Linear Feet Calculator

Inches in, one division out

Every entry becomes inches (feet × 12 + inches), each row's inches are multiplied by its count, the rows are summed, and the total is divided by 12 exactly once: 5 pieces × 24 in = 120 in = 10 linear ft, with no rounding along the way. Mixed entries work the same: 3 ft 6 in + 2 ft 6 in = 72 in = 6 linear ft, and at a user-entered $4.50 per linear foot that list prices at $27.00 — every number here computed at build time by the same engine the form runs.

Carrying the sum in inches is what keeps it exact. A tape reads in whole inches and the sixteenths between them, and a count of sixteenths is a number the arithmetic stores without error, so adding any number of tape readings together loses nothing. The single division by 12 happens on the finished total. Converting each piece to decimal feet first would turn a 4 in piece into a repeating decimal before it was ever added, and a long list of such pieces would drift by a little more with every row. The 12 in the formula is the definition of the foot — 12 inches — not a coverage figure, and it is the only constant that enters the sum. Fractions on the tape go in as decimals; the guide Feet, inches, and fractions on the tape explains how a reading like 22 3/8 in becomes the number the field wants.

Where a cut list sits in the estimation pipeline

The methodology page describes a five-stage pipeline shared by every estimator on this site: geometry, coverage, waste, package rounding, and a user-priced cost. A cut list runs the first stage and the last and deliberately skips the three in the middle. Knowing which stages are missing is the key to reading this tool correctly.

• Geometry is the sum above — every piece's length, times its count, in inches and then in feet. For a length total, that is the entire measurement; there is no area or volume to derive.
• Coverage does not apply. A linear foot of trim covers a linear foot of wall, so there is no manufacturer yield to divide by, and no figure from the site's materials data file — the single home of its sourced coverage constants — enters this page. The constants it does use are definitions from the geometry engine: 12 inches to the foot, 16 sixteenths to the inch on the tape grid, and 0.3048 metres to the foot (exact, by the international definition of the foot) for the metres line.
• Waste is not applied automatically. Other estimators multiply by (1 + waste% ÷ 100) from a conventional starting percentage. For a cut list the sensible cushion is a piece, not a percentage — one more length of the longest run — so the tool leaves the total exactly as entered, and the worked lists below show how a spare row changes it.
• Package rounding is not applied either. Bags and boxes round up with ceil(quantity ÷ package yield); linear stock is sold in lengths that differ by yard, species, and profile, and the tool does not know which lengths you will buy or how you will cut them, so it reports exact footage rather than inventing a stick count.
• Cost is the exact footage times the price you type. A blank price produces no cost line, a price of zero is accepted and produces a cost of zero, and the site never supplies a price of its own.

This is a length total for purchase planning and nothing more. It does not judge span, spacing, support, or any load-bearing or code question — those belong with a qualified professional, exactly as the note under the form says.

Eight worked lists

The two lists at the top of the page and the six below were all run through the engine when this page was built, so the figures are the ones the form shows for the same entries. Each exercises a different part of the tool: a priced list, a cushion, fractions, mixed row types, metric stock, and a zero price. The table at the end collects all eight.

A room of baseboard, priced

Two walls at 12 ft 4 in and two at 10 ft 7 in, entered as two rows with a count of 2 each. The long-wall row contributes 296 in and the short-wall row 254 in; together 550 in ÷ 12 = 45.83 linear ft across 4 pieces, which the result box also reads as 45 ft 10 in on the tape and 13.97 m. At a user-entered $2.40 per linear foot the cost line is $110.00 — the exact footage times the price, not a rounded stick count. Doorways are handled by measuring the wall runs you will actually cut, not by subtracting afterwards: the tool adds what you enter and nothing else.

The same room with a spare piece

Waste for a cut list is a judgment about your walls and your saw, so the tool does not pad the total — you add a piece. Raising the long-wall count from 2 to 3 makes the list 5 pieces and 698 in = 58.17 linear ft (58 ft 2 in), and the cost line moves to $139.60. The total rose by exactly one long piece, 148 in, and nothing else changed; a percentage cushion would instead have added a slice of every wall, including the short ones that need no spare.

Fractions as decimals

Six cabinet stiles at 22 3/8 in each. The inches field takes decimals, so the reading goes in as 22.375: 6 × 22.375 in = 134.25 in = 11.1875 linear ft, or 11 ft 2.25 in on the tape. Every tape reading converts exactly — one sixteenth is 0.0625 in — and the fractions guide covers the conversion; for arithmetic that stays in fractions from start to finish, the feet & inches calculator keeps every step on the 1/16-inch grid and reports a decimal-feet figure you can bring back here.

Fence rails: three kinds of row in one list

24 rails at 8 ft (feet only), 3 at 6 ft 4 in, and one offcut measured at 45 in — inches only, and more than 12, which is allowed. The engine treats all three rows the same way: 2,304 + 228 + 45 = 2,577 in across 28 pieces, 214.75 linear ft (214 ft 9 in, 65.456 m), and at a user-entered $1.20 per foot, $257.70. The count field is what makes a long list short to type: one row stands for all 24 identical rails.

Metric stock in, metres out

The form is feet and inches, but metric stock runs through it cleanly. Take 4 lengths of 2.4 m. One metre is 1 ÷ 0.3048 ft, so 2.4 m is 7.874 ft = 94.4882 in — the construction unit converter does this step — and entering that in the inches field with a count of 4 gives 377.95 in = 31.5 linear ft. The metres line in the result box multiplies the footage by 0.3048 and returns 9.6 m: the list went in metric and came back out metric, with only the exact definition of the foot in between.

Reclaimed stock at no cost

12 salvaged boards at 16 ft, priced at $0 because they are already on hand: 2,304 in = 192 linear ft and a cost line of $0.00. A zero price is accepted deliberately, so on-hand material can be totalled without a phantom cost, while a blank price simply omits the cost line. Negative prices are rejected.

What each field does

Feet takes the whole-foot part of a length, decimals allowed, and may be left blank for a piece measured in inches only. Inches takes the rest and is not capped at 12 — 45 in is a valid entry — because short stock is measured that way; write fractions as decimals. A row needs at least one of the two, and the pair must add up to more than zero. Count multiplies that row only: it must be a whole number of at least 1, and a blank count means 1. A row left entirely blank is skipped rather than reported as an error, so an unused row does no harm. Price per linear foot is optional; when it is present, the cost line multiplies the exact total footage by it, and when it is blank no cost line appears.

The engine also enforces limits: each length may be up to 1,000,000 ft, each row's count up to 100,000, and the combined total up to 1,000,000 linear ft. These bounds exist to keep every product and sum inside the range where the arithmetic is exact; they say nothing about the size of a real job. Negative lengths, zero-length pieces, fractional or zero counts, and negative prices are rejected, and the error names the row so you can find it.

Reading the result box

The headline is the total in decimal linear feet, the figure a per-foot price applies to. Under it, Total inches is the same sum before the division — useful when the stock is labelled in inches. On the tape splits the decimal feet back into whole feet and leftover inches without rounding: the whole-foot part is kept and the remainder is multiplied by 12, so a total that does not land on a whole inch shows decimal inches, as 11.1875 ft becomes 11 ft 2.25 in. The line labelled with the piece count gives the total in metres, the exact footage times 0.3048. The cost line appears only when you entered a price, and Copy result puts a one-line summary — feet, inches, and piece count — on the clipboard for a shopping list or a spreadsheet.

The misreadings that move the total

The wrong field. The site's house example is a slab thickness typed as feet instead of inches; this tool has the same trap. Type the five 24 in pieces into the feet field and the engine obediently reports 120 linear ft instead of 10 — 12 times the real list. If a total looks far too large, check which field the inches went into before anything else.

Decimal feet read as feet-inches. 45.83 linear ft is not 45 ft 8 in and not 45 ft 83 in; the digits after the decimal point are hundredths of a foot, and the On the tape line already does the conversion — 45 ft 10 in. Read the tape line when you are marking stock, and the decimal line when you are pricing it.

A count multiplies its row, not the list. Entering 2 in the count of the first row doubles that row alone. To repeat a whole list, give each row its own count.

Fractions typed as fractions. The inches field is a decimal field; a reading of 3/8 in must be entered as its decimal. The guide to feet, inches, and fractions shows how, and every sixteenth converts exactly.

Double-counting the cushion. Adding a spare piece to the list and then also scaling the total by a percentage counts the same allowance twice. Pick one; on this page, the spare piece is the method the tool is built around.

Length mistaken for area. A linear-foot total says nothing about width. Ten pieces at one foot and one piece at ten feet are the same footage and very different purchases, and anything sold by area needs the square-footage tool instead.

What the model leaves out

The total is the footage your list requires, and no more. The tool does not plan cuts: it will not group pieces into the stock lengths your yard carries, tell you how many sticks to buy, or deduct the material a saw removes with each cut. It applies no waste percentage, no allowance for a defective or culled board, no minimum order or delivery rule, and no package size — the omissions the methodology page lists for every estimator apply here in full. Treat the footage as the quantity a purchase must at least cover, and decide the stick lengths and the cushion at the yard with the list in hand.

Length is not area — pick the right measure

Linear feet suit anything bought by the running foot. The moment width matters — flooring, tile, drywall — you need area instead: measure with the square footage calculator. For lumber priced by volume, the board foot calculator does the length × width × thickness arithmetic, and for chaining tape-measure fractions like 5' 6 3/8" the feet & inches calculator keeps everything on the exact 1/16-inch grid. The concepts behind the tools — fractions on the tape among them — are collected in the guides.

Frequently asked questions

Your cut list is computed locally and never transmitted. How the engines are built and tested is documented on the methodology page.