Free woodworking & DIY project calculators
Plan a deck, a fence, a floor or a cabinet job and get the exact quantities — boards, sheets, bags, boxes and screws — before you drive to the lumber yard. Every tool accounts for real (milled) lumber dimensions and a sensible waste factor.
Calculators
- Board foot calculatorLumber volume from thickness x width x length
- Deck boards calculatorBoard count and joist layout for a deck
- Plywood sheets calculatorSheet count for walls, floors or sheathing
- Wall studs calculatorStud count, corners and openings included
- Joist span calculatorCheck a span against the IRC table
- Deck cost calculatorMaterial cost from square feet and board price
- Hardwood flooring calculatorBoxes and board feet for a floor area
- Paint coverage calculatorGallons per coat for any room size
- Fence material calculatorPosts, rails, pickets and concrete bags
- Roof pitch calculatorRise and run to pitch, degrees and multiplier
- Rafter length calculatorCut length with overhang and birdsmouth
- Stair stringer calculatorRiser height, tread depth and stringer length
- Lumber waste calculatorNominal vs actual size: how many extra boards
- Full deck bundle calculatorFull deck material list in one pass
- Nominal vs actual calculatorWhat a 2x4 really measures
- BF → sq ft calculatorConvert between board feet and square feet
- Miter angle calculatorMiter and bevel for any corner angle
- Dowel spacing calculatorEven dowel layout across a panel
- Screw quantity calculatorScrews per board and boxes to buy
- Hardwood yield calculatorLumber recovered from a log after drying
- Firewood cords calculatorCords, cubic feet and burn time
- Dust collection calculatorCFM and duct velocity for your machines
Charts & reference
Guides
- How to calculate board feet
- Nominal vs actual lumber
- How much lumber waste
- Deck planning basics
- Plan a deck frame
- Plywood sizes explained
- Choosing hardwood flooring
- Paint coverage rates
- Fence post spacing
- Roof pitch & rafters
- Stair rise and run code
- Beginner woodworking tools
- Best cordless drills
- Best table saws
- Best orbital sanders
- Best home workbenches
- Best wood stains
- Best pocket hole jigs
- Best dowels
- Best wood screws
Why the numbers differ from the lumber tag
Most estimating mistakes come from one thing: a “1×6” board is actually ¾ in × 5⅝ in, and a “2×4” is 1½ in × 3½ in. Every WoodCalc tool uses actual milled dimensions by default and shows you what the nominal answer would have been, so you can see the size of the error before it costs you a second trip.