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Board Foot Calculator: One Board or a Whole Lumber List

Work out board feet for one board or a whole lumber list from thickness, width and length, with the total and the cost. Add a row for each size, set the number of pieces, add a margin for waste and a price per board foot, and use the total for the order or the quote.

Your numbers

Lumber list

Lengths in
Row 1
in
in
ft

Up to 10 rows, added together. An empty piece count counts as 1.

Softwood is billed on nominal size: a 2x4 is 2 × 4 even though it measures 1-1/2 × 3-1/2. Hardwood in quarters: 4/4 = 1, 5/4 = 1.25, 6/4 = 1.5, 8/4 = 2.

Waste and cost

%

Optional. Add a margin for defects, end trims and offcuts.

$

Optional. The yard's price per board foot.

Board feet to order

–

Linear feet
–
Pieces
–
In cubic feet
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In cubic meters
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Lumber cost (per board foot)
–

An estimate for quoting and ordering. Yards tally by their own rules, so check how they round lengths and widths.

Use nominal sizes for softwood (a 2x4 is 2 × 4). For hardwood, use the thickness the yard's price is based on.

The calculation runs in your browser and ParrotNotes does not store your numbers. They sit in the page address so you can bookmark or share the result.

How to calculate board feet

A board foot is a piece of lumber 1 in thick, 12 in wide and 1 ft long, or the same volume in any other shape: 144 cubic inches. To find the board feet in a board, multiply the thickness in inches by the width in inches by the length in feet and divide by 12. With the length in inches, divide by 144 instead.

Worked example: a 2x4 that is 8 ft long is 2 × 4 × 8 ÷ 12 = 5.33 board feet. A hardwood board 1 in (4/4) thick, 6 in wide and 96 in long is 1 × 6 × 96 ÷ 144 = 4 board feet. The calculator shows each row's board feet as you type, so you can check a size before you add the next one.

Lumber calculator: how much lumber for a list

Most orders are a list, not one board. Give each size its own row with the number of pieces: twenty 2x4s at 8 ft are 106.67 board feet and six 2x10s at 12 ft are 120, so the list is 226.67 board feet. The calculator also adds up the linear feet (232 ft here), which is how some yards price dimension lumber.

Order a little more than the list. Boards come with checks, knots and wane that have to be cut out, and every cut leaves an offcut. Put a percentage in the waste field and the total grows by it: 10% turns 226.67 into 249.33 board feet. At a price of $1.20 a board foot that list comes to $299.20.

Nominal or actual size: why a 2x4 counts as 2 × 4

Softwood lumber is named and billed by its nominal size, while the board itself is smaller once it is dried and planed. Under the American Softwood Lumber Standard, a nominal 2x4 is 1-1/2 × 3-1/2 in dry and a nominal 1 in board is 3/4 in, as the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Wood Handbook tables show. Length is the real length.

Board feet for softwood use the nominal thickness and width. The federal definition used by the softwood lumber program says so, and counts anything under 1 in nominal as 1 in. Enter 2 and 4 for a 2x4, not 1.5 and 3.5. The Wood Handbook adds that board measure depends on which sizes are used, so agree on nominal or actual with the customer when the order is not standard lumber.

Hardwood thickness in quarters: 4/4, 5/4, 8/4

Hardwood is sold by the board foot under the National Hardwood Lumber Association rules, and its rough thickness is given in quarters of an inch: 4/4 is 1 in, 5/4 is 1-1/4, 6/4 is 1-1/2, 8/4 is 2 and 12/4 is 3. Enter the quarter thickness as a decimal: 1, 1.25, 1.5, 2 or 3.

Surfaced hardwood is thinner than its quarter name. The Wood Handbook lists 1 in rough lumber at 13/16 in once it is surfaced on two sides, and 2 in rough at 1-3/4 in. Ask the yard whether a price is for the rough tally or the surfaced board, and enter the thickness the price is based on. Hardwood widths are random, so each board is measured on its own.

Tips for the counter or the job site

Write the list the way the customer will check it: size, length, pieces. Ask whether the lengths are exact or can be the next standard length up, since softwood comes in 2 ft steps and the yard will round up anyway.

Then note what does not fit in a row: the species and grade they want, whether they need it treated or kiln dried, when it has to be on site and who signs for the delivery. Those details decide the quote as much as the board feet do.

Sources, checked October 2026. All figures are estimates:

More for building-materials and lumber sales: Building materials sales, Distributor sales, Wholesale sales rep.

The board feet are only half of the order

The total goes on the quote. The species, grade, lengths the contractor asked for and when they need it on site come from the conversation at the counter or on the job: record it in ParrotNotes and get the summary and next steps, so the order matches what the customer asked for.

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