Linear feet is length in feet, one dimension only, and the total is the number of pieces times the length of each: 12 boards at 8 ft plus 6 boards at 6 ft is 96 + 36 = 132 linear feet, which is 19 eight-foot boards once you add 10% waste.
How the linear feet calculator works
Linear feet = pieces × length in feet; boards to buy = linear feet × (1 + waste) ÷ stock length, rounded up
Pick what the run is for (lumber or wood, trim and molding, fence, or a concrete footing or curb), enter how many pieces there are and how long each is, and choose the unit you measured in. Lengths from inches are accepted: 30 in is 2.5 ft, so 4 pieces at 30 in add 10 linear feet. Meters work too, and the answer is shown in both.
Two board counts appear. The first divides the total length by the stock length, which assumes you use offcuts. The second assumes every piece comes out of one stock board and the rest is scrap, and it packs short pieces on the same board when they fit: three 30 in pieces share a single 8 ft board. For the example above, cutting whole pieces takes 18 boards (12 for the 8 ft pieces, and one board each for the six 6 ft pieces, which leave a 2 ft offcut), while the length method with 10% waste says 19. Buy the higher number when the pieces are long.
Linear feet for lumber, wood and trim
Lumber, trim and molding are priced by the linear foot, so the total tells you what to compare between yards. An 8 ft board holds 8 linear feet. A room 12 ft by 10 ft has 44 linear feet of wall, and baseboard for it is 44 plus doorway and waste allowances; the trim calculator and the lumber calculator go from linear feet to a purchase list.
Linear feet of fence
Choose Fence and the calculator adds posts, rails and pickets. A 100 ft run with posts every 8 ft has 13 sections and 14 posts, because a run always needs one more post than sections. Two rails per section is 200 linear feet of rail, and 5 1/2 in pickets with a 1/2 in gap need 200 pickets (12 in ÷ 6 in per picket is 2 per foot). Change the spacing, rails, picket width and gap to match your design.
Linear feet of concrete
A footing or curb is a long strip. Enter the run, then the width and depth: 100 linear feet at 12 in wide and 12 in deep is 100 cu ft, or 3.70 cubic yards. The concrete footing calculator adds rebar and bags.
Linear feet to square feet and back
The second tab converts a length of a board of known width into area: square feet = linear feet × width in inches ÷ 12. 100 linear feet of a 5 1/2 in board covers 45.83 sq ft, and going the other way, 100 sq ft needs 218.2 linear feet. The full version with a width table is the linear feet to square feet calculator, and the deck board calculator uses the same idea for decking.
Linear feet for freight and pallets
Carriers price freight by the space it takes on the trailer floor. One linear foot is 12 inches of that floor, and pallets loaded two across use the length of one row for two pallets. Ten 48 in pallets, two across, are 5 rows of 4 ft: 20 linear feet. A full 26 pallet load is 13 rows, or 52 linear feet of a 53 ft trailer.
Carriers commonly bill shipments of 10 linear feet or more at 1,000 lb per linear foot, and treat more than 12 linear feet or 750 cubic feet as truckload freight (Redwood Logistics). That threshold varies by carrier tariff, so treat the result as a check before you ask for a quote. Turning pallets 90 degrees or stacking them, where the load allows it, changes the number.
| Pallets (48 in along, 2 across) | Rows | Linear feet |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 4 | 2 | 8 |
| 6 | 3 | 12 |
| 10 | 5 | 20 |
| 26 | 13 | 52 |
Related measuring tools
Add a list of measurements with the feet and inches calculator, or find more in measuring and planning calculators. Boards sold by volume are counted with the board foot calculator.