enter the value this part of the job needs.
- Thickness. Enter the value this part of the job needs. The unit list on this field includes in, ft, yd, cm, m.
- Width. Enter the value this part of the job needs. The unit list on this field includes in, ft, yd, cm, m.
- Length. Enter the value this part of the job needs. The unit list on this field includes in, ft, yd, cm, m.
- Lumber Price (optional). Enter the value this part of the job needs.
- Quantity. Enter the value this part of the job needs.
- Thickness. Enter the value this part of the job needs. The unit list on this field includes in, ft, yd, cm, m.
- Width. Enter the value this part of the job needs. The unit list on this field includes in, ft, yd, cm, m.
- Length. Enter the value this part of the job needs. The unit list on this field includes in, ft, yd, cm, m.
- Lumber Price (optional). Enter the value this part of the job needs.
The form continues past those fields, 50 inputs in all. Extra rows are for a second area, a second board, or another piece of the same kind. Leave a row blank when you do not have that piece. Use Add another only when you do.
The formula in plain language
A board foot is a piece of wood 12 inches wide, 12 inches long, and 1 inch thick. Multiply thickness in inches by width in inches by length in feet, then divide by 12. Multiply by the quantity when several boards match.
A worked example
A nominal 2 by 6 that is 8 feet long is 2 × 6 × 8 / 12 = 8 board feet. Ten of them are 80 board feet. At $1.40 a board foot the stack is $112.
Boards, sheets, and trim are ordered from the same takeoff. This board foot count should agree with plywood sheets and cabinet doors.
Mistakes that move the answer
- Board feet use the nominal size the yard sells, not the dressed size you measure with a tape.
- Length has to be in feet. An 8 inch board entered as 8 feet is twelve times too long.
How to check the result
After Calculate shows the board foot result, redo the last operation with a pencil using the rounded figures on the screen. Matching that check means the inputs were read correctly. If you edit a label or a sentence in this HTML file, reload the page. The form and this article both live in the file, so the edit is what visitors will read.