Board Foot Calculator

Multiply thickness in inches by width in inches by length in feet, then divide by 12. If all three measurements are in inches, divide by 144 instead. A 1 × 8 board that is 8 feet long gives 1 × 8 × 8 / 12 = 5.33 board feet. Enter your own sizes in the calculator above to get the figure, the cost and the waste allowance.

Board feet equals thickness (inches) times width (inches) times length (feet), divided by 12. The same formula in inches only is thickness times width times length divided by 144. Both give the same answer because 144 cubic inches is one board foot, which is 12 inches by 12 inches by 1 inch of wood.

A board foot is a unit of lumber volume used in the United States and Canada. It equals a board one foot long, one foot wide and one inch thick, which is 144 cubic inches, one twelfth of a cubic foot, or about 2.36 litres of wood. Lumber is priced and counted in board feet.

A board foot is defined as 144 cubic inches (12 × 12 × 1). Multiplying thickness, width and length all in inches gives cubic inches, so dividing by 144 converts that volume to board feet. When the length is in feet you multiply it by 12 to get inches, which is why the divisor drops from 144 to 12.

Yes, the unit itself is always 144 cubic inches. What changes is the size you measure. Softwood sold planed is counted from its nominal width and thickness, so a board foot of 2x4 holds less actual wood than 144 cubic inches. Rough lumber and hardwood are counted from their real measurements.

A 2x4x8 is 5.33 board feet when priced the lumber-yard way: 2 × 4 × 8 / 12. Its actual size is 1.5 by 3.5 inches, so the real volume of wood is 3.5 board feet. Use the nominal figure to compare prices and the actual figure if you need the true volume.

A 2x4x10 is 6.67 board feet by nominal size (2 × 4 × 10 / 12). Using the actual dressed size of 1.5 by 3.5 inches, the board holds 4.375 board feet of wood. Add the board feet of each stud when you buy a set, then add waste.

A 2x6x10 is 10 board feet by nominal size (2 × 6 × 10 / 12). Its actual size is 1.5 by 5.5 inches, which makes the true volume 6.875 board feet. A 2x6x12 is 12 board feet nominal and 8.25 actual, and a 2x6x16 is 16 nominal and 11 actual.

A 2x6x12 is 12 board feet by nominal size, since 2 × 6 × 12 / 12 equals 12. The actual size of 1.5 by 5.5 inches gives 8.25 board feet of real wood. The nominal number is the one most yards use when they quote a price per board foot.

A 2x4x16 is 10.67 board feet by nominal size (2 × 4 × 16 / 12). Using the actual 1.5 by 3.5 inch size, it contains 7 board feet of wood. Three of these boards come to 32 board feet nominal, so a small framing order adds up quickly.

A 1x12x12 is exactly 12 board feet by nominal size: 1 × 12 × 12 / 12. The dressed size is 3/4 by 11 1/4 inches, which holds 8.44 board feet of wood. A 1x12 that is one foot long is one board foot, which is the easiest unit to picture.

A 1x6x8 is 4 board feet by nominal size (1 × 6 × 8 / 12). The actual size of 3/4 by 5 1/2 inches gives 2.75 board feet of wood. A 1x6x10 is 5 nominal, a 1x6x12 is 6 nominal, and a 1x6x16 is 8 nominal.

A 2x3x10 is 5 board feet by nominal size: 2 × 3 × 10 / 12. The actual size is 1.5 by 2.5 inches, which gives 3.125 board feet of real wood. A 2x2x10 is 3.33 board feet nominal and 1.875 actual.

A 1x8x8 is 5.33 board feet by nominal size (1 × 8 × 8 / 12). The actual size is 3/4 by 7 1/4 inches, so the true volume is 3.625 board feet. If you buy hardwood that is a full inch thick and 8 inches wide, the first figure is the right one.

A 4x4x8 is 10.67 board feet by nominal size (4 × 4 × 8 / 12). Its actual size is 3 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches, so the real volume is 8.17 board feet. Posts are often priced per piece, so use board feet only when you want to compare wood volume.

For planed softwood sold at retail, board feet are counted from the nominal width and thickness and the actual length, which is how yards price it. For rough lumber and hardwood, use the real measurements. This calculator lets you enter the numbers as written or convert a nominal size to its actual size.

No. A planed 2x4 measures about 1 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches. The nominal size is the size of the rough board before drying and planing. Lumber sizes follow the same pattern: nominal 1 is about 3/4 inch, nominal 2 is 1 1/2 inches, and widths of 8, 10 and 12 are 7 1/4, 9 1/4 and 11 1/4 inches.

Multiply the area in square feet by the thickness in inches. One square foot at one inch thick is exactly one board foot. A 100 square foot surface covered with 3/4 inch boards needs 75 board feet, and with 1 1/2 inch boards it needs 150. Add waste on top.

At 1 inch thick, 20 board feet covers 20 square feet. At 3/4 inch thick it covers 26.7 square feet, and at 2 inches thick it covers 10 square feet. The rule is area equals board feet divided by thickness in inches, so thinner boards stretch further.

Multiply 300 by the thickness in inches. At 1 inch thick you need 300 board feet, at 3/4 inch you need 225, and at 1 1/2 inches you need 450. Add 10 to 15 percent for waste and cuts, which brings the 1 inch case to 330 to 345 board feet.

Divide the board feet by thickness times width in inches and multiply by 12. For 1x6 boards, 24 board feet is 24 × 12 / (1 × 6) = 48 linear feet. The calculator's linear feet mode does this and tells you how many boards of a chosen length to buy.

Divide board feet by 12, because one board foot is one twelfth of a cubic foot. So 12 board feet equals 1 cubic foot and 100 board feet equals 8.33 cubic feet. For cubic metres, multiply board feet by 0.0023597. The calculator shows both volumes beside your board feet.

There are 12 board feet in a cubic foot, since a board foot is 1/12 of a cubic foot (144 of the 1,728 cubic inches). A cubic metre contains about 423.8 board feet. These conversions use the true volume, so they apply to actual-size lumber rather than nominal pricing sizes.

Multiply the board feet you need, including waste, by the price per board foot. Ten 1x8x8 boards at 5.33 board feet each is 53.3 board feet, and at $7.50 per board foot that is about $400. Enter a price in the calculator and it multiplies for you.

Ten percent is a common starting point for straight, clear boards, and 15 to 20 percent is safer for hardwood with defects, short cuts or a pattern to match. Build your cut list first, total the board feet, then apply the allowance so you do not run short on the last piece.

Convert to inches and feet first: divide millimetres by 25.4 for thickness and width, and divide metres by 0.3048 for length in feet. A 25 mm by 150 mm board that is 2.4 m long is 0.984 × 5.906 × 7.874 / 12 = 3.81 board feet. Choose millimetres and metres in the calculator to do it automatically.

BF, BDFT and FBM all mean board foot. FBM stands for foot, board measure. A thousand board feet is written MBF or MFBM, and a million is MMBF. A quote that says 250 BF is 250 board feet, usually for hardwood priced per board foot.

MBF means one thousand board feet. The M is the Roman numeral for a thousand. Mills and wholesale buyers quote lumber in dollars per MBF, so $800 per MBF is $0.80 per board foot. One MBF equals 83.33 cubic feet of actual wood.

Logs use a log rule, such as the Doyle log rule, which estimates the lumber a sawlog will yield from its diameter and length after allowing for taper, saw kerf and waste. That is different from this calculator, which measures a board of known thickness, width and length. A log needs its own tool.

Spray foam is sold in board feet that mean one square foot sprayed one inch thick, which is the same 144 cubic inch volume. Multiply area in square feet by thickness in inches: a 500 square foot attic at 3 inches needs 1,500 board feet of foam. It measures coverage, not solid wood.

Measure thickness and width in inches and length in feet, then multiply the three and divide by 12. Measure the actual board for rough or hardwood lumber, or use the nominal size for planed softwood if you are comparing prices. Write each piece down, add the totals, and round up.

List every piece with its thickness, width, length and quantity. Calculate board feet for each line, multiply by the quantity, then add the lines together. Add a waste allowance to the grand total. Running the calculator once per board size and summing the results gives the order quantity.

Linear feet measure only length, with no regard to the board's size. Board feet measure volume, so a 1x12 board and a 1x4 board of the same length have the same linear feet but a 1x12 holds three times the board feet. Dimensional lumber is often sold by the linear foot and hardwood by the board foot.

Square feet measure surface area, while board feet measure volume, so thickness matters. One square foot of board that is one inch thick is one board foot. At half an inch thick, one square foot is only half a board foot. Flooring and sheet goods use square feet, rough and hardwood boards use board feet.

Divide 100 by the board feet of one board. A 1x6x8 at 4 board feet needs 25 boards, a 1x8x8 at 5.33 needs about 19, and a 2x4x8 at 5.33 needs about 19. The calculator's linear feet mode shows how many boards of a set length equal a number of board feet.

The board foot is a unit of lumber volume in the United States and Canada. Australia and New Zealand used the same measure under the names super foot and superficial foot until the 1970s. Most other countries price timber by the cubic metre, which is why the metric option here converts to board feet.

Yes. Multiply thickness, width and length in inches, then divide by 144. A board 1 by 6 inches and 48 inches long is 288 / 144 = 2 board feet. Choose inches for the length unit in the calculator and it divides by 144 for you. Feet for length and 12 as the divisor gives the same answer.