Wood Fence Calculator

Wood fence calculator for privacy, board-on-board, picket and horizontal fences: pickets, posts, rails, concrete bags, and the cost per foot and per square foot at your own prices.

How the Wood Fence Calculator Counts Your Lumber

A wood fence calculator works from the fence line out. It splits the line into sections no wider than your rails allow, puts a post at every section end, then fills each section with rails and pickets.

$$S=\lceil L÷s\rceil$$

This is the first count in any wood fence calculator. S is the number of sections, L is the fence length and s is the maximum post spacing. Rounding up keeps every section within the rail length, and the leftover is spread so all posts sit evenly.

$$P=\lceil 12L÷(w+g)\rceil$$

P is the picket count before waste in the wood fence calculator, w is the picket width in inches and g is the gap between pickets. A privacy fence uses a gap of 0, and a board-on-board fence uses its overlap as a negative gap.

How to calculate wood for a fence?

Run a 100 ft straight privacy fence through the wood fence calculator, 6 ft tall, with 5-1/2 in pickets and posts no more than 8 ft apart. The line splits into 13 sections of 7.69 ft, so it needs 14 posts.

Three rails per section gives 39 rails of 2×4 × 8 ft. The pickets are 1,200 in ÷ 5.5 in = 219, and a 10% waste allowance raises the order to 241 pickets, each 6 ft long.

That makes up the wood fence calculator material list. Fastened with two screws per rail, the pickets take 1,314 exterior screws, or $105 at $8 per 100. Each 4×4 post in a 10-1/2 in hole, 2 ft deep, takes 3 bags of 50 lb fast-setting concrete, or 42 bags for the run.

How many posts do I need for 100 ft of fence?

A 100 ft straight fence with 8 ft maximum spacing needs 14 posts, the same count any wooden fence posts calculator gives. Divide 100 by 8, round 12.5 up to 13 sections, and add one post to close the last section.

Each gate adds a post, because it splits the line into two fence pieces that each need an end. A fence that closes on itself, such as a full lot, needs no extra end post at all.

How do you calculate fence post spacing?

A wooden fence spacing calculator divides the fence length by the number of sections, not by 8. On 100 ft, 13 equal sections put posts 7.69 ft on center, which keeps every 8 ft rail long enough to reach across with room to fasten.

Closer spacing makes a stiffer fence. Dropping to 6 ft maximum on 100 ft gives 17 sections and 18 posts, which costs four more posts, holes and concrete fills.

Wood Fence Calculator Cost by Length

At the wood fence calculator's example prices, a 100 ft, 6 ft wood privacy fence costs $3,474 installed, or $34.74 per foot. That uses $3.60 pickets, $16 posts, $7.20 rails, screws at $8 per 100, 7% tax, $100 in fees and $15 per foot of labor.

Each row is a straight run with no gates. The prices are example inputs, not market rates, so give the wood fence calculator your supplier's prices before you compare quotes.

How much does a 100 ft wood fence cost?

A 100 ft, 6 ft privacy fence comes to $1,974 if you build it yourself, or $3,474 with $15 per foot of labor. Materials and tax are $1,874 of that, with lumber the biggest part at $1,373 and screws adding $105.

How much is 200 feet of wooden fence?

A 200 ft privacy fence needs 26 posts and 481 pickets, and costs $3,743 DIY or $6,743 installed at these prices. That is $33.72 per foot, slightly less per foot than 100 ft because the fees are spread further.

How much to install 300 ft of fence?

A 300 ft wood privacy fence costs $10,074 installed, with $4,500 of that in labor at $15 per foot. A 120 ft fence, a common side-and-back run, comes to $4,102 installed.

How does the wood fence cost calculator work?

It prices each board by the foot, multiplies by the counts, adds sales tax to materials, and then adds permit, delivery, labor and removal. Pickets priced at $0.60 per foot cost $3.60 each at 6 ft, so a taller fence raises picket cost automatically.

Wood fence calculator cost per square foot divides the total by one face of the fence. The 100 ft, 6 ft fence covers 600 sq ft, so $3,474 is $5.79 per sq ft, which lines up with quotes given per square foot.

Pickets for Privacy, Board-on-Board and Spaced Fences

Style changes the picket count in a wood fence calculator more than any other choice. On the same 100 ft, 6 ft fence, the counts below include 10% waste and use 5-1/2 in boards.

Board cost is the lumber for the face only, before posts, rails and concrete. On the same frame, a board-on-board fence costs $3,701 installed against $3,474 for solid privacy.

Horizontal boards span from post to post, so they need no rails, and each board covers a full section. The count is the number of board rows up the fence height times the number of sections.

How many pickets per 8-foot section does a board-on-board fence need?

With 5-1/2 in boards and a 1 in overlap, each board adds 4-1/2 in of coverage. An 8 ft section is 96 in, so it takes 22 boards, split between the front and back layers.

A deeper overlap hides more of the gap from an angle but costs boards. Going from 1 in to 1-1/2 in adds two boards to every 8 ft section.

How does the fence picket calculator work?

It divides the run by one picket plus one gap and rounds up, counting a picket at each end, so a run always starts and finishes with a board.

The same math runs a metric wood fence calculator for Canada, Australia or the UK, priced in local dollars or pounds, so for 10 cm pickets with a 2 cm gap on a 2 m section, 200 cm ÷ 12 cm = 16.67, so you need 17 pickets for that section.

For a picket-only count with exact spacing between posts, the Fence Picket Calculator handles one section at a time. Farm fences built from wire follow different math in the Barbed Wire Fence Calculator.

Fence Square Footage and Stain Area

Fence square footage is the length times the height, which is the wood fence calculator square feet figure for one face. A 100 ft fence that stands 6 ft tall has 600 sq ft on one face, and 1,200 sq ft if you stain both sides.

How do you figure square footage for a fence?

Measure the fence line in feet, gate openings included unless you take them out separately, and multiply by the height. A 120 ft fence at 6 ft is 720 sq ft per side.

Use the both-sides figure from the wood fence calculator for stain and sealer. The Deck Stain Calculator turns that area and the number of coats into gallons.

What is a linear foot of fence?

A linear foot is one foot measured along the fence line, whatever the height. Installers often quote per linear foot, so a 6 ft fence and a 4 ft fence of the same length have the same linear footage but very different board counts.

Wood Fence Post Length, Depth and Concrete

In the wood fence calculator, post length is the fence height plus the buried depth. For a 6 ft fence with 2 ft in the ground, buy 8 ft posts. Quikrete's post-setting guide makes the hole 3 times the post width, with 6 in of gravel under the post.

For a 4×4 post, which is 3-1/2 in actual, that is a 10-1/2 in hole. Filled to 3 in below grade around a post buried 2 ft, each hole takes 0.90 cu ft, or 3 bags of 50 lb fast-setting mix.

How long should fence posts be?

Quikrete sizes the depth at one third of the post length, plus the gravel. That rule buries a 6 ft fence's posts about 32 in, which rounds up to a 10 ft post, the next common stock length.

Quikrete's web guide allows one third to one half of the height above ground, so 8 ft posts buried 2 ft sit at the shallow end of the range.

Burying 32 in instead of 24 in on the 100 ft fence means 10 ft posts and 4 bags per hole, which adds $157 to the installed total.

How deep should posts go below the frost line?

In cold climates, the post must reach below the local frost line so frost heave cannot lift it. With a 42 in frost line, the 100 ft fence needs 10 ft posts and 70 bags of concrete instead of 42, and the installed total rises to $3,728.

How do I choose the height of a wooden fence's post?

A wooden fence height calculator adds the buried depth to the fence height, then rounds up to the next stock length. A 4 ft picket fence on 2 ft of burial takes 6 ft posts, and a 6 ft privacy fence takes 8 ft posts at 2 ft of burial or 10 ft posts when buried deeper.

For depth by frost line and soil type, the Fence Post Depth Calculator works out depth and concrete per post. Call 811 a few days before digging so buried lines get marked.

Which treated lumber do fence posts need?

Posts in the ground need lumber rated for ground contact. The American Wood Protection Association lists fence posts under Use Category 4A or higher, and fence pickets under 3B or higher.

The wood fence calculator works online on a phone, so you can recheck counts at the lumber yard without an app.

Check the end tag on each post for the 4A rating before buying. Lumber rated only for above-ground use is meant for pickets and rails, not for posts set in soil or concrete.

What is the standard fence height?

Privacy fences are usually 6 ft tall, and front-yard picket fences are often 3 to 4 ft. Local zoning sets the limits, so check them before buying 8 ft posts for a tall fence.

A 6 ft fence commonly takes three rails per section, about one for every 24 in of height. A 4 ft fence takes two, which cuts the 100 ft example from 39 rails to 26.

Gates, Layouts and Wood vs Vinyl

In the wood fence calculator, a 4 ft walk gate in the middle of a 100 ft fence adds only $94 at these prices. The $150 gate is offset by 10 fewer pickets, 3 fewer rails and fewer screws, because the opening takes out 4 ft of fence.

For a backyard that runs down two sides and across the back, the wood fence calculator uses a fence line of L + 2W. The Rectangle Fence Perimeter Calculator sizes the line around a full lot, and the Fence Calculator covers other fence types.

Is a wood fence cheaper than vinyl?

At the example prices on each tool, the 100 ft wood privacy fence with one walk gate costs $35.68 per foot installed. The same length in vinyl with one gate costs $42.10 per foot in the Vinyl Fence Cost Calculator.

Both totals move with local prices, so run the wood fence calculator and the vinyl one with your own quotes. Add the cost of staining wood every few years before deciding, since vinyl needs no finish.