calcs.homes
calcs.homes
Enter the area to cover and the width of your board, plank, or trim, and this calculator converts square feet to the linear feet you need to buy, plus how many pieces that is.
Estimate only — long runs and end-matching offcuts can push real linear footage higher.
Area equals length times width, so to cover a given area with material of a known width you divide the area by that width — keeping units consistent by converting the width from inches to feet first. The result is the total running length of material. Dividing by a stock piece length gives the number of boards or planks, rounded up.
Going the other way is the same relationship rearranged: linear feet times width in feet gives the square feet a run of material will cover. The waste allowance matters most on flooring, where every row starts and ends with a cut piece, and on trim, where miters consume length at every corner.
Divide the square footage by the material's width in feet. For a 5.25-inch board that is 5.25 ÷ 12 = 0.4375 ft, so 200 sq ft ÷ 0.4375 ≈ 457 linear feet before waste.
Multiply the linear feet by the width in feet. 100 linear feet of 6-inch (0.5 ft) board covers 50 square feet.
Rows of flooring and runs of trim end in cut pieces whose offcuts are usually too short to reuse. 10% is typical; herringbone and mitered trim need more.