# Lumber calculator — board feet

> Board feet is the standard unit for pricing dimensional lumber. Enter your lumber sizes and quantities to get the total board feet for your order.

Calculate board feet from lumber dimensions. Add multiple sizes and quantities to get total board feet, piece count, and lineal feet.

**Interactive version:** https://onlinecalculator.me/construction/lumber/
**Category:** Construction

## Formula

```
Board feet = (thickness × width × length × quantity) / 12

where:
  thickness = nominal inches (e.g. 2 for a 2×4)
  width     = nominal inches (e.g. 4 for a 2×4)
  length    = feet (e.g. 8 for an 8-foot board)
```

## Common sizes

| Nominal | Board feet per 8-ft piece |
|---------|--------------------------|
| 1×4 | 2.67 |
| 1×6 | 4 |
| 2×4 | 5.33 |
| 2×6 | 8 |
| 2×8 | 10.67 |
| 2×10 | 13.33 |
| 4×4 | 10.67 |

## Frequently asked questions

### What is a board foot?

A board foot is a volume unit: 1 inch thick × 12 inches wide × 1 foot long. Board feet = (thickness × width × length) / 12, where thickness and width are in inches and length is in feet.

### How many board feet in a 2×4×8?

2 × 4 × 8 / 12 = 5.33 board feet. A 2×6×8 is 8 board feet and a 2×8×8 is 10.67 board feet.

### Are these nominal or actual dimensions?

Use nominal dimensions — the labeled size, not the actual milled size. A nominal 2×4 is actually 1.5×3.5 inches, but the board foot formula uses the nominal 2×4 numbers.

### What is a lineal foot?

A lineal (or linear) foot is simply the length of a board. It ignores width and thickness. Lineal feet help estimate project span coverage regardless of board width.

### How do I share my list?

Click "Share with my numbers" to copy a URL that saves your lumber list.

## Sources

- [Board foot — lumber volume unit and calculation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_foot) — Wikipedia
- [Lumber — nominal vs. actual dimensional sizes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumber) — Wikipedia

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